March 26, 2019 Accounting Websites

Expanding your accounting business online with wordpress: the all-important pages.

It was recently revealed via a statistical report done on US retail sales that in between the years 2007 and 2018, the market share of online sales grew from 5.1% in 2007, to almost three times that in 2018, at 14.3%. The report only affirms what most of us already know, which is the fact that online business is growing continuously and ignoring that aspect is no longer a feasible option for businesses. For any accounting business, an online platform provides them with the opportunity to market, communicate, and serve their clients across a virtually unlimited range of target audience. However, before you get started, it is recommended that you go through the following tips to make sure that you are on the right track while creating the basic pages.

The Basic Pages You Need from Day One

Every accounting website needs at least a few main pages, as they can be used by your target traffic to easily navigate across various sections of the website. Therefore, ensure that the following pages are not missing from your WordPress site, even on launch day.

The Home Page

The Home page is generally the most commonly visited page on any business website, especially when someone visits the site for the first time. It creates an impression and introduces the incoming traffic to who you are and what your business represents, even before they can get to the About Us section. Therefore, it needs to be as impressive as possible and the following are all essential components of creating a successful, visually attractive and impressive Home page.

• A brief headline that summarizes what the business is all about
• Sub-headers to briefly introduce some of the main services you offer
• Images accompanying each feature and a headline to make the visual impression stronger
• Highlighted qualifications, experience, and other success indicators, preferably with relevant photos
• Multiple well-incorporated links and call-to-action buttons within the text content, leading to sales/product pages
• Links to like/follow your pages on social media websites
• A strong emphasis on how the target audience can benefit from your services

Products/Services Page

In addition to having a main page that can introduce the traffic to what you have to offer, the tab itself should have dropdown menus and submenus listing all the services/products that your accounting firm has to offer. These are generally on the lines of business accounting, taxation services, audit assistance and risk assessment, investment strategies, retirement plans, and just about everything else that you can offer right now, or plan to offer very soon.

Highlight Your Prime Achievements on the Landing Pages

When you are trying to create an impression online, be sure to highlight any and all of your relevant qualifications and experience, on every landing page. In many ways, an accounting website is like a resume that your potential clients will go through and decide whether to give you a shot or not. While the About Us and Home pages should also have the achievements and qualifications, but the landing page will create the first and the most powerful impression. This is why it is actually a good idea to enhance your educational and professional qualifications as much as you can.

An AACSB accredited online MBA accounting degree from Suffolk University Boston can be completed according to your own schedule, making it unnecessary to take any breaks from your business. Take advantage of that because an MBA with accounting concentration will give you an edge over other accounting businesses, both in terms of impression and actual ability to be useful to a much wider range of customers.

The About Us Page

This is not that different from your Home page really, but it is supposed to be all about you, your employees and your business. Put the history, present and potential future of the business, its owner/owners, investors and employees in brief but well-connected paragraphs.

Contact Us Page

This is the page which your potential customers will use to get in touch with you, so make sure that it is complete in providing the information necessary, as well as being particularly intuitive in nature. Be sure to include some, if not all of the business’s contact details to make it super easy for your clients to contact you. Phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, web addresses, social media page links, live chat links or pop-ups, contact forms, names of the important and relevant people in the business, and maybe even Google map integration to facilitate easy navigation to your office.

Legal Compliance Information Page

When you are running an accounting business, there should be a section that shows that your establishment is legally compliant both online and offline. The page should have the necessary details regarding business policies, disclaimers, terms & conditions, disclosures, affiliate agreements, DMCA notice, registration numbers and any other detail that is relevant to the business.

A Separate Blog Section

You cannot utilize SEO optimized keywords and maximize traffic generation from the SERPs unless you have a blog section and it is updated with new posts on a fairly regular basis. The blog topics should primarily consist of accounting, business, taxation, business news, and other associated subjects.

While these are pretty much the only basic pages you need to get started, use the easy expandability of the WordPress platform to add more sections and tabs such Career, Case Studies, Testimonials, Team Introduction, etc., after the primary site setup is complete.

James Daniels is a freelance writer, business enthusiast, a bit of a tech buff, and an overall geek. He is also an avid reader, who can while away hours reading and knowing about the latest gadgets and tech, whilst offering views and opinions on these topics.

Subscribe to Industry Today