Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants face a number of challenges in today’s online economy, especially in terms of growing a business presence online.

Challenges CPAs Face Online

Certified Public Accountants today must work harder than ever before to remain in business. Not only do they have to actively participate in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also maintain a strong presence online. This includes having a dynamic website and figuring out better ways to market your business services online.

As well as investing money advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television, etc., businesses in the accounting industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be assigned towards developing and managing a website that will bring in prospective clients, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help to create wider 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 many areas may need to be updated frequently. This requires a well-planned website and content management strategy in place.

One other difficult challenge that accountancy firms face (as most other professions do for that matter), is that your site has around thirty seconds or less to help visitors find the information they are searching for or they will leave and 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 Certified Public Accountants

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting industry that are willing to evolve to meet digital economy demands and can think progressively when it comes to marketing their business better online.

In this article, you will learn ways to attract more business and improve your accounting and financial business presence online.

As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your accounting website, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System to power your accounting business website.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS), see the articles below:

• Learn How A Poorly Built Web Site Can Cost You Prospective Buyers
• WordPress For Small Business Owners – A Beginner’s Guide To Growing A Small Business Using A WordPress Site

Practical Tips To Improve Your Accounting Site

In this section we will show you how to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages your site needs, what type of content works best for accounting websites, suggestions for improving your site’s layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need help with website planning, go here: The Website Planning Process: A Cost-Saving Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improve Your Web Pages

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

Your Services And Products

You need a page that explains your products or services.

It will include services such as:

• Business – business planning, incorporation of companies, general accounting, payroll, preparing financial statements, bookkeeping, budgeting, financing, forecasting, strategic planning, consulting services, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advice, 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. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using these services and why they should choose you.

About Us

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

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

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

Meet The Team

Are you looking for cost-effective ideas to sell more products online? Then something you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know you, your team and 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 brief biography. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in accounting terms it 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 prospective clients can follow your staff members on their social networks.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline your employee’s expertise and qualifications, how their skills 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 or team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to easily create and add a simple and easily updatable list directory of staff members to your web site without coding skills, go here: Tutorial: How To Add An Employee Directory

Job Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities within your company. This page could include training offered, benefits, professional development, social aspects of working for your firm, etc. You can include stories of trainees who have worked their way up in your firm and information such as the job outlook and new 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.

Case Studies And 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 client reviews also provides social proof online.

(Add a page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients. Screenshot image sourced from: pcg-services.com)

If you want to learn more using testimonials and client reviews improve your business online, go here: How To Get Better Results Online With Standout Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A contact page is essential.

Your contact page should provide visitors with the following information about your firm:

• Name
• Location
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Email
• Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media profiles
• Chat/Skype (optional)

If your business operates from different areas you will want to make this clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including a few links for the most commonly asked questions, frequently-visited pages, special offers, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog

A blog is a very powerful business marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content such as industry news, company updates, useful articles and tutorials, discussions on current topics, videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Something few people know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic machine that can begin to drive targeted visitors to your site, simply by publishing regular content to your site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more about this: Web Site Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Increasing Your Website Visitors Automatically

Legal Pages

It’s important for professional companies to make sure 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 local, regional or federal laws or regulations wherever your business services clients.

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

• Contact Us
• Privacy Statement
• 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
• and others

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your site, see this article: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Website

How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s ultra competitive digital economy, content marketing has become one of the key differentiators for businesses that sell similar products or provide similar services.

By committing to providing great content with useful advice and tips, you will get your readers sharing your content and coming back for more. Content marketing is a great way to inform and educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• Presenting accounts for fundraising activities
• Cashflow planning tips
• Business insurance
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure your self-managed retirement fund
• Things to look for when … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your readers gain a better understanding of your accounting services, such as finance accounting, small business accounting, using office accounting software, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to include keywords in your content that readers would search for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content for your site visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

RSS Feeds – Content Syndication

An RSS feed provides lots of benefits for your accounting business.

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

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

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

There are also a number of benefits 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.

To find RSS feeds with loads of useful content just visit sites of relevant government departments or industry bodies.

Below we have listed examples of 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

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your site’s UX.)

Checklists And Forms

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

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

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Not-For-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Sole Trader Tax Checklist
• Capital Gains Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Unique Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses 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 for accounting websites. Others can include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section of this detailed guide, we take a look at a several WordPress plugins and themes you can use in your site that can improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

To view the rest of this article, click here:

• How To Successfully Build And Grow An Accounting Business Online Using WordPress – Part 2

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