Introduction
There is an exciting new trend in SEO that can increase your search engine authority and page rank quickly and easily. Google and friends are spending a great deal of time and energy on indexing videos for competitive keywords. Looking to take the inside track on your market? My next few articles will discuss how to take advantage of Video in optimizing your CPA Website Design.
Why use videos?
People Search For Videos
More and more people are adding the search term “video” to their inquiries.
Video Gets Extra Prominence In The Search Engines
That’s right. Even if the searcher DOESN”T include the word “video” in their search videos are still highly likely to be ranked for it’s related keywords.
Video is Viral
Video consumers tend to be very computer literate and active. They tend to share content with one another. Unfortunately they also tend to be young, so the personal viral element is not likely to be too profound. Still, there is an automated viral element to video sharing sites. They tend to copy videos from one another.
Nobody Else is Doing It
Just ask Bill Gates. Doing it first means EVERYTHING. Apple invented GUI, not MS. Mac has a better GUI than MS. I love OSX. But I don’t use it. Never will. MS got Windows packaged and out the door first. The things I like to do on my computer, the things I NEED to do (Like provide first rate CPA Website Design and Accounting Firm Marketing Support), require Windows. That’s all it takes. Be the first to do it and you’ll be the first to reap the benefits! Sit on your hands and someone else will do it first.
This SEO Focus will have 3 more parts…
How to make your Video
How to Submit your Video
How to Publicize your Video.
As always, this series of articles will assume that you are working on an Accounting or CPA website design. If you are an executive search consultant, financial planner, or some other type of web owner in a completely unrelated field, you’ll need to extrapolate an appropriate strategy yourself but the basics of these articles will still apply to you.
Marketing is a state of mind.
‘Marketing’ used to be a dirty word in the accounting world, but that’s not true any more. Forget your instinctive associations with telemarketing and expensive advertising. Successfully marketing and growing your accounting firm is about developing the right attitude towards your clients, prospective clients and referral sources.
Accounting firms operate in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Gone are the days when ‘marketing’ meant a plaque on the door and perhaps a Yellow Pages ad. Now even small sole practitioners are setting up organized marketing campaigns, and extravagant CPA website design is a virtual requirement for success.
But before you hire a marketing guru like myself and you need to open your wallet, there are some simple, cost-free steps you can take to transform your approach to growing your practice. This will benefit you in the short run by improving your marketing mindset and in the long run, when you really do need my help, it will make my job a lot easier.
Here’s my top ten:
Marketing is not a dirty word, and neither it’s not black magic. If you want to succeed in today’s market you need to change your attitude about marketing. Clients and referrals can have remarkable results in maintaining and winning business – and you can do it for less than the cost of a plaque and a Yellow Pages ad.
Kenny Marshall
Marketing Consultant specialized in CPA Website Design
It’s no secret that I provide websites for accounting firms. It’s what I know best and what I love, so obviously it’s what I write about.
I’ve noticed that when new clients come to me they are often myopically focused on Search Engines. This is a mistake! As you can see from our past posts there is SO MUCH MORE to internet marketing than just search engines.
Even I can lose focus from time to time, and a great article has appeared recently on Squidoo that has reminded me that there are tons of great ways to market your accounting firm that have nothing to do with your website. This new contributor to Squidoo bears watching. I can tell you for a fact he has a real passion for internet marketing, and best of all he plugs our blog!
His first ever article, however, has almost nothing to do with internet marketing. Instead the focus of the article is using the news media to grow your accounting firm. I recommend you check it out, especially the section called “Winning the Media Game”.
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.
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 Sacramento”. 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 web”.
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.
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.
Copyright CPASiteSolutions 2008
