Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital economy has not only transformed the way business is done around the world, it has also created new challenges and opportunities for businesses in the accounting sector.

Challenges Certified Public Accountants Face Online

Certified Public Accountants today must work harder than ever before to remain competitive. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also develop an active digital presence. This includes having an effective website and searching for smarter ways to market your business online.

As well as investing dollars advertising offline, you will probably find that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy accounting businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be directed to develop and maintain a website that drives clients, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and helps you create wider reach online.

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

One other difficult challenge that accounting firms face with their websites (as most other professions do for that matter), is that your site has an average of thirty seconds to give visitors the information they are looking for or they will go elsewhere to get their needs met.

“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

Online Opportunities For Professional Accountants

As well as facing significant business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting industry that can evolve to meet digital economy demands and can think progressively in terms of improving their online business marketing skills.

This comprehensive guide will help you uncover ways and opportunities to source new clients and build more online credibility for your business.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your accounting web presence, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System to power your accounting website.

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

• How A Poorly Built Website Can Lose You Potential Buyers
• The Small Business Owner’s Guide To Using WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

We’ll start first by going over some basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages a financial services website needs, what type of content works best for accounting and financial services sites, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, visit this page: A Comprehensive Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Web Pages

All websites need a number of essential web pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need and how to set up your accounting or financial services website for best results.

Description Of Services

You need a page that describes your services and products.

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

• Business accounting – planning, formation, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, bookkeeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, planning, reviewing, auditing, advice, 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 a business, asset 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 your services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us

This page should give a description of your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.

Remember to also mention any industry awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote the company and position it above your competitors.

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

Your Staff

Are you searching for ideas to grow your business online and increase user interaction on your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust you 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 mini bio. Since most visitors won’t be that well-versed in accounting terms your 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 that will allow your prospective clients to follow some of your staff members on their social networks.

On this page, make sure to highlight each team member’s qualifications, 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 page that introduces your staff members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to create and add a directory of employees in WordPress using free WP plugins, go here: How To Create A Simple Staff Directory In Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Job Opportunities

List any career opportunities within the organization. This page can include training provided, benefits, professional development, social activities promoted or encouraged by your firm, etc. You should also include stories of graduates who have established a solid career path thanks to your company and information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the accounting 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, join your updates list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

Client reviews and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients what it’s like to do business with your company. Adding a web page with case studies and testimonials from past clients also provides potential clients with social proof.

(Add a page with case studies and testimonials. Screenshot source: pcg-services.com)

We have written a comprehensive article about using testimonials and client reviews to grow your business online. For more details, go here: Achieve Better Results Online With Knockout Client Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a functional contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should provide visitors with the following:

• Business Name
• Physical address
• Phone
• Fax
• Email
• Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Links to social media pages
• Chat feature (optional)

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 page, main pages, special offers, support page, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using content like industry announcements, product updates, training articles, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an accounting or financial services site, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your firm.

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

Very few businesses know that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic-generation machine that can help begin driving targeted traffic to your web site, simply by publishing regular content to your site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

For more details: Website Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Generating More Website Traffic Automatically

Legal Info Pages

It’s extremely important for accounting organizations to make sure they have a compliant website, not just for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any laws or regulations wherever your business is located.

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 sources of legal threats and inconveniences:

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

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your site, see this article: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Improve Your Content

In today’s ultra competitive global economy, the sooner you begin to publish great content on your site, the quicker you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Providing great content with useful advice and tips will get your visitors sharing your web pages online and coming back for more information. This is a great way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business and about doing business with your firm.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Profit and loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning advice
• Business insurance
• Risk protection
• Tips on structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing insurance, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your readers gain a better understanding of your accounting or financial services, such as software accounting, small business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use keywords and terms in your content that 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 show you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content for your site 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 To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Syndicate Content With RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide lots of benefits for your site.

If you provide useful content, other sites will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• It provides links to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides various ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

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

You can find RSS feeds with loads of useful content for your website by searching online for relevant government departments and respected industry bodies.

Here are some useful RSS feeds you could consider adding 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 feeds to improve your accounting website’s user experience.)

Add Forms And Checklists

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your audience and provide something unique. They can provide users with useful instructions and resources to complete tasks. They can also be great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Company
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Fundraising Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Adding Other Tools

Providing useful tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to potential clients. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are some of the most popular tools for accounting websites. Others can include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section of this detailed guide, we take a look at a number of WordPress-based tools you can add to your site that can improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

Click on this link to keep reading:

• A Practical Guide To Growing Your Accounting Or Financial Services Business Online – Part Two

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