Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital economy has not only revolutionised business around the world, it has also created a number of difficult challenges and opportunities for businesses offering accounting services.

Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online

Now, more than ever, accountancy organizations must work hard and find smarter ways to stand out from the crowd, source new business, and keep their current clients. Not only do you have to become more involved in the communities and industries you serve, you must also develop a strong presence online. This includes having a dynamic website and learning how to better promote your business online.

In addition to spending money marketing offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy accounting businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be directed to developing and managing a website that attracts new leads, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and helps you gain wider exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs may change in time and sections may need to be frequently updated. This requires a well-developed website and content management strategy in place.

Another problem that accounting organizations (and other businesses) face with their websites, is that your site has only about thirty seconds to give users the information they are looking for or they will find what they are looking for 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 The Accounting Profession In The Digital Economy

As well as facing many 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 online economy demands and who can think outside the box about improving their online marketing skills.

This comprehensive article will help you uncover ways to source new potential clients and build more online credibility for your business.

As well as providing practical tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your business online, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform to power your accounting or financial services business website or blog.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS), see these articles:

• Discover How A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Customers And What To Do About It
• Learn How To Grow Your Small Business With WordPress

How To Improve Your Website

This section will show you how to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages an accounting site needs, what content you need, suggestions for improving your site’s navigation structure, etc.

If you need any help with website planning, check out the article we have written here: How To Plan Your Small Business Web Site - A Cost-Saving Primer For Business Owners

Essential Website Pages

Professional business websites need several basic pages. Let’s review the pages your  need and how to set up your website for best results.

Services And Products

It’s essential to have a page that describes your services and products.

It will include all the services and products you offer, such as:

• Business accounting – planning, incorporation of companies, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, 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 businesses, asset transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what these services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

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

It should include any awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your company and position it above other competitors.

(List all of your business awards accreditations, recognitions, certifications, associations, publications, etc. in your About Us page. Screenshot image sourced from: deloitte.com)

Team Profile Page

If you are searching for quicker, easier and cheaper ideas to grow your business online, then help prospects get to know you, your team and your organization better.

People need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors won’t be that 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 also include social buttons so your visitors can follow selected team members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline your person’s expertise, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a team profile page. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage simple team members directory in your web site using free WordPress plugins, refer to this step-by-step tutorial: How To Add A Simple Staff Directory On Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Work For Us

List any career opportunities available within your organization. This page would include type of training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, social aspects of working for your firm, etc. You should also include case studies of recruits who have risen within your company and information about career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Also include a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to this page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients what kind of solutions you can implement to help them solve problems. By adding a page with reviews from clients and case studies, you are also helping to provide social proof.

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

To learn more about using case studies, testimonials and user reviews to improve your business results online, go here: How To Get Better Results Online With Sales Boosting Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include the following:

• Name
• Location
• Telephone number
• Facsimile number
• Contact email
• Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media URLs
• Interactive chat feature (optional)

If your business services different areas you will want to make this clear when showing your address and contact information.

Consider also including links to commonly-asked questions, useful pages, special offers, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content like industry announcements, updates, useful articles and tutorials, discussions on current topics, videos, media presentations, etc.

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

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing website is very hard to keep updated with new content or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can serve as both your website and business blog.

Something not many people know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic system that can help begin to attract targeted traffic to your website, simply by publishing content on a consistent basis to your website.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more about this: WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – How To Turn Your WordPress Blog Into A Web Traffic Machine

Legal Information Pages

It’s crucially important to make sure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaking any local, regional or federal laws and regulations wherever you provide services to.

Depending on the services and products you provide, adding some or all of the following legal pages to your website will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article about adding legal pages to your website here: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Ways To Improve The Content On Your Website

In today’s globally competitive economy, content marketing has become one of the key success differentiators for businesses.

Providing great content with information and tips will get your visitors to share your content with others online and come back for more. Using content is the most effective way to inform and educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

For example, for an accounting or financial services business, topics could cover the following:

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing insurance, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your readers understand your accounting services, such as software accounting, small business accounting, office accounting software, reducing debt, understanding financial concepts, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords and terminology in your articles that your readers would search for.

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

Ways To Improve User Experience

Improving your website’s user experience (generally referred to as UX) will help to keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you ways you can improve your visitor engagement and UX.

RSS Feeds – Content Syndication

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

If you provide useful content, other businesses will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• RSS feeds allow for subscribing
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides various ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your website from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find useful RSS feeds just visit sites of finance-related government departments or respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed some exaples of feeds you could add to your website:

• 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

(RSS feeds can help to improve your accounting website’s user experience.)

Provide Downloadable Checklists & Forms

Checklists and forms are a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. They can give them useful step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks performed. Forms and checklists are great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Not-For-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Company Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Add Online Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) can help increase visitor engagement and add value to users. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are popular tools for accounting websites. Other applications would include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In part two of this guide, we will be discussing a number of online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins and themes that can help to improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one of this step-by-step article on ways to grow your accounting business presence online.

To view Part Two, click this link:

• How To Successfully Build And Grow Your Accounting Or Financial Services Website Using WordPress – Part 2

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