Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress
The digital economy has not only revolutionized the way business is done worldwide, it has also created many challenges and great opportunities for businesses in the accounting industry.
Online Challenges For Accountants
Now, more than ever, accounting firms must work harder and find smarter ways to remain competitive, source new business, and retain current clientele. Not only do they have to be fully involved in the communities and industries they serve, they must also maintain an active presence online. This includes having a website and learning how to better promote your business services online.
In addition to spending dollars advertising offline on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be delegated to developing and managing a website that brings in clients, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and helps give their business a wider exposure online.
This means that your website not only has to look great, load fast, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of your website will change in time and some areas may need to be frequently updated. This requires implementing sound website and content management strategy.
One other difficult challenge that accounting firms face, as most professions do for that matter, is that you have only around 30 seconds to help visitors find the information they are searching 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 CPAs
As well as facing many challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting sector that can adapt to meet online challenges and who can think strategically when it comes to marketing their services better online.
This comprehensive guide will help you uncover opportunities to attract new visitors and improve your business results online.
As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress platform to power your accounting or financial services business website.
To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS), go here:
- Discover How A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Prospective Buyers And What To Do About It
- The Small Business Owner’s Guide To Understanding WordPress
Tips To Improve Your Website
In this section we will show you ways to improve your accounting website and get better results. We show you what pages you need, what content you need, your layout and navigation structure, etc.
If you need additional information about website planning, read this detailed guide we have written: The Web Site Planning Process Explained: A Money-Saving Guide For Business Owners
Your Web Pages
All business websites require some essential pages. Let’s review the pages your need and how to structure your accounting or financial services website for best results.
Services Description Page
You need a page that explains your services or products.
It will include all the products and services you offer, such as:
- Business accounting – planning, incorporation of companies, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
- Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, 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 a business, asset transfers, etc.
- Lending and leasing
Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and why they should book an appointment.
Who We Are
This page should give a description of your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.
Remember to mention any business awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your company and position it above the competition.
(List all of your awards accreditations, recognitions, certifications, associations, publications, etc. in your About Us page. Screenshot source: deloitte.com)
Your Staff Page
Are you searching for cost-effective ideas to sell more products or services online? Then something you can do, is help visitors get to know your business better.
You want your business to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with accounting terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. It should also 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 your team member’s qualifications, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.
(Make sure to add a page that introduces your staff to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)
We have written a detailed tutorial on how to add an easy-to-update list directory of staff members in your website using free WP plugins here: How To Add A Simple Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site
Work With Us
This is a listing of career opportunities within your firm. This page would include training provided, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social activities sponsored or encouraged by your firm, etc. You should also include stories of graduates who have risen within your firm and information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the accounting industry.
Also include 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 & Testimonials
Case studies and testimonials are a great way to show prospective clients the benefits of doing business with your company. Adding a page with case studies and client reviews also helps your accounting or financial services business to establish social proof.
(Add a page to your site with case studies and client reviews. Image sourced from: pcg-services.com)
We have created a comprehensive article on using client case studies and reviews to improve your business results online. If you are interested in learning more about this here: Achieve Better Results Online With Awesome Testimonials
Contact Us
A clean contact page is essential.
Your contact page should provide visitors with the following:
- Name
- Your address
- Telephone number
- Facsimile number
- Contact email address
- Map
- Website address
- Contact form
- Contact name
- Links to social media pages
- Live chat feature (optional)
If your business operates in several locations you will want to make that clear when showing the address and contact information.
You can also include links to an FAQ section, useful pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.
Add A Blog
A blog is a very powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business using timely content such as news, updates, educational information, opinions and discussions, videos, webinars, etc.
If you already have an accounting or financial services site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your firm.
If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing site is hard to keep updated with new content or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can serve as both your business website and blog.
Not many people know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that can begin attracting an ongoing stream of new targeted traffic to your website, simply by adding content to your website on a consistent basis.
(WordPress can generate new traffic automatically to your site)
For more info, see this article: WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – How To Automatically Grow Your Web Traffic For Your Business With WordPress
Legal Information Pages
As a professional accountant, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is very important, not just for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional and federal laws and regulations are being contravened wherever your business services clients.
Depending on what services you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential sources of 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 Linking Policy
- Health Disclaimers
- Refund Policy
- Video/Audio Terms
- and others
We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your website. Go here to learn more about this: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site
Tips For Improving The Content On Your Website
In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin engaging in the practice of content marketing, the sooner you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from your competitors.
Providing great content with useful advice and tips will get your readers sharing your web pages and coming back for more. This is a great way to inform and educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about using your services.
For example, for an accounting business, topics can include:
- How balance sheets work
- Overlooked tax deductions
- Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
- How to present accounts for fundraising activities
- Business cashflow planning advice
- Business insurance
- Risk prevention
- Structuring a self-managed retirement fund
- Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, claiming business expenses, etc.)
You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your readers gain a better understanding of your services, such as forensic accounting, business accounting, business auditing, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.
Remember to use relevant keywords in your articles that your readers will be searching for.
We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!
Tips For Improving Visitor Experience
Improving your user experience (typically referred to as UX) helps keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and user experience.
Content Syndication – RSS Feeds
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide lots of benefits for your accounting business.
If you provide valuable information, other businesses will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.
Some of the benefits of syndicating your content to other sites using RSS feeds, include:
- All of your updates are 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 RSS feed
- It provides links back to your site
- RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
- RSS provides a number of ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
- It’s built into WordPress
There are also a number of benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your website from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.
You can find RSS feeds with loads of useful content for your website by searching online for finance and tax-related government departments or respected industry bodies.
For example, here are some useful RSS feeds you could add 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
(Add RSS feeds to provide your visitors with a better user experience.)
Checklists And Forms
Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your readers and set yourself apart from the competition. Forms and checklists can provide users with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform a task. Forms and checklists are great planning tools.
Checklists and forms could address subjects such as:
- How To Set Up A Business
- Negative Gearing Checklist
- Not-For-Profit Activity Checklist
- Disclosure Requirements
- Sole Trader Tax Checklist
- Capital Gains Tax Checklist
- Income Tax Variation Forms
Adding Unique Tools
Providing unique tools, gadgets and applications for businesses on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your users. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools you can add to accounting websites. Other applications could include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.
In part two of this guide, we will be discussing a number of WordPress plugins you can use in your site that can help to improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more traffic to your business.
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This is the end of section one of this comprehensive article on ways to build your accounting business web presence.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
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