10 Ways to Use Accountant Websites & Boost Your Client Base
Accountants come in all sizes and stripes - with some focusing on individual tax returns, others on outsourced CFO services, and still others on smaller-segment markets like the equine industry.
irrespective of their niche, one fact is true across the board: as with all businesses that offer goods and services, accountants need paying clients. Regardless of how competent or client-centered a CPA is - without enough customers to bring in cash and keep the lights on, his firm will cease to be.
Therefore, one of the first and most important question any accountant can ask is, How do I get my clients?
It may sound prosaic, but there's an important truth to running an accounting practice these days. Ready or not effective accountant websites are the key to any successful accounting business.
The internet is today what the yellow pages was a few decades ago. These days, you have to have an online presence, or your marketing efforts will fall flat.
Here are 10 tips for how to use accounting websites to find accounting clients:
1. Make sure your website looks professional. Technology has change the web. Creating a site is no longer a rarefied craft. Plenty of options exist for you to not only get a web address, but also pick a professional design that's targeted exclusively to the clients you want to attract.
2. It's best to use a contractor to set up your website for you. While your strength is with numbers, a professional web designer knows how to make your site look great and run smoothly.
Even if you have a good eye it takes much more than that to make high quality accountant websites, it takes training in things like navigational structure, meta tags, alternative text, flash, java, framed links, search engine optimization, and much much more. The trick is to not just attract visitors to your site, but also keep them once they arrive. Make it attractive and informative.
3. Don't overlook the importance of social media sites for getting the word out. This isn't as much of a hassle as you may have heard, although the more energy you put into it the better your results will be. The simple act - which takes all of half an hour - of creating profiles on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn is enough to gain exposure.
The king of social media right now is Facebook. To get started on this popular social sharing platform, simply create a personal profile and then create a "fan" page for your business. Ask your friends and current clients to "like" your page and you're on your way. You can use these sites to send out advertisements about business deals and reminders about tax season.
4. To get more visitors to your site, you need to post plenty of links to other sites (as strange as that sounds). The best way to do this is to add links to your social media profiles. When folks see your website and approve of it, it'll be easy for them to click on your social media link. This will help you get even more traffic. Add a button that says "Like me on Facebook" or a "Follow me on Twitter" link and your social profiles will get a boost.
5. Your clients who have websites can use a plug - and adding a link to their site gives you a benefit, too (because the more links on your site, the better). People judge you by the clients that have hired you, so brag a little about who trusts your work.
6. Take advantage of merchant websites that can help you get leads - such as eBay and Craigslist. These, and other similar sites, have extremely high traffic rates and are designed with classified sections that advertise services.
7. Don't forget about ads in the newspaper that include your web address, which still work well for local clients. Getting people to click on links and visit accountant websites is a lot easier than getting them to drive accross town to visit or even just pick up the phone and call. Check your local newspapers. You might be able to also get in their online edition, where you could either be listed in their "marketplace" or be featured in a banner ad. Where possible try to concentrate your ads in business and financial sections and include a tag line that will entice business owners to call. Look into websites for publications in surrounding towns that are a reasonable driving distance for potential clients.
8. Be proactive; see if you can find websites that cater to accountants alone. Accountant-Finder.com, for example, is just one of many sites that provide potential clients with a starting place to find you.
9. Don't turn up your nose at lead-gen websites such as adknowledge.com, either. There are plenty out there and they may bring in new business. Use them the right way - as part of your overall marketing efforts - and you could see some nice results.
10. Finally, seek out and listen to experts in your field and take the time to learn from their mistakes and successes. Using Internet resources such as Websites 4 Accountants is a great way to learn new tricks and tips that can greatly improve your lead generation, which will then increase your sales.
So-called experts who assure you it's a snap to find clients and build a flourishing CPA firm are, sadly, obscuring the truth. But don't let this bring you down. Putting time and money into getting a high-powered accounting site is an achievable way that makes this goal come true.