It doesn’t matter how good your CPA Website is if nobody knows about it. In order to make money off a site, people need to KNOW about it.
Once you have a website, you’ll want to publicize it as widely as possible.
We’ll be talking about these strategies a LOT! Put your URL on all your stationery, business cards etc. Also… Include it in your email signatures and ask your friends and clients to mention it to their contacts.
And remember the golden rule of website marketing!!!
Online directories such as Superpages, YellowBook, and City Search can also be useful ways to drive traffic to your site.
You’ll also want to consider search engines. There are various ways of approaching search engine optimization. Submitting your site to Google, Ask. com etc is easy, but getting to the top of the rankings and staying there is not and, depending on what you want to achieve, can be quite expensive. Google offers pay-per-click advertising for search terms, which can be very effective. This subject requires a whole fact sheet for itself – if you’d like CPASiteSolutions’ free guide to search engines, email a request to ken@cpasitesolutions.com.
Who’s Kenny Marshall?
Kenny is a vice president and marketing consultant with CPASiteSolutions.com, a leading provider of websites for accounting and CPA firms. He has been marketing accounting services for over 10 years and has been working almost exclusively with internet marketing for more than half that time.
In all my years designing websites for CPA’s one of the most infuriating problems I have is when a new client comes to me with an existing website ready to take the next step and we find out that he doesn’t even own the domain name he’s been using for years!
Don’t be taken in by this scam. Many web hosts will offer to reserve the domain name for you, then turn around and reserve the domain in their own name in an account that you can’t access. And don’t think that dealing with a large company is any protection! My biggest competitor does this, and they actually charge people a $50 fee when they leave if they want to take the domain name with them!
When allowing a host to purchase your domain name ask them some screening questions:
If the answer to ANY of these questions is “No” politely inform the representative you are speaking with that you will reserve the domain yourself.
It is easy to register your own domain and it will guarantee that you can keep control of your address even when you change website providers. Registering a URL is easy and usually very cheap (less than $15 a year).
My company provides a service that meets all these criteria and caters specifically to accountants and CPAs. When I do a client registration I set them up with a retail account in their name on this service. They can lock me out simply by changing their password and if they ever leave our hosting service they will be able to continue to manage their domain themselves. They not only own their domain, they actually have administrative control over it.
Your domain name is your real estate on the web. Make sure you actually own it and not your web host!
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When you change your Email address always make sure you log into your domain name registrars site first and make sure they have the new email. It may save you a HUGE headache when the time comes to renew.
I can tell you exactly what their response will be. Your son or daughter will look at you like you’re an alien (you know that look) and say something like, “You don’t have a website?”
Out of the mouths of babes, eh?
Ask anyone between the age of twelve and twenty-one: the web makes the world go ’round. Whether it’s renting a summer house, buying insurance or choosing a dog groomer, the first thing most of us do these days is consult the internet. If you’re offering a service in a competitive marketplace and your prospects can’t find you on the internet you will miss out.
Professional service firms are no different.
And the website is not just there for anonymous browsers googling for “accountants in Sacramentoâ€. These days you can bet that word-of-mouth referrals will have a quick look for your site before deciding to become a client. Referral sources will pass on your URL or perhaps even just say “they’re on the webâ€.
We’re beyond the time where accounting firms can get away with not having a website. Today, if you don’t have a site, people will wonder why.
Maybe you just can’t keep up?
And this will only become more and more the case – it’s never going to go back to the way it was before the world wide web came along, so go out RIGHT NOW and start looking for a good CPA Site Design Firm.
Jan Carlzon once said: “Any time a customer comes into contact with any aspect of your business, however remote, that customer has an opportunity to form an impression.â€
If you look up a hotel’s website and the photos are dingy, the booking form looks unsafe and the ‘seasonal menu’ is two years old, chances are you’ll look somewhere else. The hotel itself might very well be a perfectly decent place to stay. But the first impression created by the poor website – the ‘moment of truth’ – is critical and irrevocable.
This applies to your website. In order to project a professional, reliable, reassuring image to your prospects – an image that reflects the quality of your work – then you need more than just a an accounting website. You need a GOOD accounting Website! There really is nothing worse than a site that looks like it’s been thrown together by an IT student. I’ve seen accounting firm websites with low-res scanned logos, amateur animations and ‘free reports’ and ‘Current Tax Rates’ that are four years out of date. Your website is a vitally important ‘face’ of your firm. Even if your website doesn’t bring in hundreds of new clients every month, at least make sure it doesn’t put anybody off!
