How to Personalize Your Firm and Beat Out Your Competitors with Your Practice's CPA Site
Good for you on finally getting your CPA marketing website in working order. At this point you need to determine how to utilize it to attract more clients. If you're going to get a return on the money you spent getting your site, you should try to draw in new leads from time to time. Of course, more is better - so it's probably best not to limit your plans to any particular number
This might not seem very hard at first blush but as you increasingly spy on your competitors, you'll see plenty of attractive accounting websites out there. Even though you're ahead of the curve to be among accounting professionals with good sites, it is critical that you figure out how to stand out.
Having a professional CPA website is sort of like meeting the minimum requirements: without it, a lot of potential clients won't even consider you; but just having it is not necessarily enough to get you the job.
So, what does make the difference? The trick is, make yourself real.
And the best way to show them this is with a one-minute video.
Why Online Video Is So Effective
Video is simply the best way to reach out to new clients with your website. This is because clients want a personal connection to their service provider before making that initial call.
Don't misunderstand me. This doesn't mean you need to tell your prospects private information or even be more chummy than you feel. It's more basic than that. Your leads just need to see that you're a real person - not a glitzy brand or stuffed shirt.
It may seem that a short video doesn't give your clients enough time to get a sense of your personality. But humans have the ability to make snap judgments. In just a few seconds, we have a gut reaction that usually stands the test of time.
According to SearchEngineWatch (February 2010), a short video on a landing page raises response rates by 4 to 7 times over pages with just text and images.
Taking Them "Behind the Scenes" Is the Key
Video is also effective because it allows your prospects to see what's going on in your real-life office.
It makes people feel more connected to you if they know more about how your office runs and works. It actually makes them feel closer to their service professional. Prospects like to see the everyday things: talking on the phone, typing on the computer, chatting to your coworkers.
Don't get me wrong: they don't want to see you be unprofessional. But they also don't want to just see you on your best behavior for the camera.
Incidentally, this tendency in people is one reason why social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are so successful. These days, we're over saturated with advertising and promotional messages. Take advantage of this human need. If you're not ready to get started with social media, you can still get results by posting a video.
Bonus: Generate Loyalty Right Away
If you're trying to get new clients every month to "pay for" your website, video is the best way to do this. It gets the job done quickly and with minimal effort.
A great side benefit of drawing in clients through video is that the folks who come to you this way already feel somewhat loyal to you. They already know what you look like, how much you smile, that you really do have an office - in short, that you're a real, regular person. Your video has done the hard work (and arguably the hardest job) of convincing folks to trust you.
Making the Most of Your Website
If you've gone so far as to build an attractive CPA website, don't waste it. Consider posting a short video to your home page. A video enables your leads to trust you - and when they're choosing between you and the accounting firm down the road that doesn't have a video, this makes all the difference.