Combine Style with Depth for a Lasting CPA Website
Accountants looking over templates for their practice's CPA websites can sometimes get misled. Certain consultants will point out what they believe will seize your eye instead of the website your accounting practice most needs. They have a lot of justifications for this.
Firstly, it is less expensive to build slap-'em-up websites. Long term marketing warrants a library of specialized techniques and features which add up to development charges.
Customers new to internet marketing also can fall prey to the illusion of prospect conversions. Realistically, conversions are only the beginning of the story. It's unlikely that a large percentage of the new visitors to your website are going to be trying to find a CPA. Most of the folks clicking on your website are searching for information. If people don't see the resources they need on your firm's web site, they will leave - regardless of how pretty your web site or compelling your copy appears.
Meanwhile, the majority of your visitors will not be immediate sales prospects. Some will already have an accountant relationship. Some can do their own accounting right now. This doesn't mean they're not a good prospect!
According to market research the average life expectancy of a client/accountant relationship is 6 years. That means statistically speaking just about everyone visiting your site is a long term prospect. Maybe their accountant is at the end of his or her practice. They get married and move, change their practices or go to work for companies. You can't know what will happen down the road.
Plus, people don't stay in the same income bracket forever. Paychecks rise and fall, as do business receipts. People get married. One day they could start their own business or even just buy property. At that first moment of dread when the 1040 long form becomes a necessity, you'll be a known entity they can turn to.
In addition to quality of information, think quantity. You want to have so much great content that the visitor finds many reasons to return. What we're offering them isn't just a service page and a contact sheet. What you offer is a caring compilation of valuable resources. Every time clients visit, they connect with your brand. Long term marketing isn't about making a sale, it's about positioning yourself as the natural solution to turn to when the prospect is ready to buy.
At some point, who doesn't need an accountant? If the person has already been counting on you for months or years, you are likely to get their business without even "selling" them on it. The prospect will call you pretty much ready to buy.
So how can you identify CPA website templates with a long term marketing strategy? It's fairly simple really. Look for content.
Financial guides and free reports are great soft sell tools and are very effective at attracting return traffic. (You can also use them to cross-sell off-season services to current clients.) Use these articles to showcase ways you can help your clients save money, and position you as the expert that can help you do it. You want your visitors to have easy access to them. Divide them up into categories (Business Owners, Home Owners, Self Employed, etc) and make them searchable to make it easy for visitors to find information of interest to them.
Encourage return visitors with other great features. How about interactive financial calculators? Tax due date pages? Downloadable tax forms and publications? Make sure to offer a newsletter.
Impatient old-school marketers may urge you to make people jump through hoops for this content. DON'T LISTEN! They'll suggest you withhold information to capture email addresses for later direct marketing. If you begin requiring contact information you'll alienate your most likely prospects. What they don't get from you, they know full well they can get from via your competition.
Be sure to consider your long-range marketing as you choose between numerous options for professional CPA websites. On top of regular features comprised of service listings, a map to your office and contact invitations, your site must tie in the long range approach explained in this article. You'll notice that as time passes, your long term approach will give greater return on investment,produce greater return on investment, not just in additional customer conversions, but in better accounts and healthier customer relationships.