Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face growing challenges.

Online Challenges For The Accounting Profession

Certified Public Accountants today must work harder than ever to remain in business. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also maintain an active web presence. This includes having an effective web presence and figuring out better ways to promote your business services online.

As well as investing dollars advertising offline, businesses in the accounting industry are now also finding that they need to delegate a greater share of their marketing budget towards the development and maintenance of a website that drives new prospective clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and helps to create wider marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of the website will change over time and sections may need to be updated frequently. This requires the implementation of a well-developed website and content management strategy.

Another challenge that accounting businesses face, and other professions for that matter, is that your site has around thirty seconds to provide visitors with what they are searching for or they will leave your site and go elsewhere.

“Websites have evolved into central information hubs where service information is still present but enhanced with web portals, hyperlinks to state and federal sites, and a variety of free tools.”

Michael Alter, http://www.accountingweb.com/technology/accounting-software/tips-for-improving-your-website

Opportunities For CPAs In The Online Economy

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting sector that are willing to evolve to meet the challenges of the digital economy and who can think strategically when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

In this article, you will learn new ways and opportunities to increase traffic and improve your business presence online.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform to power your accounting or financial services business website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see the articles below:

• Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Business
• A Complete Guide To Growing Your Successful Business Using WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

Let’s start by going over some basic stuff. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We will look at what web pages you need, what type of content works best for accounting and financial services websites, suggestions for improving your site’s layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, check out the article we have written here: A Comprehensive Guide To Website Planning For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

All websites require a number of basic web pages. Let’s discuss these.

Services And Products

You need a page that lists your services and any products that you offer.

This page should include services such as:

• Business – planning, formation, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, bookkeeping, forecasting, budgeting, financing, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, planning, reviewing, auditing, advice, problem resolution
• Investment strategies
• Corporate accounting
• Wealth creation
• Superannuation/retirement plan (401k) advice
• Audit risk assessment and assurance
• Quickbooks – setup, training, tune up, and support
• Specialist services – mergers, acquisitions, information technology, secretarial, rentals, trusts, fiduciary accounting, succession planning, selling a business, asset transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to list all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using your services and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us

This page needs to describe your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, community events, etc.

It should also include any awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that you can use to promote your company and set it above other competitors.

(List all of your awards recognitions, certifications, accreditations, associations, publications, etc. in the About page. Image source: deloitte.com)

Your Staff

Are you looking for quicker and simpler ideas to grow your business online? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for prospective clients to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors are probably not very well-versed in accounting terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. It should even include social buttons so your site visitors can follow some of your staff members on their social networks.

In this page, make sure to outline each employee’s qualifications, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your staff to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

We have created a detailed tutorial about how to easily add an easy-to-manage simple team members directory in a WordPress site with no coding skills required here: Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee Directory

Recruitment Page

This is a listing of career opportunities within your firm. This page can include training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. It should include information about upcoming career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Include also a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, join your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies

Case studies and testimonials from previous clients are a great way to show prospective clients what it’s like to do business with your company. Adding a web page with reviews from clients and case studies also provides visitors social proof.

(Add a page to your site with reviews from clients and case studies. Screenshot image sourced from: pcg-services.com)

If you would like to learn more about using case studies, testimonials and reviews improve your business online, go here: How To Create Better Results Online With Standout Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is crucial.

It should include some or all of the following:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Physical location
• Telephone
• Facsimile number
• Contact email
• Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Links to social media networks
• Interactive chat (optional feature)

If your business operates from several locations you will want to make that clear when displaying your address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ page, main pages, special offers, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically include a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content such as company announcements, updates, training articles, informative posts, videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an existing site, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to promote your services.

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing website is very hard to manage or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can serve both as your website and business blog.

Something not many people know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic-generation machine that can help begin attracting web traffic to your business, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more: WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Create An Automated Traffic Generation Machine With WordPress

Legal Info Pages

As a professional accountant, having a compliant website is crucially important, not just for building trust with visitors, but also to ensure that no laws or regulations are being contravened wherever your business services clients.

Adding the following legal pages to your site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats or inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

Go here for a detailed article about adding legal pages to your site: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Improve Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, being generous with content has become one of the key business differentiators.

Providing great content with information and tips will get your readers to share your content online with others and come back for more. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and teach site visitors and prospects about your business.

For example, for an accounting or financial services business, topics can cover:

• How balance sheets work
• Understanding profit & loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure a self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing insurance, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your readers gain a better understanding of accounting services, such as finance accounting, tax accounting, office accounting software, reducing business debt, understanding accounting concepts, etc.

Remember to use specific keywords and terms in your content that your readers will be searching for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Improving User Experience

Improving your site’s user experience (known as UX) will help keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you ways you can improve visitor engagement and UX.

Adding RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide many benefits for your site.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other businesses will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

Some of the benefits of syndicating your content to other websites using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Allows users to subscribe
• A feed provides links back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides various ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. read your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to adding syndicated content to your site from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find RSS feeds with useful content for your website, search online for finance and tax-related government departments and key industry bodies.

For example, here are a few feeds you may want to add to your site:

• Taxation Policy Center: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/press/rss.cfm
• Australian Taxation Office: https://www.ato.gov.au/RSS-news-feeds.aspx
• Canada Revenue Agency: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/rssfeeds/
• UK HM Revenue and Customs: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rss/rss.htm
• South Africa Revenue Service: http://www.sars.gov.za/Pages/RSS-Feeds.aspx

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your website’s UX.)

Provide Checklists & Forms

Checklists and forms are a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. Forms and checklists can provide visitors with step-by-step instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. They can also be great business planning tools.

You can provide a range of checklists and forms (or links to these) covering areas such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Fundraising Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Provide Unique Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are great tools to add to accounting websites. Other tools could include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section of this detailed guide, we will be discussing a several online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins that can help to improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1.

Click on this link to continue:

• Online Business Tips For Accountants – WordPress Plugins For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Better User Engagement And Driving More Visitors To Your Site

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