Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals today face many challenges created by the online economy.

Online Challenges For Certified Public Accountants

Now, more than ever, accountants must work hard to remain competitive, obtain new clients, and keep their current clientele. Not only do you have to participate in the communities and industries you serve, you must also develop an active digital presence. This includes having a dynamic web presence and learning smarter ways to market your business online.

In addition to investing dollars in offline marketing activities, you will probably find that in order to compete with other accounting businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be assigned to develop and manage a website that brings new clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and helps increase your marketing 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 it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of your website will change in time and many areas may need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing well-planned web and content management strategy.

One other problem that accounting organizations face (as do most other professions for that matter), is that your site has around 30 seconds or less to help visitors find 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 CPAs

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting sector that are willing to adapt to meet digital economy demands and can think strategically in terms of marketing themselves better online.

The guide below will help you uncover a number of ways to find new potential clients and create significant improvements in your business results online.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your accounting business online, we also focus on 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:

• Learn Why A Poorly Built Website Can Cost You Customers And What To Do About It
• Using A WordPress Blog To Grow Your Business Online

How To Improve Your Website

Let’s start by covering the basics. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages you need, what content you need, layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, read this detailed guide we have written: A Basic Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Your Website Pages

Professional business websites need some essential web pages. Let’s review the pages your  need and how to structure your accounting or financial services website for best results.

Services And Products

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

This page should include all the services you offer, such as:

• Business – planning, formation, accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, bookkeeping, 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 choose you.

About Us Page

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, community participation, etc.

Remember to also list any professional awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote the company and set it above your competitors.

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

Meet Our Team

Are you looking for quicker and simpler ideas to sell more products online or get prospects to interact more with your site? Then help your visitors get to know you, your team and your business better.

Prospects need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. It should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors won’t be familiar with accounting terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. This page should even include social buttons so your visitors can follow some of your team members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to highlight your person’s experience, how their skills and knowledge add value or contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add an employee description page. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to easily create and add a simple and easily updatable list of staff or team members in your web site with no coding skills required here: How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site

Career Opportunities

List any career opportunities within your organization. It would include training offered, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working for your organization, etc. It should include stories of trainees who have risen within your firm and information such as the job outlook and additional career opportunities in the accounting industry.

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

Case Studies & Testimonials

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show potential clients what kind of accounting solutions you are capable of implementing to help solve their problems. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials, you will also help to will also be providing social proof online.

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

We have created a detailed article about using client testimonials and client reviews to improve your business results online. Go here to learn more: Discover How To Turn More Visitors Into Prospects With Engaging Testimonials

Contact Us

A contact page is essential.

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

• Business Name
• Your physical address
• Telephone number
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Google Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media web addresses
• Live Chat/Skype (optional feature)

If your business services several areas you should make this clear when displaying the address and contact info.

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

Add A Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms typically include a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content such as industry news, company updates, educational articles, informative posts, videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an accounting or financial services website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your business.

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing website is very hard to manage or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can be used both as your website and your blog.

You are probably not aware of this, but WordPress can turn into an automated traffic system that can help begin delivering new targeted traffic to your business, simply by adding regular content to your site.

(WordPress can drive traffic automatically to your site)

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

Legal Pages

It’s vitally important to ensure they have a compliant website, not just for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws and regulations are being contravened in whichever area you service.

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

• Contact Page
• 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

Go here to learn more about adding legal pages to your site: How To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Improving Your Content

In today’s highly competitive global economy, the earlier you begin to publish great content on your site, the sooner you will begin to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

By committing to providing great content with advice and tips, you will get your readers to share your content with others and come back for more. This is the most effective way to educate your visitors and prospects about your business and about using your products and services.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Dos and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your readers gain a better understanding of your services, such as finance accounting, business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing debt, understanding accounting concepts, etc.

Remember to include the same keywords in your content that readers will be searching 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 teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your 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 Engagement And User Experience

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

Using RSS Feeds

An RSS feed provides plenty 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 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 feed
• It provides a way for links to point back to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are a number of ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. users can read the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• 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.

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

Here are examples of feeds you may want to consider adding to your accounting site:

• 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 accounting site’s UX.)

Adding Forms & Checklists

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your readers and provide something unique. They can provide useful instructions and resources to perform a task. Checklists and forms are also great business planning tools.

Checklists and forms can cover areas such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Fundraising Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

Providing useful tools and applications for businesses on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your potential clients. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are great tools to add to accounting websites. Others would include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In part two, we will be discussing a number of WordPress-based tools you can add to your accounting or financial services website that can improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this guide on ways to improve your accounting web presence.

Click here to access Part Two:

• Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins That Can Help To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation

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