Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals face a number of challenges in today’s web economy, especially when it comes to growing their business online.

Online Challenges For Accounting And Financial Businesses

Today, more than ever, accountancy organizations must work hard to remain competitive, source new business, and keep their current clientele. Not only do they have to become more involved in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also develop and maintain an active web presence. This includes having a website and figuring out better ways to market your business online.

As well as spending money advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are now finding that they will need to assign a more significant share of their marketing budget towards the development and maintenance of a website that drives clients, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and helps to give them a wider marketing reach 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 even more importantly, your site’s needs will change in time and sections may need to be frequently updated. This requires a well-developed web and content management strategy in place.

One other difficult challenge that accounting organizations face online, and other businesses for that matter, is that they have an average of thirty seconds to provide users 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 CPAs In The Digital Economy

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to accounting businesses that can adapt to meet digital challenges and think strategically when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

The article below will help you uncover opportunities to attract more accounts and establish stronger online credibility for your business.

As well as providing practical tips and information on ways to improve your website, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress content management system to power your accounting website.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System, go here:

• Learn How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Cost You Potential Clients And What To Do About It
• Using WordPress To Grow Your Small Business

Practical Tips For Improving Your Accounting Website

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

If you need website planning assistance, go here: A Cost-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improve Your Website Pages

All business websites need a number of basic pages. Let’s go over the pages your  need and how to set up your accounting website for best results.

Products And Services Page

It’s essential to include a page that lists your products and services.

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

• Business – planning, formation, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, budgeting, forecasting, financing, 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 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

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

Remember to also include any business awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote the company and position it above the competition.

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

Team Profile Page

Are you searching for cost-effective ways to grow your business online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then make it easier for prospective clients to get to know, like and trust your organization better.

You want your business to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be very 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 also include social buttons so your site visitors can follow individual staff members on their social pages.

In this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline your person’s experience, how their skills and knowledge add value or contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a page that introduces your employees to prospective new clients. Screenshot image source: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to easily add an easy-to-manage simple team members directory in WordPress without coding skills, refer to this step-by-step tutorial: How To Easily Create A Simple Staff Directory For Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

We’re Hiring

This is a listing of career opportunities within the firm. This page can include training, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can include case studies of recruits who have risen within your organization and information about career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Also include a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to this page, join your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials

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 case studies and client reviews also helps to provide potential clients with social proof online.

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

We have written extensively about using client case studies and user reviews improve your business online. For more details: Improve Your Sales Conversions With Knockout Client Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is crucial.

It should include some or all of the following information about your firm:

• Name
• Location
• Telephone
• Facsimile number
• Contact email address
• Google Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media links
• Interactive chat feature (optional)

If you operate from several areas you will want to make this clear when showing the address and contact information.

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, main pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog

A blog can be a very powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing content such as industry announcements, updates, useful information, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an accounting website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your business.

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

Not many people know this, but WordPress can become an automated traffic machine that can help deliver web traffic to your site, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

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

To learn more about this go here: WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Create An Automated Web Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Info Pages

It’s essential for accounting firms to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no laws and regulations are being contravened wherever your business services clients.

Adding the legal pages below to your site 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 Policy
• Terms And Conditions
• 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. For more details: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, having a well-planned content marketing strategy has become one of the key business differentiators.

Providing great content with useful advice and tips will get your visitors sharing your web pages online with others and coming back for more information. Content marketing is a great way to inform and teach your visitors and prospects about your business.

For example, topics for an accounting business can cover:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning advice
• Business insurance
• Risk prevention
• Tips on 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 informative articles that will help your readers understand your accounting or financial services, such as software accounting, tax accounting, tax planning for small business, reducing business debt, understanding accounting concepts, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords in your content that your readers will be searching for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, 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!

Improving Visitor Experience

Improving your user experience (often referred to as UX) will help to keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and UX.

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

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

If you provide valuable information, other sites may want to syndicate your content.

Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:

• All of your updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• An RSS feed provides a way for external links to point back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are various ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes 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 finance and tax-related government departments or industry bodies.

Here are some useful RSS feeds you may want to add to your accounting website:

• 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 feeds to improve your accounting website’s UX.)

Adding Online Forms & Checklists

Checklists and forms are a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. Forms and checklists can provide useful instructions and resources to perform tasks. They are great planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Company
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

Providing useful tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add value to your potential clients. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are popular tools for accounting websites. Other tools would include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In part 2, we take a look at a several WordPress-based tools you can use in your accounting or financial services website that can help improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

***

This is the end of section 1 of this guide on ways to build your accounting business web presence.

To view Part 2, click this link:

• Grow Your Accounting Website – How To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Web Traffic With Plugins & Themes

Get Notified When New Tutorials Get Published – Subscribe To WPCompendium.org!

***

***

***