Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals face many new challenges in today’s digital economy, especially in terms of growing their business online.

Online Challenges For The Accounting Profession

Today, more than ever, certified public accountants must work harder to remain competitive, source new clients, and keep their current business. Not only do they have to become more involved in the communities and industries they serve, they must also develop a strong digital presence. This includes having a website and learning how to better promote your business online.

As well as spending dollars advertising offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other accounting businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be allocated to develop and manage a website that drives prospective clients, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and increases your marketing reach online.

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

One other problem that accounting organizations (and other professions) face, is that they have only around 30 seconds to provide users with what 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 Certified Public Accountants In The Web Economy

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available for accounting firms that are willing to adapt to meet online challenges and can think strategically about improving their online marketing skills.

In this article, you will learn ways to attract more visitors and build more online credibility for your business.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform to power your accounting business website.

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

• Learn How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Cost You Money
• Learning WordPress – A Business Owner’s Guide

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

This section will show you how to improve your accounting website and get better results. We show you what pages your site needs, what content works best, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, read this article we have written: How To Plan Your Website - A Comprehensive Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Website Pages

Professional business websites require several essential pages. Let’s discuss these.

Services And Products

It’s essential to have a page that explains your services and products.

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

• Business – business planning, company structures, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, bookkeeping, financing, budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting services, 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, 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 your services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

This page should give a description of your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, supported community programs, etc.

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

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

Your Staff Page

Are you searching for quicker and easier ideas to grow your business online and get visitors to stay longer on your site? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.

You want your business to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors won’t be 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. It should even include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow individual staff members on their social networks.

In this page, make sure to outline each team member’s expertise and qualifications, 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 easy-to-update list directory of employees in your site using free plugins here: How To Create A Simple Staff Directory For Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Recruitment

This is a listing of career opportunities within your company. This page can include type of training provided, employee benefits, professional development, social activities sponsored by your organization, etc. You can include stories of recruits who have risen within your firm and information about career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Include also 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 are a great way to show potential clients the benefits of doing business with your firm. Adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients also provides social proof online.

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

We have created a detailed article about using testimonials and reviews get better results online. For more details: Learn How To Achieve Better Results Online With Knockout Client Testimonials

Contact Us

A clean contact page is essential.

Your contact page should include:

• Company Name
• Your address
• Phone number
• Fax
• Email
• Google Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media URLs
• Online chat feature (optional feature)

If your business operates out of several 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, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content such as industry announcements, updates, training information, informative posts, how-to videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established site, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to promote your business.

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

Something not many people know about, is that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic-generation system that will help begin driving an ongoing stream of targeted visitors to your business, simply by adding regular content to your web site.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can generate new traffic automatically to your site)

Go here to learn more: Web Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Getting More Web Visitors For Your Business Automatically With WordPress

Legal Information

It’s crucial for accounting companies to ensure they have a compliant website, not just for building trust with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any local, regional and federal laws and regulations wherever your do business in.

Depending on what services and products you provide, adding the legal pages below 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 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 Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

We have written a comprehensive article about adding legal pages to your website. Go here to learn more: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Improve The Content On Your Site

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

You will want to provide great content with useful advice and tips that will get your readers to share your web pages and come back for more information. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and educate your visitors and prospects about your business.

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

• 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
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk prevention
• Structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing insurance, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your prospective clients understand accounting services, such as software accounting, small business accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, understanding accounting conventions, etc.

Remember to include keywords in your content that prospective clients 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 and practical tips that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content for 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 100% FREE!

Ways To Improve User Experience

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

Syndicate Content With RSS Feeds

Adding RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and user experience in many ways.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other businesses may want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• A feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are a number of 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 to adding syndicated content to 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 visiting sites of relevant government departments or respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed some feeds you could 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

(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your website’s user experience.)

Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your audience and provide something unique. Checklists and forms can provide visitors with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to complete necessary tasks. Checklists and forms can also be great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Company
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Not-For-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

Providing useful tools 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 useful tools for accounting websites. Other tools could include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In part 2 of this guide, we take a look at a several online tools you can use in your accounting or financial services website using WordPress plugins that can help to improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

Click on this link to access Part 2:

• How To Build And Grow An Accounting Web Presence Successfully With WordPress – Part Two

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