Why Do-It-Yourself Websites for Accountants Don't Convert

04/14/2011 16:36

There are lots of sound reasons for your practice to sustain a web presence, but generally websites for accountants are meant to bring in new customers. The deep-rooted cliche is still spot on, "You will never get a second chance to make a first impression." In loads of cases your CPA website is the first impression prospective clients will get of your company.

The Home Page

If a prospective client pulled up to your office and saw that there was litter strewn all over the ground by the front door, the office windows were cracked, and there was graffiti all over the building, chances are they'd keep on driving by. When designing websites for accountants a professional treats your home page very much the way you treat the front door of your firm. It goes without saying that this impression has to be a good one if you're going to have any hope at all of the prospect staying on the site. If they don't think the site looks professional then they'll probably leave, assuming that the company's standards aren't very professional either. If you find the time to work on just one page of your firm's site, make it your home page. You want to leave a positive first impression on visitors to your site, and if they're turned off from the get-go then you've lost potential business.

A Current Impression

Keeping in line with that "first impression" idea, think about what you're saying (without actually saying it) to visitors of your site when they see a design that looks like it hasn't been updated since 1998. Web design enjoys constantly changing design trends including coding standards, colors, fonts, and site layouts. To keep up you should update your site design every few years. You don't want your clients to think you're using outdated information to prepare their taxes, do you? Accountants with of date websites might very well be better off without a website at all. It gives the impression that you can't keep up with changes to the industry, or worse, that you don't even try. Make sure your site reflects the fact that your company isn't stuck in the last decade.

Your Content

There's more to a good website design than colors and layouts. When designing websites for accountants good navigation is critical. People will quickly become frustrated if they can't find what they're looking for quickly and easily. You don't want users to be confused when they get to your home page, thinking "where do I go from here?" Prospective clients are visiting your website to get answers to their questions. Make sure that you've designed your site so that your navigation and material are user-friendly. Your designer will be able to help with this, as her or she will know the latest trends in web design.

Time is Important

There's a good chance you don't know HTML, Javascript or any of those other languages that web designers work with. I suppose you could learn how to work with these languages. And you'll need to study up on server integration and database management. Of course web technology changes pretty fast, so once you're done you may need to go back and brush up on a thing or two, but when you're done you'll be in an excellent position to build your own accounting website. Or... you could use a professionally designed site.

The stuff you'd probably patch together using a do-it-yourself site builder isn't going to look nearly as imposing as the stuff a design master will put together. Don't allow yourself to be perceived as cheap or dated. Get a site, or website template, that was designed by a real professional.