Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The information economy has not only transformed the way business is done globally, it has also created new challenges and great opportunities for accounting businesses.

Online Challenges For CPAs

Now, more than ever, accountancy organizations must work hard to remain competitive, find new business, and retain current clients. Not only do you have to participate in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also maintain a strong web presence. This includes having a dynamic web presence and learning how to better promote your business services online.

In addition to investing dollars advertising offline, you will probably find that in order to compete with other accounting businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be delegated towards the development and maintenance of a website that drives new clients, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and helps give you wider marketing reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of the website may change in time and sections will need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a well-developed website and content management strategy.

Another problem that accounting firms face with their websites, as do all other businesses for that matter, is that your site has only about 30 seconds or less to help users find the information they are searching for or they will leave your site and go 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 Certified Public Accountants In The Web Economy

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for accounting companies that are willing to adapt to meet the challenges of the digital economy and who can think outside the box when it comes to marketing their business services better online.

In this article, you will learn about new ways and opportunities to source more potential clients and establish online credibility for your accounting or financial services 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 website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System, see the articles below:

• Why A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Lose You Money And What To Do About It
• Everything You Need To Know About Growing Your Small Business Online Using WordPress

Useful Tips For Improving Your Accounting Site

In this section we’ll show you how to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what pages an accounting site needs, what type of content works best, suggestions for improving navigation structure, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, read this detailed step-by-step guide: Planning Your Business Website: A Basic Guide For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

Professional business websites need several basic web pages. Let’s review the pages your  need and how to structure your accounting website for best results.

Services And Products Page

You need to include a page that describes your services and products.

This page will include services such as:

• Business – business planning, incorporation of companies, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, financing, budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, 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, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about what these services do and why they should choose you.

Who We Are

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

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

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

Meet Our Team

Are you searching for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to grow your business online and increase user interaction on your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know your organization better.

Prospects need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. It should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with accounting terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. This page should even include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow individual team members on their social pages.

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

(Make sure to add a ‘meet the team’ page. Image source: deepsky.com)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on how to create and add an easy-to-maintain simple team members directory in WordPress with no coding skills required, go here: Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee Directory

Recruitment

List any career opportunities within the company. This page could include training, benefits, professional development, social activities encouraged or sponsored by your firm, etc. It should include case studies of recruits who have risen within your company and information about 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 the page, join your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials from previous clients are a great way to show prospective clients what type of solutions you are capable of implementing to help solve their problems. By adding a page with case studies and reviews from clients, you will also help to establish social proof online.

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

We have written extensively about using testimonials and reviews to improve your business results online. Go here to learn more: Convert More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects With Captivating Client Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a functional contact page is essential.

It should include the following information about your company:

• Company Name
• Location of office
• Telephone number
• Fax
• Contact email
• Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media links
• Live Chat/Skype

If you operate from several areas you want to make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including a few links for commonly-asked questions, frequently-visited pages, special offers, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Blog Section

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 by publishing content such as industry events, updates, training articles, opinions and discussions, videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an existing 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 site is hard to keep updated or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can serve both as your website and business blog.

Something few people know about, is that WordPress can become an automated traffic system that will help begin to deliver targeted visitors to your web site, simply by publishing new content on a consistent basis to your website.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

For more details, go here: Web Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Getting More Website Visitors Automatically With WordPress

Legal Pages

As a professional business, ensuring that you have a compliant website is essential, not just for establishing trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaching laws or regulations wherever you provide services to.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Financial/Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your site, refer to this article: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Improving The Content On Your Website

In today’s globally competitive economy, content marketing has become one of the key differentiators for businesses.

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

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

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Structuring 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 educational articles that will help your readers understand accounting services, such as software accounting, tax accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include keywords and terminology 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 actionable information and practical tips that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating high-quality content for 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!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

An RSS feed provides plenty of benefits for your website.

If you provide useful content, other businesses will 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
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• It provides links to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides various ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can read the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

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

To find RSS feeds with useful content for your website, search online for tax-related government departments and industry bodies.

Below we have listed some exaples of feeds 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

(RSS feeds can help to improve your site’s user experience.)

Checklists & Forms

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement, add value to your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. Checklists and forms can give them step-by-step instructions and resources to perform tasks. Checklists and forms are great business planning tools.

Checklists and forms can include areas such as:

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

Other Tools

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

In part two of this guide, we discuss a number of online tools you can use in your accounting website using WordPress plugins and themes that can improve seo, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

Click here to view Part Two:

• How To Grow An Accounting Or Financial Services Business Online – Part 2

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