Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The web economy has not only transformed business worldwide, it has also created a number of challenges and opportunities for accountants and financial service providers.

Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online

Today, more than ever, certified public accountants must find smarter ways to remain competitive, find new business, and keep their current clients. Not only do they have to maintain a strong presence in the communities and industries they serve, they must also develop a strong presence online. This includes having a website and searching for smarter ways to market your business online.

As well as investing money in offline marketing activities, businesses in the accounting industry are also finding that they need to delegate a larger portion of their budget to develop and maintain a website that brings new clients, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and helps to give them a wider marketing reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website may change in time and many areas will need to be frequently updated. This requires implementing well-developed website and content management strategy.

Another problem that accountancy firms face (and most professions for that matter), is that your site has around thirty seconds or less to provide users what they are looking for or they will look 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 Certified Public Accountants

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for accounting firms that can adapt to meet online economy challenges and think strategically when it comes to marketing their services better online.

This comprehensive article will help you uncover opportunities to increase traffic and improve your business presence online.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to power your accounting or financial services website or blog.

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

• Learn How A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Cost You Prospective Buyers
• A Beginner’s Guide To Building Your Successful Business With WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Accounting Or Financial Services Website

In this section we will start with the basics and show you how to improve your accounting website and get better results. We show you what pages you need, what content works best, your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, check out the detailed guide we have written here: The Website Planning Process - A Basic Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners

Essential Website Pages

Professional websites need a number of essential pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  need and how to set up your website for best results.

Products And Services

You need a page that explains your services and products.

This page should include services such as:

• Business accounting – business planning, formation, general accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, book keeping, forecasting, budgeting, financing, strategic planning, consulting services, 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. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using your services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us

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

It should also include any accounting awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote your company and set it above the competition.

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

Meet Your Staff

If you are looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to sell more products 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 you and your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors won’t be familiar with accounting terms your 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 team 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 highlight your employee’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 page that introduces your team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image source: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to add an easy-to-update directory of staff members to WordPress using free plugins, go here: How To Easily Add A Simple Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

We’re Hiring

List any career opportunities within your company. This page could include training provided, benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. You can also include information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Maintain 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 announcements list, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Customer reviews and case studies are a great way to show potential clients minimize tax, increase profitability, or grow strategically. Adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients also helps your accounting or financial services business to provide social proof.

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

We have created a comprehensive article on using testimonials, case studies and reviews improve your business online. For more details, go here: How To Achieve Better Results Online Using Compelling User Testimonials

Contact Page

A functional contact page is essential.

Your contact page should provide some or all of the following information about your firm:

• Name Of Your Organization
• Your address
• Phone
• Fax
• Email
• Google Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media networks
• Chat/Skype

If you operate out of multiple locations you want to make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

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

Blog

A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms typically include a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content such as industry news, company updates, training articles and tutorials, discussions on current topics, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

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

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

Something not many people know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic system that will begin delivering a stream of targeted visitors to your site, simply by adding new content on a consistent basis to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can drive new traffic automatically to your site)

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

Legal Info Pages

As a professional business, having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is really important, not just for establishing trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaching laws and regulations wherever your business is located.

Depending on what services and products you provide, adding 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 or inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions 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

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Tips For Improving The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the sooner you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from the competition.

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 prospective clients about your business and about using your services and products.

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

• How balance sheets work
• Understanding profit and loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning tips
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk protection
• How to structure your 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 readers gain a better understanding of your accounting services, such as software accounting, small business accounting, business budgeting, reducing debt, understanding financial concepts, etc.

Remember to use relevant keywords and terminology 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 that will show you how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to 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 100% FREE!

Improve User Experience

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

Using RSS Feeds

An RSS feed provides many benefits for your business.

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

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared online
• RSS feeds allow for subscribing
• An RSS feed provides links back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are various ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

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

You can find many useful RSS feeds for your website by visiting sites of tax-related government departments and respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few 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

(Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your site’s user experience.)

Checklists And Forms

Checklists and forms are a great way to increase user engagement and add value to your readers. Forms and checklists can provide users with step-by-step instructions and resources to complete necessary tasks. Checklists and forms are great planning tools.

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

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

Unique Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses 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 to add to accounting websites. Others could include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In part 2 of this guide, we will look at a several WordPress plugins and themes you can add to your website that improve seo, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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

To view Part 2, click here:

• The Ultimate Guide On How To Grow Your Accounting Or Financial Services Business Online – Part 2

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