Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only revolutionized business worldwide, it has also created new challenges and opportunities for businesses in the accounting industry.

Online Challenges For Accountants

Today, more than ever, accountants must work harder and find smarter ways to stand out from the crowd, find new clients, and retain current business. Not only do you have to become more involved in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also develop and maintain an active web presence. This includes having an effective website and learning smarter ways to market your business online.

In addition to spending dollars advertising offline on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv, etc., you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other accounting businesses, you will need to invest a larger amount of your budget to develop and maintain a website that attracts new prospective clients, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and helps to give your business a wider degree of reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs will change over time and many aspects will need to be updated frequently. This requires the implementation of a sound website and content management strategy.

Another difficult challenge that accounting firms face with their websites (and most professions for that matter), is that you have an average of thirty seconds or less to help visitors find the information 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 CPAs In The Digital Economy

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 evolve to meet digital economy challenges and who can think strategically in terms of improving their online business marketing skills.

This comprehensive guide will help you uncover opportunities to find more accounts and establish stronger online credibility for your business.

As well as providing practical tips and information on ways to improve your business online, we also recommend that you consider 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 the articles below:

• Why A Poorly Built Website Can Lose You Prospective Customers And What To Do About It
• An Online Guide To Growing A Successful Small Business Using A WordPress Blog

Ways To Improve Your Website

This section covers ways to improve your accounting website and get better results. We will look at what pages an accounting site needs, what content works best for accounting and financial services sites, your navigation structure, etc.

If you need any help with website planning, check out the detailed guide we have written here: A Practical Guide To Website Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improving Your Website Pages

Professional business websites require some basic web pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  should have and how to structure your accounting or financial services website for best results.

Description Of Services

You need a page that describes your services and any products that you offer.

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

• Business accounting – planning, formation, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, financing, budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, 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

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and why they should choose you.

About Us Page

This page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, community events, etc.

Remember to also list any awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote the company and position it above other competitors.

(List all of your industry awards recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc. in your About Us page. Image sourced from: deloitte.com)

Your Team

Are you looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to sell more products online? Then one of the things you can do, is help your visitors get to know you, your team and your organization better.

You want prospective clients to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff or team members. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors won’t be familiar with 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 your staff members on their social pages.

In this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each person’s experience, 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 team profile page. Image source: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to easily add a simple and easy-to-manage simple team directory to your site without touching code, refer to this tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory: Plugin Tutorial

Recruitment

List any career opportunities available within the company. This page could include type of training provided, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. It should include case studies of graduates who have established a solid career path thanks to your organization and information about new career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Include also a positions available section in this 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.

Testimonials

Case studies and client reviews are a great way to show prospective clients the benefits of doing business with your firm. By adding a page with client reviews and case studies, you will also help to establish social proof online.

(Add a page to your site with case studies and client reviews. Screenshot source: pcg-services.com)

If you want to learn more about using case studies, testimonials and reviews, refer to this article: Learn How To Turn More Visitors Into Prospects Using Compelling Client Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is crucial.

It should provide visitors with some or all of the following information about your firm:

• Name
• Location
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Request for information – who to contact
• Links to social media profiles
• Live Chat/Skype

If your business services multiple areas you want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact information.

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, main pages, special offers, support page, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool. Most blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content like company news, company updates, training articles and tutorials, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established accounting website, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your company.

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing site is very hard to keep updated or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can act both as your website and your blog.

Something few businesses know about, is that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation system that can instantly begin to deliver web traffic to your site, simply by adding regular content to your website.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more: Web Traffic Blueprint – How To Turn Your WordPress Blog Into A Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Information

It’s vital for professional companies to make sure they have a compliant website, not just for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws or regulations are being breached wherever you provide services to.

Adding the following legal pages to your accounting or financial services website 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 Policy
• Terms Of Use
• 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: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Improving Your Content

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

You want to provide great content with advice and tips that will get your visitors to share your content online and come back for more. Publishing content is a great way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about using your products and services.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Business insurance
• Risk protection
• How to structure a self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your readers understand accounting services, such as finance accounting, tax accounting, business auditing, reducing business debt, understanding accounting conventions, etc.

Remember to include keywords and terms in your articles that your prospective clients would search for online.

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 show exactly 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. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving your user experience (generally referred to as UX) will help to keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you ways you can improve your visitor engagement and user experience.

Adding RSS Feeds

Using RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and user experience in many ways.

If you provide content 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 websites using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides several ways for readers to 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 to adding syndicated content to your site 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 useful content for your website by visiting sites of relevant government departments or well-known industry bodies.

Below we have listed some RSS feeds containing useful information that you may want to add to your 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

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to provide your visitors with a better user experience.)

Add Forms And Checklists

Checklists and forms are a great way to increase user engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and forms can provide visitors with step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks done. Checklists and forms are also great business planning tools.

You can provide a range of checklists and forms (or links to these) covering areas such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Provide Online Tools

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

In part 2 of this detailed guide, we will be discussing a number of online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins that can help to improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part one of this comprehensive guide on ways to grow your accounting web presence.

Click here to keep reading:

• Online Business Tips For Accountants – WordPress Plugins & Themes That Can Help Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Generate More Web Traffic

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