Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face increasingly difficult challenges created by the web economy.

Online Challenges For CPAs

Now, more than ever, certified public accountants must find smarter ways to remain competitive, source new clients, and retain current business. 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 digital presence. This includes having a website and figuring out better ways to grow your business online.

In addition to spending dollars in offline marketing activities such as advertising on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are now also finding that they need to delegate a more significant part of their marketing budget towards the development and maintenance of a website that can drive new clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and give them a wider amount of marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of the website may change in time and sections may need to be updated frequently. This requires a well-developed website and content management strategy in place.

One other challenge that CPAs face online (as do other businesses for that matter), is that your site has only about 30 seconds to help visitors find what they need or they will find what they are looking for 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

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available for accounting businesses that can adapt to meet digital challenges and think progressively when it comes to marketing their business better online.

In this article, you will discover a number of ways to drive more traffic and establish online credibility for your accounting or financial services business.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform to power your accounting website or blog.

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

• How A Poorly Built Website Can Lose You Business And What To Do About It
• An Online Guide To Growing Your Successful Business With WordPress

Tips To Improve Your Accounting Site

In this section we’ll start with the basics and show you ways to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what web pages you need, what type of content you need, ways of improving your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, visit this page: A Money-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Web Pages

All business websites require some essential web pages. Let’s discuss these.

Services And Products Description Page

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

This page should include services such as:

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

List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about what these services do and why they should book an appointment.

Who We Are

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

Remember to mention any awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your company and set it above the competition.

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

Meet The Team

If you are searching for quicker and easier ideas to grow your business online, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors 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 staff members. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors won’t be familiar with 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 also include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow your staff members on their social networks.

In this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each team member’s 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 source: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to add a simple and easily updatable list directory of staff or team members to WordPress using free plugins, refer to this step-by-step tutorial: How To Easily Add A Simple Staff List To Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Work With Us

List any career opportunities within your organization. This page should include training offered, benefits, professional development, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. It should include case studies of graduates who have worked their way up in your company and information about new career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Also include 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 updates list, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and client reviews are a great way to show prospective clients them minimize tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. Adding a web page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients also helps to provide visitors social proof.

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

We have written a comprehensive article about using testimonials, case studies and reviews improve your business online. Go here to learn more about this: Convert More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects With Engaging Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is essential.

It should include some or all of the following information:

• Name
• Physical location
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Google Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media URLs
• Interactive chat (optional feature)

If you have different areas you will want to make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

You should also include a few links for the most commonly asked questions, useful pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business by publishing content like news, product updates, training articles, informative posts, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

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

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

Very few people know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic-generation machine that can begin to attract web traffic to your business, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

(WordPress can drive new traffic automatically to your site)

Go here to learn more about this: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Getting More Web Traffic For Your Business Automatically Using WordPress

Legal Information

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial, not just for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws or regulations are being breached in whatever area or location you do business in.

Depending on what services you provide, adding the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services website will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• 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
• etc.

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your website, refer to this article: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Tips For Improving Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the earlier you begin to publish great content on your site, the sooner you will begin to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Providing great content with information and tips will get your visitors sharing your web pages online with others and coming back for more. Content marketing is the most effective way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about using your services.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure 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 informative articles that will help your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your accounting or financial services, such as software accounting, business accounting, business auditing, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use specific keywords and terms 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 actionable information and practical tips that will show you how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating high-quality content for your site 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 Of Improving User Experience

Improving your user experience (often 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.

Using RSS Feeds

RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and user experience in a number of different ways.

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

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

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared online
• Allows users to subscribe
• It provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides various ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can read the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to providing great information 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 just visit sites of finance-related government departments and key industry bodies.

Below we have listed examples of RSS 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

(Using RSS feeds can help to improve your website’s user experience.)

Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to increase user engagement, add value to your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. Forms and checklists can give them step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks completed. Checklists and forms can also be great business planning tools.

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Checklist
• Not-For-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Partnership Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Provide Unique Tools

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

In part 2 of this guide, we look at a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your website that improve seo, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this step-by-step guide on ways to build your accounting business web presence.

To continue reading, click this link:

• Online Business Tips For CPAs – WordPress Plugins & Themes That Can Help To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Visitors

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