As an Accounting Website Designer I have Identified a few of the worst traps to avoid.
Having a first rate Accounting Website Design is a great way to impress clients and prospects, but it will be a much more effective prospecting tool if you take the time to personalize it!
So, what is a prospect looking for?
That’s easy, right? A good accountant!
Right?
Believe it or not… that’s wrong! That’s what you’d think a prospect was looking for. Heck, that’s even what the prospect thinks he’s looking for, but that’s not really what he’s looking for.
The biggest resistance any salesman has to confront is our good old-fashioned fear of strangers. This fear is compounded by the intimacy of the relationship between you and your clients. Keep in mind the old joke, “Only God knows a man better than his accountant.” Well trust me on this one… only accountants find that funny… Well… and probably God. To the rest of us it’s VERY intimidating.
The best way to get a prospect to pick up the phone and call you is to get him to LIKE you. Your site can be an invaluable tool for giving people a chance to get to know you BEFORE they have to pick up the phone and call you!
When writing copy for your website, keep this in mind.
There’s no point in convincing me you’re a great accountant if after visiting your site I’m still too shy to pick up the phone and call you.
The most important function of your website is to give your visitor a chance to feel like they know you. Include pictures. You don’t have to be pretty. It’s about making the prospect more comfortable, and having some idea who might pick up the phone will do that.
Personally I love football. If you love football too, we’ve made a personal connection! What are your interests? Dogs? Do you like golf? climbing? Scuba Diving? Bicycling? Clubs… Business organizations… Religious organizations… Charities you are involved with. All these things open the door for a personal connection and that personal connection is key to making your prospect feel comfortable with sharing his most intimate life’s details with us.
Get personal. Show your prospect some trust on a personal level. Not only does this make it more likely that you will get an initial contact, it also improves your odds of landing a sale. It’s just the way people think. Very few people make decisions intellectually. Most of us make our decisions emotionally, and then use our intellects to rationalize those decisions after-the-fact.
A good accounting website design is enough in and of itself to bring in new clients, but you won’t regret it if you take the time to personalize your site. It will become a MUCH more effective prospecting tool!
Rapidly changing technology will never change one fundamental truth about acquiring new clients for your accounting firm… Your best new clients will always be referrals garnered through good, old fashioned network marketing.
So why do I need a website for network marketing?
A website for accounting firms is a great way to increase your firms networking power! The net is a great place to get a buzz going about your practice, and your website is your home base for that effort. One word of warning, though… If you want to create a buzz about your website you’re going to need to do most of talking yourself. In order to do that right, you’re going to need to get to know your website.
Get in the habit of telling people about your Internet presence. The most important website promotion is word-of-mouth, and you’ll have a lot more people talking about your site if you do your part.
Make people aware of all the services that you provide on the site. Don’t forget to tell all your clients about your new site and ask them to refer it to their friends. This is especially important when you are dealing with new clients.
When networking… focus your message on the person you are speaking with. For example, suppose you have one of my websites for accountants and you are using it to network. If you’re talking to new parents, tell them about your College Savings articles. If you’re talking to a business owner, direct them to your Business Strategies section of your financial guides.
Of course in order to do this, you’ll need to continue to do the hard work of networking:
you have now succeeded in developing a positive relationship with your prospect. Even if that prospect already has an accountant he or she is happy with, no relationship lasts forever. In a few years when their accountant gets a job in the corporate sector, or retires, or gets married, or moves, or whatever, you’ll be right at the top of their list!
Get used to giving out your Web and email addresses at the same time as your phone and fax numbers, and get to know your site so when you’re networking you can focus your message to your prospect.
The age of the Novelty Website is over. Nobody visits websites any more just because they are exciting and new. These days if you want people to visit your website, you have to give them a compelling REASON.
The golden rule of website marketing is simple: From now on whenever you mention your web site address include a “tagline” that promises a tangible benefit to people willing visit your site.
