Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The web economy has not only transformed businesses globally, it has also created significant challenges and opportunities for businesses in the accounting profession.

Online Challenges For Certified Public Accountants

Now, more than ever, accounting organizations must work hard to remain competitive, obtain new clients, and retain current clientele. Not only do they have to become more involved in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also develop and maintain a strong presence online. This includes having a website and learning how to better market your business online.

In addition to investing dollars advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., you will probably find that in order to compete with other accounting businesses, you will need to invest a larger amount of your budget to develop and manage a website that can drive prospects, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and help you gain wider marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, load fast, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website will change over time and sections will need to be frequently updated. This requires having a well-planned website and content management strategy.

Another problem that accountancy firms face online (as all other businesses do for that matter), is that your site has only about thirty seconds to give users what they are searching for or they will look 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 Accountants

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

The guide below will help you uncover new ways to attract new visitors and build more online credibility for your business.

As well as providing practical tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your website, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system to power your accounting business website.

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

• Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Customers
• Everything You Need To Know To Grow A Successful Small Business Using A WordPress Blog

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

This section will show you how to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what pages you need, what content works best, tips for improving your site’s layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting website, go here: A Basic Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Ways To Improve Your Web Pages

Professional business websites require some essential web pages. Let’s go over the pages your  need to have and how to set up your website for best results.

Services And Products Page

You need a page that explains your services or products.

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

• Business – planning, incorporation of companies, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, financing, budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advice, 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. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what these services do and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

Who We Are

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

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

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

Staff Page

Are you searching for cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online? Then make it easier for prospective clients to get to know you, your team and your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors are probably not that 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. This page should even include social buttons so your site visitors can follow some of your staff members on their social networks.

On this page, make sure to outline each team member’s expertise and qualifications, how they add value or contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a page that introduces your team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to create and add an easy-to-maintain simple team members directory in your website without messing with code, go here: How To Add A Simple Staff List To Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

Work With Us

List any career opportunities within the company. It would include type of training provided, benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. You can include case studies of graduates who have established a solid career path thanks to your organization and information about 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 the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show potential clients what kind of solutions you will implement to help them solve their problems. By adding a page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies, you are also helping to establish social proof.

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

If you would like to learn more about using testimonials, case studies and client reviews to improve your business results online, go here: Improve Your Visitor-To-Sales Conversions Using Engaging Client Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Your physical location
• Phone number
• Fax
• Email address
• Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media web addresses
• Chat/Skype

If your business operates in multiple locations you want to make that clear when displaying the address and contact information.

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

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog Section

A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using content such as news, product updates, useful articles, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

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

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing website is hard to add new content to or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can serve as both your business website and business blog.

Very few people know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation system that will begin to drive targeted visitors to your website, simply by publishing regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

You can learn more about this here: Web Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Automatically Generate More Traffic For Your Business Using WordPress

Legal Information

Having a compliant website is extremely important, not just for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching laws and regulations in whatever area you service.

Adding 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 threats and legal inconveniences:

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

To learn more about adding legal pages to your site, see this article: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Tips On How To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s fiercely competitive digital economy, the earlier you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the quicker you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from your competitors.

You want to provide great content with information and tips that will get your readers sharing your content online with others and coming back for more information. Content marketing is a great way to inform and educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Business insurance
• Risk protection
• Tips on structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Dos 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 readers gain a better understanding of your accounting or financial services, such as software accounting, tax accounting, business budgeting, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include keywords and terminology in your content that prospective clients would search 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 website or blog, save money creating useful content that will add value to your 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 completely FREE!

Ways To Improve User Experience

Improving your site’s user experience (generally 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.

Adding RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide many benefits for your business.

If you provide useful information, other businesses may want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your content updates are in one place
• 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 links to point back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are multiple ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. view the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

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

To find RSS feeds with loads of useful content for your website, visit sites of finance and tax-related government departments and key industry bodies.

Below we have listed some exaples of useful RSS feeds you may want to 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

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

Adding Online Checklists And Forms

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement, add value to your readers and set yourself apart from the competition. They can provide visitors with step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks performed. Forms and checklists can also be great planning tools.

Checklists and forms can include subjects such as:

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Not-For-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Company Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Adding Other Tools

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

In part two of this detailed article, we take a look at a several WordPress plugins you can add to your accounting website that can improve seo, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1.

Click on this link to continue reading:

• The Ultimate Guide To Successfully Growing An Accounting Or Financial Services Business Online – Part Two

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