Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

Accountants today face significant challenges thanks to the digital economy.

Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online

Accounting businesses today must work harder than ever to remain in business. Not only do they have to maintain a strong presence in the communities and industries their business serves, they must also develop and maintain an active web presence. This includes having a dynamic web presence and learning how to better promote your business online.

As well as investing dollars marketing offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to remain competitive, you will need to assign a bigger part of your budget to develop and maintain a website that drives new prospects, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and helps you create wider reach online.

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

One other challenge that certified public accountants face with their websites, and most professions for that matter, is that you have an average of thirty seconds to give visitors 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 The Accounting Profession In The Web Economy

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for accounting firms that can adapt to meet digital economy demands and can think progressively about improving their online business marketing skills.

In this guide, you will discover new ways to attract more visitors and build more online credibility for your business.

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

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

• Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Customers And What To Do About It
• Learning WordPress – The Business Owner’s Guide

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

This section looks at how to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We show you what pages an accounting website needs, what type of content you need, tips for improving layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your accounting or financial services website, visit this page: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Ways To Improve Your Web Pages

All websites require a number of essential pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  should have and how to set up your accounting or financial services website for best results.

Services And Products Page

You need a page that explains your products and services.

Your page will include services such as:

• Business – business planning, formation, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, financing, forecasting, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, 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. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using your services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us

This page should give a description of your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

This page should include any awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote the company and set it above the competition.

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

Our Team

Are you searching for cost-effective ideas to sell more products or services online? Then one of the things you can do, is help your prospective clients get to know, like and trust your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your people. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in accounting terms your 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 so your site visitors can follow your team members on their social networks.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your staff member’s expertise and qualifications, how their skills and knowledge add value to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your employees or team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image source: deepsky.com)

To learn more about how to create and add an updatable list directory of employees in your web site, go here: Adding A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site

We’re Hiring

This is a listing of career opportunities within your company. It can include training provided, employee benefits, professional development, etc. It should include stories of trainees who have established a solid career path thanks to your firm and information about additional career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Include also a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to this page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies

Case studies and testimonials from previous clients are a great way to show prospective clients what it’s like to do business with your company. Adding a web page with case studies and testimonials from past clients also provides prospective clients with social proof.

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

We have written extensively about using testimonials and client reviews improve your business online. Go here to learn more about this: Learn How To Improve Your Visitor-To-Sales Conversions Using Highly Effective Customer Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a contact page is crucial.

It should provide:

• Name
• Your address
• Phone
• Fax number
• Contact email address
• Google Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media URLs
• Online chat

If you operate in different locations you should make this clear when showing the address and contact information.

You should also include a few links for the most commonly asked questions, frequently-visited pages, special offers, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Or Financial Services Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful business marketing tool. Many blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to promote your business using content like company news, company updates, useful articles and tutorials, discussions on current topics, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an accounting website, 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 manage or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can become both your website and business blog.

Very few people know that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation system that will help begin delivering targeted traffic to your business, simply by publishing regular content to your site.

(WordPress can drive new visitors automatically to your site)

For more details: Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Turn Your WordPress Website Into A Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Pages

It’s very important for accounting businesses to make sure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaking local, regional and federal laws or regulations in whatever location you service.

Adding the following legal pages to your accounting site will help keep you out of trouble 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 Linking Policy
• 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

Tips For Improving The Content On Your Website

In today’s globally competitive economy, committing to the practice of content marketing has become one of the key differentiators for businesses selling similar products or services.

By committing to providing great content with information and tips, you will get your readers sharing your content online and coming back for more. Content marketing is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business.

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

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Overlooked tax deductions
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Business cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• How to structure a self-managed retirement fund
• Do’s and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing insurance, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your readers gain a better understanding of accounting services, such as software accounting, tax accounting, business budgeting, reducing business debt, financial concepts made simple, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords and terminology in your content that prospective clients would search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful 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!

Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide plenty of benefits for your business.

If you provide content that adds value to others, 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 in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• An RSS feed provides a way for external links to point back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides multiple ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

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

To find RSS feeds with useful content for your website, visit sites of relevant government departments or industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few useful RSS 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

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

Add Downloadable Forms & Checklists

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. Checklists and forms can provide visitors with useful instructions and resources to get necessary tasks done. They are also great planning tools.

Checklists and forms can cover topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Worksheet
• Not-For-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Partnership Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

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

In the next section of this detailed article, we look at a several online tools you can add to your accounting site using WordPress plugins that can improve your seo, increase user engagement and generate more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this guide on ways to build your accounting business web presence.

Click here to keep reading:

• How To Grow An Accounting Or Financial Services Business Online – Part Two

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