Treat your tagline like a newspaper headline. A newspaper headline is meant to get a prospect to read an article. A website tag line serves almost the exact same function (getting someone to read your site content) and therefore is crafted using the exact same rules:
Appeal to your prospect on an emotional level, not an intellectual one. People make important decisions emotionally, so appeal to the things they are really looking for or are really afraid of. Your marketing will be much more successful if you promise benefits that appeal to a prospects greed and fear than they’ll be appealing to a prospects good sense.
Certain words just have a lot of marketing appeal. Use them. Of course, the word “free” is now and always will be the king of the hill, but words like YOU, YOUR, HOW, NEW, WHO, MONEY, NOW, PEOPLE, WANT, and WHY catch peoples eye and appeal to them on a very personal level. Use these words.
Use a tagline that promises a tangible benefit.
Focus your tagline to your market. For example, if you are mailing to new residents use a tagline like, “Special offer to New Homeowners!”. If you’re targeting a larger more generic group use something more universal like “Free to New Tax Preparation Customers”.
Mention your offer immediately in your tagline. Remember the tagline is the ad for your web site. In many ways the tag line is more important than the web address itself. After all… a good tagline is much more likely to get the prospect to read deeper than a good web address is!
Here’s a few examples of good taglines for marketing your accounting website:
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Add a Tagline to your Email Signature! Unlike traditional stationary you can quickly and easily change signatures regularly on your email without having to reprint your stationary every time. Change your email signature tagline every week or two. It’s powerful, it’s easy, and it’s free!
If you don’t know how to set up or change an email signature in outlook here’s a good place to start. If you use a mail client other than outlook, just contact your mail client vendor.
Many people use web mail clients instead of a local client like outlook, and most web mail systems also allow you to create signatures as well. You’ll need to contact your email provider for information on exactly how this is done.
Our web mail system includes such a feature. If you already have an accounting website from CPASiteSolutions you should also take a look at this tutorial for adding a signature to your google apps account.
Acquiring new long-term clients has never been easy for accounting firms. The reason why it’s so hard… is because most people really like their accountant are a not looking to make a switch.
So the key to acquiring new long-term clients is finding the few people who are currently dissatisfied with their accountant and actively searching for a new one.
How do you find the people who are not happy with their accountant?
You Don’t! You don’t try to find them. You simply make it easy for them to find you when they’re ready to switch.
How do people find what they are looking for these days? The two most common means are the Yellow Pages and Google or other search engines.
Yellow Page Ads
Yellow Page ads are expensive, so it’s important that you create the right ad. Your ad doesn’t need to be the largest and most expensive to stand out. The best Yellow Page ads, the ads that generate the most new clients, prominently display a “Free Report†or other “Free Information†that’s located on their site.
Since it’s so much easier to log onto a website than to call, a lot of prospects will skip the other ads and go directly to your website. Once on your site, they can read your report and privately “get to know you” before they call to meet with you.
Your website provides a perfect “hassle-free” way for your prospects to find out about your ideas, services and firm in a very private way. It’s as if they could come into your office unseen, observe your work and activity just to “check you out” before actually contacting you.
A website is extremely well-suited for selling accounting services because it’s interactive and private. Unlike the phone, a website with the right content allows visitors to learn more about you without having to talk to another person.
Put yourself in their shoes. If you were searching for an accounting firm, would you want to privately find out more about them before calling? If one firm offered a “Free Report†on a topic you’re interested in, would you go to that site first to read the Report? And if you found the Report to be helpful, would you feel that they were competent and knowledgeable?
My guess is that you would.
That’s why it’s vitally important to prominently display your “Free Report†offer and website address on your yellow page ad.
Google and Other Search Engines
The other way people find accountants is by using the search engines. People in the United States use search engines like Google to conduct millions of searches each day. Searching on Google is so common now, that it’s often the first place people go to find what they need.
How To Get Listed on the Search Engines
There is a lot of ways to get listed on the search engines. Some ways are Free or cost very little others are very difficult or expensive. Let’s review your option from free and easy to difficult and expensive.
Accountant-Finder.com – Free Listing
Accountant-Finder reaches over 80% of the US Internet users by advertising on Google, AOL, Ask Jeeves, Earthlink, Netscape Netcenter, AT&T Worldnet and CompuServe. In 2004, exactly 217,239 people used Accountant-Finder.com to find their accountant.
