Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress
Accountants today face significant challenges.
Online Challenges For Accounting And Financial Businesses
Certified Public Accountants today must work harder than ever before to remain competitive. Not only do they have to become more involved in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also develop a strong presence online. This includes having an effective website and figuring out smarter ways to promote your business services online.
In addition to investing money in offline marketing activities such as advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other accounting businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be directed towards the development and maintenance of a website that will attract prospective clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and help you create wider reach online.
This means that your site not only has to look professional, load fast, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change in time and many areas may need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a well-planned web and content management strategy.
One other difficult challenge that accounting organizations face with their websites, and most businesses for that matter, is that your site has an average of thirty seconds to give visitors the information they need or they will 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 CPAs In The Web Economy
As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting profession that can evolve to meet the challenges of the digital economy and can think outside the box in terms of marketing their business better online.
In this comprehensive guide, you will learn about new ways to drive more traffic and establish online credibility for your business.
As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your accounting web presence, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) to power your accounting business website.
To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform, go here:
- Learn How A Poorly Built Web Site Can Lose You Customers And What To Do About It
- Using A WordPress Site To Grow A Successful Small Business
Ways To Improve Your Website
We’ll start first by going over the basic stuff. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your accounting website and get better results. We will look at what pages your site needs, what type of content works best for accounting and financial services websites, ways of improving your layout and navigation, etc.
If you need help with website planning, go here: A Money-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners
Your Web Pages
Professional websites need a number of basic web pages. Let’s go over these.
Description Of Products And Services
You need a page that lists your services and any products that you offer.
It will include all the products and services you offer, such as:
- Business accounting – business planning, incorporation of companies, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, book keeping, forecasting, budgeting, financing, 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, asset transfers, etc.
- Lending and leasing
List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about what your services do and why they should book an appointment.
About Us Page
The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.
It’s important to also mention any accounting awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote the company and position it above other competitors.
(List all of your business awards certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc. in your About page. Image source: deloitte.com)
Your Staff
Are you looking for quicker and easier 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 business better.
You want potential clients to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees or team members. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in 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 so your visitors can follow selected team members on their social pages.
On this page, make sure to highlight each team member’s experience, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.
(Add a page that introduces your employees to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)
We have created a detailed tutorial on how to easily add a simple employee directory to your web site without coding skills here: How To Add A Simple Staff List On Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required
Career Opportunities Page
List any career opportunities within your organization. It could include training offered, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can also include stories of graduates who have worked their way up in your firm and information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.
Also include a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, subscribe to your updates list, follow your social pages, etc.
Testimonials And Case Studies
Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to show potential clients the benefits of doing business with your organization. Adding a page with client reviews and case studies also helps to establish social proof.
(Add a page to your site with testimonials and case studies. Image sourced from: pcg-services.com)
If you want to learn more about using case studies, testimonials and client reviews, refer to this article: Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Leads With Engaging Client Testimonials
Contact Us
A clean contact page is crucial.
Your contact page should include some or all of the following information:
- Name
- Address
- Telephone
- Facsimile
- Contact email
- Map and directions
- Website address
- Contact form
- Name of person to contact
- Links to social media networks
- Chat feature (optional feature)
If you operate out of multiple areas you will want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.
You can also include links to an FAQ section, frequently-visited pages, special offers, support page, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.
Add An Accounting Blog
A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to promote your business using content such as news and events, product releases, educational articles and tutorials, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, infographics, etc.
If you already have an accounting or financial services website, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to promote your business.
If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing site is very hard to keep updated with new content or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can serve both as your website and your blog.
Very few businesses know that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic-generation machine that can help begin delivering new targeted traffic to your site, simply by publishing content to your website on a regular basis.
(An expertly configured WordPress site can drive web traffic automatically to your website)
Go here to learn more about this: Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Increase Your Website Traffic For Your Business
Legal Info Pages
As a professional accountant, ensuring that you have a compliant website is really important, not just for establishing trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no laws and regulations are being contravened wherever your do business in.
Depending on the products and services you provide, adding the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:
- Contact Page
- Privacy Statement
- Terms And Conditions 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
- etc.
We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your site here: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Website
Improving Your Content
In today’s globally competitive economy, engaging in the practice of content marketing has become one of the key business differentiators.
By committing to providing great content with advice and tips, you will get your readers sharing your content and coming back for more information. This is the most effective way to inform and educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business.
For example, topics for an accounting or financial services business can include the following:
- How balance sheets work
- Understanding profit & loss statements
- Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
- How to present accounts for non-profit activities
- Cashflow planning advice
- Maximizing business insurance cover
- Risk prevention
- How to structure a self-managed retirement fund
- Dos 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 readers understand your accounting or financial services, such as forensic accounting, small business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, understanding financial concepts, etc.
Remember to use specific keywords and terms in your content that your prospective clients will be searching 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 exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, 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!
Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience
Improving user experience (typically referred to as UX) will help you keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you ways you can improve your visitor engagement and UX.
RSS Feeds – Content Syndication
An RSS feed provides plenty of benefits for your accounting business.
If you provide information that adds value to others, other sites will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.
Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:
- All of your content updates are in one place
- Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
- Your feed can be shared online
- Allows users to subscribe
- It provides a way for external links to point back to your site
- Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
- There are various ways readers can receive your content (e.g. users can read the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
- It’s built into WordPress
There are also benefits when it comes to providing great information on 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 finance and tax-related government departments or key industry bodies.
Below we have listed some exaples of RSS feeds containing useful information that 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
(Adding RSS feeds can help to improve your accounting site’s user experience.)
Checklists & Forms
Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. Checklists and forms can provide visitors with step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks done. Forms and checklists are also great planning tools.
You can provide online or downloadable forms and checklists covering a range of areas such as:
- How To Set Up A Company
- Rental Property Worksheet
- Not-For-Profit Activity Checklist
- Disclosure Checklists
- Individual Tax Checklist
- Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
- Income Tax Variation Forms
Adding Online Tools
Providing unique tools and applications for businesses on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your potential clients. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are great tools you can add to accounting websites. Other tools would include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.
In the next section of this guide, we look at a several online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins that can help improve seo, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.
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This is the end of section 1 of this guide on ways to grow your accounting web presence.
To view Part 2, click here:
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)
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