I’m going to deem that you don’t require a speech on the marketing value of CPA sites and the internet. If you’re reading this you probably already use them. You may or may not, though, have already taken the next logical measure and looked into the benefits of online social networking on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Here are some selected ideas that may help you make the decision about what aspects you should place your focus on. If you’re rolling your eyes at the thought of using twitter to build your practice you’re not entirely wrong. There is a stigma that you’ll need to get around.
Most people look at social networking sites as playgrounds. A lot of people are making a lot of money on them, though, so this isn’t necessarily the case all across the board. There are business oriented social business networks liked LinkedIn, sure, but the sites on the "social" end of the networking spectrum can still work for you. A lot of important deals get closed on the golf course, yes?
Facebook and Twitter have the advantage of scale. As of 2010, Facebook has over 500 million members and Twitter, around 190 million—compared to LinkedIn’s 80 million (no small number, mind you!).
The numbers are also telling. Contrary to popular belief Facebook and Twitter are not dominated by teenagers. The 12-17 demographic only makes up about 11% of Twitter’s market. If Quancast’s estimates are correct more than 35% of their users are 35 or over. In short: there’s a lot of money on these sites.
In my opinion if you’re looking into promoting your business, it’s usually better to go with Facebook than Twitter. Twitter has a larger base of business users, almost 6%, but only a small percentage report it as being effective. Facebook is better at targeting people’s interests, or "likes". These can be used to target your efforts on users that are likely to respond.
Each service also has tools that make promotion easier.
Twitter uses hashtags. It also has desktop and smart-phone apps like TweetDeck that allow you to identify and connect with others with similar interests. For CPAs, you can search #CPA to get tuned into the conversation other CPAs are having. On Facebook, you can search groups to find some that suit your needs. You can find just about anything, from start-up businesses, to entrepreneurs, to just about every specific industry. You may also find some useful advice for running your business in groups dedicated to accounting. There’s health care for accountants, support groups, and firms that are shifting their business model to cloud computing.
This article isn’t comprehensive. There are lots of other ways you can use online social networking to build your firm. Don’t be shy! You likely already have all the skills you need. The nature of networking hasn’t changed, just the medium. The opportunities for finding new prospects and profits are endless!
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.
- Out-of-date ‘news’
- Amateurish animations and splash pages
- Pictures that take too long to open
- Too many fonts
- Pages that all look different from each other
