Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals today face significant challenges.

Challenges Accounting Services Face Online

Accounting businesses today must work harder than ever before to remain in business. Not only do they have to participate in the communities and industries they serve, they must also develop a strong presence online. This includes having an effective website and learning smarter ways to promote your business services online.

In addition to investing money advertising offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be assigned towards the development and management of a website that attracts prospective clients, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and gives you a wider amount of reach online.

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

Another problem that accounting organizations face with their websites (as all other professions do for that matter), is that your site has only around thirty seconds to help users find what they are looking for or they will go elsewhere to find what they need.

“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 Certified Public Accountants

As well as facing significant challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting industry that are willing to evolve to meet the demands of the digital economy and can think strategically when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

In this detailed guide, you will learn about opportunities to attract new visitors and establish stronger online credibility for your business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress content management system (CMS) to power your accounting or financial services business website.

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

• Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Potential Customers
• Using WordPress To Grow Your Small Business Online

Ways To Improve Your Accounting Website

We’ll start first by reviewing some basics. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages an accounting website needs, what content works best, navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting website, check out the guide we have written here: The Website Planning Process Explained: A Useful Guide For Business Owners

Improve Your Web Pages

All websites require several essential web pages. Let’s review the pages your  need and how to set up your accounting or financial services website for best results.

Services And Products Page

It’s essential to include a page that explains your products or services.

Your page will include services such as:

• Business accounting – business planning, company structures, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, financing, forecasting, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, 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, 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 the benefits of using these services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us

This page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.

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

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

Meet Your Staff

Are you looking for quicker and easier ideas to grow your business online or get prospects to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know you, your team and your organization better.

You want people to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff or team members. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with accounting terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. It should even include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow your staff members on their social networks.

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

(Add a page that introduces your employees to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to add an easy-to-update list directory of staff or team members in WordPress using a free WP plugin, see this tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site

Job Opportunities Page

This is a listing of career opportunities within the firm. It could include training, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. You can also include information about career opportunities in the accounting and financial services 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, subscribe to your contact list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

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

(Add a web page with client reviews and case studies. Image source: pcg-services.com)

We have written extensively about using case studies, testimonials and reviews here: Improve Your Sales Conversions With Knockout Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a contact page is essential.

It should include the following information about your organization:

• Business Name
• Address
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Contact email
• Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Request for more information – who to contact
• Links to social media profiles
• Interactive chat

If your business operates in several areas you want to make this clear when displaying the address and contact information.

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

Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to promote your business using timely content such as company news, product releases, educational articles, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your firm.

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing site is very 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.

Something few people know about, is that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic system that can begin delivering web traffic to your website, simply by publishing new content to your website on a regular basis.

(WordPress can drive traffic automatically to your website)

Go here to learn more about this: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – How To Turn Your WordPress Site Into An Automated Web Traffic Machine

Legal Pages

As a professional business, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is vital, not just for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening laws or regulations wherever your business services clients.

Adding the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services site will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats or inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions
• 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

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your website. For more details, go here: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

How To Improve Your Content

In today’s fiercely competitive digital economy, the sooner you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the faster you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from the competition.

By committing to providing great content with useful advice and tips, you will get your visitors sharing your content and coming back for more information. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure your self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your prospective clients understand your accounting services, such as forensic accounting, small business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords and terminology 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 marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Experience

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

RSS Feeds

An RSS feed provides plenty of benefits for your accounting business.

If you provide valuable information, other sites may 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 content 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
• Allows for subscribing
• It provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides various ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to providing great information on your site from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

You can find many useful RSS feeds by searching online for relevant government departments or key industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few RSS feeds you may want to consider adding 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

(Add RSS feeds to provide your visitors with a better UX.)

Checklists And Forms

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

Forms and checklists could address topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Not-For-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Partnership Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Unique Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are popular tools for accounting websites. Other applications can include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section of this guide, we will look at a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your site that can help to 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 part 1.

To view Part 2, click here:

• Grow Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins And Themes That Can Help To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Web Traffic

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