With 51,347 accounting, CPA, tax and bookkeeping firms listed, Accountant-Finder.com offers the most comprehensive directory of accounting firms in the United States.
See if your firm is listed by going to www.Accountant-Finder.com. If it’s not, then you can add your firm’s contact information for Free.
CPAfinder.com – $149 per year
If you’re a CPA then you can list your firm in both CPAfinder and Accountant-Finder.
That way you get 2 listings on the search engines. Accountant-Finder on the right side and CPAfinder on the left side of the screen.
AccountantsWorld – $495 per year
AccountantsWorld are aggressive advertisers who often pay top dollar to get top placement in the search engines. If Accountant-Finder and CPAfinder are working for you then you may want to spend the money to try the AccountantsWorld Directory.
1-800-Accountant – $279 Setup – $500 Deposit – $500 per month
Unlike the directories above, 1-800-Accountant doesn’t advertise your website. They promote their own site, trying to get people who are looking for accounting services to call them or fill out a form on their website.
1-800-Accountant then emails you the name, address and phone number of the people looking for help in your area.
Organic Non-Paid Search Engine Listings
Many people think that all you need to do is build a website and you’ll be listed in the search engines. And if you work in a rural area that might be true. But if you work in a competitive urban area, it takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to get high organic listings in the search engines.
Organic Listing Aren’t Free
It’s true, you don’t have to pay the search engines to get an organic listing. But if you want that listing to appear on the first or second page, it takes a lot of time and effort. And time and effort isn’t free, even if you do it yourself.
Please realize if you try to do it yourself, it’ll take between 200 to 1000 hours of your time. Professional search engine optimization consultants often charge between $12,000 and $20,000 to do it right. Beware of firms that offer to do it for less, because there are a lot of search engine con artists out there.
We recommend taking advantage of the accounting firm directories first. Then if you want even more traffic coming to your site, take the next step with organic search engine listings.
Before we get started let’s quickly review a few important reasons why your firm needs a website…
1. Your Clients Expect One!
Your clients expect you to be online. 2 years ago, a website was a luxury, now it is a necessity that shows you’re a serious professional.
2. Your Prospective Clients Need Info Before They Buy!
People are more savvy buyers these days. They often use the web to research what they’re buying so they can make the right decision. You’re losing potential clients if you don’t have a site that provides them information they need to engage your services.
3. Your Clients Expect Support!
The Internet has raised the bar. Clients now expect to get the information and answers they need instantly. A good website allows you to quickly deliver their work and provide the information and answers they need, whenever they need it.
4. Your Competitors Are Online!
Other accounting firms in your area are online. If you are not, you’re missing out on the power of the Internet and losing sales to your competitors.
5. Acquire More New Clients!
Building your client base has never been easy. Why make it even harder by ignoring the sales and marketing opportunities on the Web. With a website you can cost effectively acquire new clients with the use of the search engines, automatic referral generators, and email marketing systems.
6. Increase Profits By Reducing Your Operating Expenses!
The Internet is a free information delivery system. With a website, you can securely deliver financial statements, tax returns, tax organizers, and newsletters to your clients without incurring printing, postage, and other mailing expenses.
7. Increase Your Productivity!
Get more done in a day by letting your website handle some of your non-billable mundane office tasks. Tasks like picking up client’s QuickBooks files, answering common questions, prospecting for new clients, sending newsletters and mailing tax organizers.
8. Generate Additional Revenue From Your Existing Clients!
Why leave money on the table… When website affiliate programs allow you to make additional revenue by offering other related products and services to your clients.
Each month, you walk away with hundreds of dollars of “found†money in your pocket. Just by offering your clients the products they need on your website. Things like QuickBooks upgrades, best selling business books, Incorporation or payroll services.
9. Provide Better Service Without Adding Resources!
Keep in constant contact with your clients and allow them to quickly get their questions answered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year without having to add staff.
10. Setting Up Your Website is Quick, Easy and Inexpensive!
You don’t have to spend days, or weeks working on your website. There are a number of companies that specialize in providing websites for accounting firms. Use their web designers to build your website to your exact specifications.
Prices and service vary widely. So, go to www.websites4accountants.com to see how the accounting and tax website providers compare.
Copyright CPASiteSolutions 2008
