Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only transformed the way business is done globally, it has also created significant challenges and great opportunities for CPAs.

Challenges Accountants Face Online

CPAs today must work harder than ever to remain in business. Not only do you have to maintain an active presence in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also develop an active digital presence. This includes having a website and searching for smarter ways to grow your business online.

In addition to spending dollars in offline marketing activities such as advertising on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., you will probably find that in order to compete, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be directed towards the development and management of a website that drives prospects, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and gives your business a wider degree of exposure online.

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

Another difficult challenge that accountancy firms (and other professions) face, is that your site has only about 30 seconds to provide visitors what they need or they will go away.

“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 Accounting Businesses

As well as facing many challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for accounting firms that can evolve to meet the challenges of the digital economy and think strategically when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

This guide will help you uncover new ways to find new business and create significant improvements in your business results online.

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

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

• Discover How A Poorly Built Web Site Can Cost You Money
• Using WordPress To Grow A Successful Business Online

Practical Tips For Improving Your Accounting Site

We’ll start first by reviewing the basic stuff. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your website and get better results. We show you what web pages you need, what content works best for accounting and financial services sites, ways to improve navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting or financial services website, check out the article we have written here: A Basic Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Improving Your Website Pages

Professional business websites require some basic pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need to have and how to set up your accounting website for best results.

Description Of Products And Services

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

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

• Business accounting – planning, incorporation of companies, accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting, 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 a business, asset 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 the benefits of using these services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us Page

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

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

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

Your Team

If you are searching for ideas to grow your business online, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

Prospective clients need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in accounting terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. It should even include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow some of your team members on their social pages.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each employee’s experience, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your employees to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to add a simple and easily updatable simple team directory to your WordPress site without messing around with code here: Adding A Staff Directory

Work With Us

This is a listing of career opportunities within the organization. It would include training offered, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working for your organization, etc. You should also include stories of recruits who have risen within your firm and information about new 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, subscribe to your updates list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Customer reviews and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients the benefits of doing business with your firm. Adding a page with case studies and testimonials also provides social proof online.

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

If you would like to learn more about using client testimonials and reviews get better results online, go here: Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Leads Using Meaningful Testimonials

Contact Page

A functional contact page is absolutely necessary.

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

• Company Name
• Physical address
• Telephone
• Fax number
• Contact email
• Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Links to social media networks
• Online chat feature

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

You can also include links to the most commonly asked questions, useful pages, special offers, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically include a content management system that allows you to promote your business using content like industry news, company updates, educational information, opinions on current topics, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

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

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

Something few businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that can begin attracting an ongoing stream of targeted visitors to your web site, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

(WordPress can drive traffic automatically to your site)

For more details: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Create A Traffic-Getting Machine

Legal Info Pages

It’s really important to make sure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no laws and regulations are being contravened wherever your business services clients.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your website will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions
• 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

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your website. Go here to learn more: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Tips On How To Improve Your Content

In today’s fiercely competitive online economy, content generosity has become one of the key differentiators for businesses that sell similar products or provide similar services.

Providing great content with useful advice and tips will get your readers to share your web pages online with others and come back for more information. Content marketing is a great way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business and about using your services.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Profit and loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Business insurance
• Risk prevention
• 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 informative articles that will help your your readers understand accounting services, such as software accounting, small business accounting, tips on using office accounting software, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords and terms in your articles that your readers would search for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information that will teach you 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 100% FREE!

Improve User Experience

Improving your website’s user experience (generally referred to 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.

Syndicate Content Using RSS Feeds

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

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

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

• All of your updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• A feed provides links back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are several ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to providing content on your website 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 for your website by searching online for relevant government departments or well-known industry bodies.

For example, here are examples of RSS feeds containing useful information that you could add 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

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

Adding Online Forms

Checklists and forms are a great way to help increase user engagement, add value to your readers and set yourself apart from the competition. Forms and checklists can provide users with useful instructions and resources to complete tasks. They are also great business planning tools.

You can provide a range of online or downloadable forms and checklists covering subjects such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Fundraising Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Add Other Tools

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

In part 2 of this detailed article, we will look at a several WordPress plugins and themes you can use in your site that can help to improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this guide on ways to grow your accounting business online.

To continue, click this link:

• The Complete Guide On How To Build And Grow Your Accounting Or Financial Services Business Online – Part 2

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