Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals today face a growing number of challenges.

Online Challenges For Accountants

Accounting businesses must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to participate in the communities and industries you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having a dynamic web presence and learning how to better market your business services online.

As well as spending dollars in offline marketing activities, you will probably find that in order to compete, you will need to designate a greater amount of your budget to develop and maintain a website that attracts prospects, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and gives your business a wider amount of marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your 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 over time and sections may need to be updated often. This requires implementing well-developed website and content management strategy.

One other challenge that accounting businesses (and other businesses) face with their websites, is that your site has only around 30 seconds to give users what they are searching 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 The Accounting Profession In The Digital Economy

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for businesses in the accounting industry that can adapt to meet digital demands and think outside the box when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

In this guide, you will learn about new ways and opportunities to drive more traffic and improve your business online.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your business online, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress content management system (CMS) to power your accounting website.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS), see these articles:

• Why A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Lose You Business And What To Do About It
• Understanding WordPress – The Small Business Owner’s Guide

Ways To Improve Your Website

Let’s start by reviewing the basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We will look at what pages a financial services site needs, what content works best, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need specific help with website planning, read this article we have written: A Money-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

All business websites require several essential web pages. Let’s review the pages your  need to have and how to set up your accounting or financial services website for best results.

Your Services And Products

It’s essential to have a page that lists your services and any products that you offer.

This page will include services such as:

• Business – planning, company structures, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, financing, budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, 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, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to 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 these services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.

It’s important to also list any awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote the company and position it above your competitors.

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

Meet Your Staff

Are you searching for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products online? Then something you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. 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 bio. Since most visitors won’t be 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. It should even include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow some of your staff members on their social networks.

On this page, make sure to outline your person’s expertise and qualifications, how their skills 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 team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to easily add a list directory of employees in your website here: Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site

Recruitment

This is a listing of career opportunities available within the firm. This page would include training, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. It should include information about additional 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, subscribe to your updates list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials

Testimonials and case studies are a great way to show potential clients what it’s like to do business with your organization. By adding a page with reviews from clients and case studies, you are also helping to provide prospective clients with social proof online.

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

We have written extensively about using testimonials and client reviews to grow your business online. If you would like to learn more about this here: Learn How To Improve Your Conversions With Engaging Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include:

• Business Name
• Your physical location
• Telephone number
• Facsimile
• Email
• Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media URLs
• Chat (optional)

If your business operates out of multiple areas you want to make this clear when displaying the address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, main pages, special offers, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business using timely content such as news, product releases, training articles and tutorials, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

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

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing accounting or financial services site is very hard to add new content to or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can become both your website and your blog.

Something few people know about, is that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic machine that can begin to attract new visitors to your business, simply by publishing regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more about this: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Turn Your Website Into An Automated Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Info Pages

It’s really important for professional firms to ensure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any local, regional or federal laws or regulations wherever your business is located.

Depending on what services and products you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your accounting site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:

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

We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Tips For Improving Your Content

In today’s fiercely competitive online economy, being generous with content has become one of the key success factors for businesses that sell similar products or provide similar services.

By committing to providing great content with useful information and tips, you will get your readers sharing your content with others and coming back for more. Content marketing is the most effective way to inform and educate your visitors and prospects about your business and about using your products and services.

For example, topics for an accounting business can include the following:

• How balance sheets work
• Understanding profit and loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

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

Remember to use the same keywords and terms in your articles that 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 easy-to-digest information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality 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 completely FREE!

Improving User Experience

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

Use RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in a number of different ways.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other sites may want to syndicate your content.

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

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

There are also benefits when it comes to providing valuable content on your site from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find useful RSS feeds for your website, search online for finance-related government departments or well-known industry bodies.

For example, here are some RSS 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

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

Add Online Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a fantastic way to help increase user engagement, add value to your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. Checklists and forms can provide useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform a task. They are also great planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Checklist
• Non-Profit Activity Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Add Unique Tools

Providing useful tools and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools you can add to accounting websites. Others could include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In part two of this detailed article, we look at a several online tools you can use in your accounting or financial services site using WordPress plugins that can improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this guide on ways to grow your accounting business online.

To view the rest of this guide, click this link:

• Your Accounting Website – Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation Using WordPress Plugins

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