Acquiring Clients with Your Website

Websites for accountants are more than just 21st-century business cards. They are now a critical part of any company’s marketing plan.

With some research and planning, you can take your website to the next level – and see your business grow, too.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process that helps your website get listed near the top of a Google search (or Yahoo and Bing). It’s the key to getting noticed in today’s web-based business landscape.

Magnify Your Business Online

SEO is done through on-page optimization – using keywords in strategic places – and off-page SEO – getting links to and from your site.

Effective SEO means more exposure – which leads to more prospects. And more prospects means you can be selective about which clients you take – and command higher fees.

Search Engine Marketing (or Pay-Per-Click Ads)

SEO can take weeks or even months to get results. Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, can start to work right away.

These are the pay-per-click ads and sponsored listings that come up when you do a search in Google, Bing, or Yahoo. These ads are far more cost-effective than traditional advertisements because they’re only seen by people searching for accountants in your area. You don’t pay to get your ad in front of people who might have no need for your services.

SEM is even more cost-effective because, as the name implies, you only pay when someone clicks.

Email Marketing System

Offering a newsletter to your clients and prospects is becoming a necessity. Your newsletter will live on your website – but be sure to email some teaser text to your list once a month.

Giving away free content – what your emailed newsletter will do – is called content marketing. This is a highly effective method that establishes you as the expert in the field.

This part of your marketing plan is great for attracting new clients. When a prospect receives your emailed newsletter once a month for several months, he will think of you when he needs financial services.

Calls to Action / Conversions

Your website can be beautifully designed, fully SEOed, and loaded with helpful tools. But if it doesn’t convert your prospects – if it doesn’t turn prospects into clients – it’s failing.

Marketing research clearly shows that calls to action are a critical part of conversions. A call to action tells the visitor to your site what you want them to do next. An example of a call to action is a click button with the text, “Click Here to Learn More.” Calls to action can also use incentives: “Sign Up Now for Free Consultation.”

Accountant-Finder.Com

Hundreds of thousands of individuals and business owners turn to Accountant-Finder.com every year to find an accountant. Take advantage of this service and sign up for a free listing. Listing your practice in this directory is an ideal way to get clients to come to you.

Even better, link your website to the listing. Make it easy for prospects – people searching on accountants in your area – to click through to your site. The easier it is, the more likely they’ll visit. The more visitors to your site, the more clients you get (especially if you have strong calls-to-action).

Social Media

There are so many social media sites – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and thousands of blogs. And new ones crop up every day.

It might be overwhelming, but don’t ignore social media sites. They allow you to easily get your name out in front of hundreds of potential clients at once.

And because you can link your page to these sites, they’ve become a crucial part of SEO.

Customer Testimonials

Testimonials fall under the heading of “social proof.” They are vital for any company’s site, but particularly on websites for accountants. People need to trust their financial advisors – and it’s far more effective to let your clients sing your praises than it is to praise yourself.

Images

With so much focus on links and content for SEO, it’s easy to forget about images. A site has to be interesting for a visitor to stay. Images – photos and other graphics – are a great way to grab a reader’s interest.

But graphics are also important for keywords. By putting keywords in the images’ file names, alt tags, and title tags, you can aid the SEO for that page.