Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals today are facing an ever increasing number of challenges created by the digital economy.

Challenges CPAs Face Online

Accounting businesses today must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do they have to become more involved in the communities and industries they serve, they must also develop a strong digital presence. This includes having a dynamic website and figuring out smarter ways to market your business services online.

In addition to spending dollars marketing offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to remain competitive, increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be directed to develop and maintain a website that brings new leads, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and helps to increase your presence online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, load fast, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of the website will change in time and some areas will need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing well-developed website and content management strategy.

Another problem that accounting firms face with their websites, as most professions do for that matter, is that your site has only around thirty seconds to provide users what 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

Online Opportunities For Accountants

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting industry that can adapt to meet the demands of the online economy and who can think outside the box in terms of marketing their business services better online.

In this guide, you will discover a number of ways to attract new visitors and establish online credibility for your business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System to power your accounting website or blog.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see these articles:

• Discover How A Poorly Constructed Website Can Lose You Prospective Buyers
• The Small Business Owner’s Guide To WordPress

Practical Tips To Improve Your Accounting Site

In this section we will show you ways to improve your accounting website and get better results. We show you what web pages you need, what content you need, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, visit this page: The Web Site Planning Process - A Money-Saving Primer For Business Owners

Essential Pages

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

Description Of services And Products

You need to include a page that explains your services or products.

Your page will include services such as:

• Business – planning, formation, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, 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, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to list all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about what your services do and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical programs, etc.

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

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

Staff

If you are searching for ideas to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site, then make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

Your business needs to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff or team members. It should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be well-versed in accounting terms it 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 visitors can follow some of your staff members on their social networks.

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

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

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to add an easy-to-update directory of staff or team members to your web site without using code here: How To Add A Staff List Directory

Career Opportunities

This is a listing of career opportunities within your company. This page could include training offered, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can include stories of recruits who have worked their way up in your company and information such as the job outlook and additional career opportunities in the accounting and financial services 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 you on social media, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Testimonials and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients minimise tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. By adding a page with client reviews and case studies, you will also help to establish social proof.

(Add a web page with reviews from clients and case studies. Screenshot image source: pcg-services.com)

If you want to learn more about using testimonials and reviews, see this article: How To Get Better Results Online Using Sales Boosting Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include some or all of the following information about your business:

• Business Name
• Location
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Google Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Links to social media pages
• Chat feature (optional feature)

If your business services several locations you will want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact information.

You could also include links to an FAQ page, frequently-visited pages, special offers, support page, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business using timely content like announcements, company updates, educational articles and tutorials, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an existing 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 manage or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can be used as both your website and blog.

Something few businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic-generation system that can help drive an ongoing stream of targeted traffic to your web site, simply by adding content on a regular basis to your website.

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

For more details: WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Create An Automated Web Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Information Pages

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial, not just for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any laws or regulations wherever you provide services to.

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

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

We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your site here: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips For Improving Your Web Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin to publish great content on your site, the quicker you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from competing businesses.

You will want to provide great content with advice and tips that will get your readers sharing your web pages and coming back for more information. Content marketing is the most effective way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about doing business with your organization.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk prevention
• Structuring your 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 your services, such as software accounting, business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include keywords in your articles that your prospective clients will be searching for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information that will show you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful content for your site 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 100% FREE!

Ways To Improve 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.

Add RSS Feeds

RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in a number of different ways.

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

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

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

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to providing great content on 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 relevant government departments or well-known industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few 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

(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your site’s UX.)

Adding Checklists

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to increase user engagement and add value to your readers. Forms and checklists can provide visitors with useful instructions and resources to complete necessary tasks. They are also great planning tools.

You can provide a range of online or downloadable forms and checklists (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
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Add Online Tools

Providing useful tools and applications for businesses can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your potential clients. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools for accounting websites. Other applications would include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section, we discuss a several online tools you can use in your accounting website using WordPress plugins and themes that can help to improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one of this article on ways to build your accounting business presence online.

Click here to continue reading:

• Your Accounting Website – Improving SEO, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Visitors To Your Website Using Plugins

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