If you are an accountant, certified public accountant (CPA), bookkeeper, financial advisor, or other tax specialist, creating a modern, responsive website is critical to your company’s success. People are more frequently using the web to find local accounting professionals that are local to them. Your online presence can make or break your chances of tapping into online traffic around you. If you’ve ever searched online for “CPA near me” or “accountant near me,” these are local search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that small businesses can use to be found more often online.

Your goal should be to harness web traffic by creating a highly-engaging website content that brings in many, many views! Read on for six ways to build a traffic-driving CPA website.

1. Start with a Great Domain Name

Your CPA website should have a domain name that people will easily recall.  Also, consider choosing a domain name that includes keywords. Your city or county name, for example, could be implemented in your domain name to bring in local leads.

Many CPA and financial consultants use their name as part of their domain name (i.e. Smith Associates). If you can include what you do in your name and where you work (i.e. SmithAssociatesCPAsVirginia.com), it can be another boost to help more potential clients find you when they are searching online.

2. Write an About Us Page that Sizzles

The “About Us” page should never be skipped over! For starters, SEO demands an About Us page. Secondly, this page gives potential clients a snapshot of your background, philosophy, career, and what makes you different from others in your field. People come to your website to learn about a few things beyond what services you offer and learning about your credo is one of them.

3. Boost Your SEO by Implementing a Blog

A regularly updated blog should be included on your CPA website to drive traffic to your website. A blog is a great way to share industry and company news. Beyond sharing new services, you should consider sharing content that positions yourself as a thought leader and brings value to potential clients.

Do you specialize in audits for associations? If so, maybe a blog article topic could cover what an association should know in advance to make the audit process go as smoothly as possible. Small businesses and entrepreneurs are often juggling a lot of tasks, so there is no right or wrong way to add content regularly. If you can add something new once per month, that is fine. If you can only swing it quarterly, then keep at it.

On the other hand, if writing is your gig or you can share the responsibility with colleagues, it can help you boost your viewership and search engine optimization. This is a long-term tactic to drive traffic. Best of all, you can repurpose any content you develop in many ways and use it for your newsletter and social media posts.

How to Get Blogging Done When You Don’t Have Time

If you don’t have time, there are many creative ways to get blogging done, so you can keep working on building your content marketing strategy. Here are just a few:

• Record a conversation with you and a colleague or guest on Zoom and use the transcript to create an article.
• Draft content surrounding a podcast interview or other media interview.
• Record yourself on your morning walk and transcribe it into an article.
• Invite a guest or colleague to work with you on a specific topic. You could return the favor later.
• Brainstorm topics using ChatGPT and create an outline that will make it easier to get started.
• Hire a professional writer to get it done on your behalf.

Expand Information About Your Services and Products

A full list of your current services and products should be displayed on an independent page of your website. Then, each service or product should be listed on its own page to create a landing page.  On individual services pages, you can discuss more details about the services in depth. For example, if your CPA firm provides bookkeeping services, you could talk about why nonprofits hire you, what tasks you can efficiently automate for them, how collaboration works, and what the next step is for getting started.

The goal is for each services page to rank on service engine results pages, so potential clients can find what they are looking for more easily and give you a call.

Collect Leads Using Forms and Lead Magnets

On your CPA website, one of your business objectives could be to drive new potential clients to call you or to request an estimate. Even if you don’t choose to list pricing which could change, you can offer clients an easy way to request an estimate or to set up a meeting online using a form.

Another way to collect leads could be to ask website visitors to sign up to receive news from you through email or text. Many different email providers can embed this form right into your website to make it as seamless as possible.

Lastly, you could offer a lead magnet – an eBook, recorded webinar or video, or PDF checklist – that a website visitor can download for free in return for their contact information, usually an email.  No matter which lead-generating activities you decide on, your website should help you collect leads you can follow up on to convert those website visitors into clients.

Add Social Proof with Testimonials from Your Existing Clients

Your CPA website will benefit from the inclusion of testimonials. Never underestimate the value of social proof. Gather written, online, verbal or video testimonials from your clients along with their permission to use their name and company name.

Then, create a page on your CPA website just for testimonials and reviews. Detailed testimonials that share what they found so helpful about your CPA firm and accounting services are the best to choose. If you have their headshot, you can also use it to illustrate their positive review of your services. Informal video testimonials shot with a smartphone are also excellent choices if you have a client willing to go the extra mile for you.

If you have a lot of testimonials saved up on social media, Google Reviews, Yelp, BBB, and other business directories, you can link to them on this page.  Gathering reviews and testimonials is an excellent strategy for building credibility! If you are not already asking for them, consider how to build it into your customer service process.

Need a Web Design Firm that Understands Your Business? Call Us!

Of course, your entire website should be optimized specifically for search. Without a search engine-friendly interface, your website won’t rank high enough in search engine rankings to be seen by your audience. Search engine optimization (SEO) can involve many different strategies – both technical and organic – to increase the probability that your website ranks high for the keywords your potential clients are searching. You can read more about how to generate SEO-optimized content that can results in your CPA website yielding a higher ranking, trusted website to bring new, prospective clients straight to you!

Our Alexandria, Virginia-based firm has built thousands of websites for small businesses including those for CPAs, accountants, and bookkeepers. Call us today (703) 370-7433 for a free consultation. Learn more about how a smart website design partner can walk you through all the steps you may need to develop a digital presence that you can be proud of and also fulfills your business objectives. Our clients appreciate the personal service we provide, so they always have a technology partner in their corner dedicated to their long-term success.