Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The web economy has not only revolutionized business worldwide, it has also created many challenges and opportunities for accounting businesses.

Online Challenges For Accounting & Financial Firms

Accountants today must work harder than ever before to remain competitive. Not only do they have to maintain an active presence in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also develop an active presence online. This includes having a website and learning smarter ways to market your business services online.

As well as spending money marketing offline, businesses in the accounting industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be directed to developing and managing a website that will bring new prospective clients, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help to increase their reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your web 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 the needs of the website will change in time and sections will need to be frequently updated. This requires the implementation of a well-developed web and content management strategy.

Another problem that accounting firms face (and most other professions for that matter), is that they have around thirty seconds to give visitors what 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

Online Opportunities For Accounting Businesses

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available to accounting businesses that can adapt to meet online demands and can think strategically in terms of marketing themselves better online.

In this detailed guide, you will learn about ways to increase web traffic and create significant improvements in your business results online.

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

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System, see the articles below:

• How A Poorly Constructed Website Can Lose You Customers
• WordPress And Small Business – A Beginner’s Guide To Growing Your Small Business With A WordPress Site

Useful Tips For Improving Your Accounting Or Financial Services Website

We’ll start first by going over the basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We will look at what pages a financial services website needs, what content you need, suggestions for improving your site’s layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting or financial services website, go here: A Practical Guide To Website Planning For Business Owners

Ways To Improve Your Website Pages

All websites need some basic pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need and how to structure your website for best results.

Description Of services And Products

You need to include a page that describes your services and any products that you offer.

Your page should include all the services and products you offer, such as:

• Business – planning, company formation, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, planning, reviewing, auditing, advice, problem resolution
• Investment strategies
• Corporate finance
• 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

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and why they should book an appointment.

About Us

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

This page should also mention any business awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote the company and set it above other competitors.

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

Our Team

Are you looking for ways to grow your business online? Then help prospective clients get to know 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. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be 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 prospective clients can follow your team members on their social pages.

In this page, make sure to outline each person’s experience, how their skills and knowledge add value 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 employees or team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain simple staff directory to your WordPress site using a free plugin, go here: Adding An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site

Job Opportunities

List any career opportunities available within the company. It can include training offered, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social activities promoted by your organization, etc. You should also include information about new career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Maintain a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, join your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

Testimonials and case studies are a great way to show potential clients what type of financial solutions you will implement to help them solve problems. By adding a page with case studies and client reviews, you will also help to establish social proof.

(Add a page with case studies and testimonials. Screenshot source: pcg-services.com)

If you want to learn more about using testimonials and client reviews, see this article: Learn How To Improve Your Visitor-To-Sales Conversions With Compelling Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a clean contact page is crucial.

It should include the following:

• Name
• Physical address
• Telephone
• Fax number
• Email address
• Google Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – who to contact
• Social media URLs
• Chat

If you operate out of different locations you should make this clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including a few links for commonly-asked questions, useful pages, special offers, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool. Many blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business using timely content like announcements, product releases, useful information, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established accounting website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your organization.

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

Very few people know that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic machine that can instantly attract new targeted traffic to your business, simply by publishing content to your website on a regular basis.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can drive new traffic automatically to your website)

Go here to learn more: WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Create A Traffic-Getting Machine

Legal Information

As a professional business, ensuring that you have a compliant website is essential, not just for establishing trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no laws or regulations are being broken wherever you provide services to.

Depending on what products and services you provide, adding the legal pages below to your accounting site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Financial/Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your site, refer to this article: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Tips On How To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, the practice of content marketing has become one of the key success differentiators for businesses selling similar products or providing similar services.

You will want to provide great content with information and tips that will get your visitors to share your content online and come back for more. This is a great way to inform and educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business and about using your services and products.

For example, for an accounting business, topics could cover:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning tips
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure 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 prospective clients gain a better understanding of your accounting services, such as forensic accounting, business accounting, tips on using office accounting software, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use specific keywords and terminology in your articles that your readers would search 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 you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content for your site visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Tips For Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving user experience (typically referred to as UX) helps you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you ways you can improve visitor engagement and UX.

Adding RSS Feeds

An RSS feed provides many benefits for your business.

If you provide valuable information, other sites will want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• An RSS feed provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are several ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to providing information on your website from other sites, 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-related government departments or well-known industry bodies.

For example, here are some exaples of RSS feeds you could consider adding to your accounting 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

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to provide your visitors with a better UX.)

Checklists And Forms

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to increase user engagement and add value to your readers. Checklists and forms can provide users with step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks completed. Checklists and forms are also great planning tools.

Checklists and forms can cover topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Non-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Adding Unique Tools

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

In the next section of this guide, we take a look at a number of WordPress plugins and themes you can use in your site that can improve your search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this guide on ways to build your accounting business online.

Click here to read Part Two:

• Online Business Tips For Accountants – WordPress Plugins And Themes That Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Web Traffic

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