Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accounting professionals face a number of challenges in the online economy, especially in terms of growing a successful presence online.

Online Challenges For Accountants

Now, more than ever, accountants must work harder to remain competitive, obtain new clients, and keep their current business. Not only do they have to become actively involved in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also maintain a strong digital presence. This includes having an effective web presence and learning smarter ways to grow your business online.

In addition to spending dollars in offline marketing activities such as advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., you will probably find that in order to remain competitive, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be delegated to developing and managing a website that can attract prospective clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and give you a wider degree of reach online.

This means that your site 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 sections will need to be frequently updated. This requires having a sound web and content management strategy in place.

One other challenge that accounting businesses face, as do most businesses for that matter, is that you have only around thirty seconds or less to help users find the information they need 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

Online Opportunities For CPAs

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

This detailed guide will help you uncover a number of ways to attract more visitors and create significant improvements in your accounting and financial business presence online.

As well as providing practical tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your business online, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform to power your accounting or financial services business website or blog.

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

• How A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Cost You Business
• Using A WordPress Blog To Grow A Successful Business

How To Improve Your Website

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

If you need specific help with website planning, visit this page: A Cost-Saving Guide To Website Planning For Business Owners

Improving Your Website Pages

Professional business websites require several basic web pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need and how to set up your accounting website for best results.

Services And Products Description Page

It’s essential to include a page that describes your services or products.

Your page will include services such as:

• Business accounting – planning, company formation, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, 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, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us Page

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, supported community programs, etc.

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

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

Your Team

Are you looking for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products online? Then make it easier for your prospective clients to get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

Prospective clients need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. This page should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors won’t be familiar with accounting terms your bio 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 so your prospective clients can follow your staff members on their social pages.

In this page, make sure to outline your team member’s expertise and qualifications, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a ‘meet the team’ page. Screenshot image sourced from: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to easily add an easy-to-update simple staff directory in your website using a free plugin, refer to this step-by-step tutorial: How To Easily Create A Simple Employee List For Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Recruitment

List any career opportunities within your company. It should include training, benefits, professional development, etc. You should also include information about upcoming 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.

Case Studies

Case studies and testimonials from previous clients are a great way to show potential clients what it’s like to do business with your firm. Adding a page with case studies and testimonials also establishes social proof.

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

We have written extensively on using testimonials and reviews here: How To Convert More Visitors Into Prospects Using Awesome Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include some or all of the following:

• Name
• Your address
• Phone number
• Fax
• Contact email address
• Google Map
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media URLs
• Online Chat/Skype

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

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, frequently-visited pages, special offers, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business using timely content such as announcements, updates, educational articles and tutorials, opinions on current topics, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

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

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

Very few businesses know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic-generation machine that can instantly begin delivering an ongoing stream of targeted traffic to your website, simply by adding regular content to your web site.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more about this: WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Automatically Increase Your Web Visitors For Your Business

Legal Info Pages

It’s very important for professional businesses 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 local, regional or federal laws or regulations are being breached wherever you provide services to.

Adding the legal pages below to your accounting 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 Us
• Privacy Statement
• Terms Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Financial/Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

To learn more about adding legal pages to your website, see this article: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

How To Improve The Content On Your Website

In today’s globally competitive economy, the earlier you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the faster you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from competing 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. Using content is a great way to educate your visitors and prospects about your business.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure a self-managed retirement fund
• Dos 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 readers gain a better understanding of accounting services, such as software accounting, business accounting, business auditing, reducing debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use specific keywords and terms in your content that readers will be searching for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to 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 completely FREE!

Ways To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving your website’s user experience (known 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.

Use RSS Feeds

An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed provides plenty of benefits for your website.

If you provide information 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 businesses using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your content updates are in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Allows for subscribing
• A feed provides links to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are multiple 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 a number of 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 useful content just search online for relevant government departments and key industry bodies.

Here are some exaples of feeds you may want to add 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

(RSS feeds can help to improve your accounting site’s user experience.)

Adding Downloadable Checklists & Forms

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your readers and set yourself apart from the competition. Checklists and forms can provide users with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform a necessary task. They are also great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Fundraising Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Adding Online Tools

Providing unique tools, gadgets and applications for businesses can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to potential clients. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are great tools to add to accounting websites. Other tools would include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section, we will be discussing a number of online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins and themes that can help improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

To view Part Two, click this link:

• How To Grow An Accounting Website – Part Two

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