Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face increasingly difficult challenges thanks to the digital economy.

Challenges Certified Public Accountants Face Online

Accounting businesses today must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to participate in the communities and industries your business serves, you must also develop and maintain an active digital presence. This includes having an effective website and learning better ways to market your business online.

In addition to investing dollars advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., you will probably find that in order to compete, you will need to assign a more significant amount of your budget towards the development and maintenance of a website that drives leads, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and helps you gain a wider degree of marketing reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, load fast, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs will change over time and some aspects will need to be updated frequently. This requires having a sound web and content management strategy.

Another problem that accountants face (as do all other professions for that matter), is that your site has only around thirty seconds or less to provide visitors with what they are looking for 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 Accountants In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting industry that are willing to adapt to meet online demands and can think outside the box when it comes to marketing their services better online.

This comprehensive guide will help you uncover new opportunities to find more potential clients and establish stronger online credibility for your business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress platform to power your accounting or financial services website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS), see these articles:

• Discover Why A Poorly Built Web Site Can Lose You Potential Customers And What To Do About It
• An Online Guide To Growing A Business With WordPress

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

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

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting website, read this detailed step-by-step guide: How To Plan Your Small Business Website - A Money-Saving Guide For Business Owners

Essential Pages

Professional business websites require some basic pages. Let’s take a look at these.

Services

You need to include a page that lists your products or services.

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

• Business – planning, company structures, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, forecasting, budgeting, financing, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, 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

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

About Us

This page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical donations, etc.

It should also include any business awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote your company and set it above other competitors.

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

Team Profile

If you are searching for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is make it easier for your prospective clients to get to know your business better.

People need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. This page should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors won’t be that well-versed in accounting terms your bio 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 so your site visitors can follow individual team members on their social networks.

In this page, make sure to highlight each team member’s experience, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a team profile page. Screenshot image source: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to easily create and add an updatable list directory of staff members to your WordPress site without messing with code, refer to this tutorial: How To Easily Add A Simple Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site

Career Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities available within your company. It could include training offered, employee benefits, professional development, etc. You should also include 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 this page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to show potential clients them minimize tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients, you are also helping to provide prospective clients with social proof.

(Add a web page with reviews from clients and case studies. Image sourced from: pcg-services.com)

If you want to learn more using testimonials, case studies and user reviews to grow your business online, go here: All You Need To Know To Get Better Results Online With Sales Boosting Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should include the following:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Location
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Google Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Chat

If your business services several areas you should make this clear when displaying the address and contact info.

Consider also including links to commonly-asked questions, frequently-visited pages, special offers, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Blog

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business using content such as news and events, updates, useful articles, opinions on current topics, videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

Not many businesses know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that can begin to drive web traffic to your site, simply by publishing new content on a consistent basis to your website.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more about this: Website Traffic Blueprint – How To Turn Your WordPress Website Into A Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Info Pages

As a professional accountant or financial services provider, having a compliant website is crucial, not just for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no laws or regulations are being broken wherever your business is located.

Adding the following legal pages to your accounting 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 Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms 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.

To learn more about adding legal pages to your website, see this article: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips On How To Improve The Content On Your Site

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

By committing to providing great content with useful information and tips, you will get your visitors sharing your content and coming back for more information. Using content is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about your business.

For example, for an accounting or financial services business, topics can cover:

• How balance sheets work
• Understanding profit & loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk prevention
• Structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your readers understand your services, such as software accounting, business accounting, tips on using small business accounting software, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords in your content that your readers would search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating useful content for your visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and user experience in several ways.

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

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

• All of your updates are in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared online
• Allows users to subscribe
• A feed provides a way for links to point back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides various ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits to adding syndicated content to your website from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find RSS feeds with loads of useful content just visit sites of finance and tax-related government departments or industry bodies.

Below we have listed some feeds you could add to your 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

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to provide your visitors with a better user experience.)

Checklists And Forms

Checklists and forms are a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. They can give them useful instructions and resources to get necessary tasks performed. 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 Business
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Not-For-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Company Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Online Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools for accounting websites. Other applications would include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section, we take a look at a number of online tools you can use in your website using WordPress plugins and themes that can help to improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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

To view Part 2, click here:

• How To Build And Grow Your Accounting Or Financial Services Online Presence Successfully With WordPress – Part Two

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