For tax and accounting professionals, establishing credibility, accessibility, and trust online is essential to attracting new business, and staying connected with current clients. A well-crafted digital strategy can make the difference between a flourishing practice and one that fades into the shadows. Here are four key steps that can boost your online visibility, along with three critical mistakes to avoid.
DO Have an Attractive, Professional Website
Your website serves as the foundation of your online identity. It should immediately convey professionalism, and clearly highlight the tax or accounting services you offer. First impressions matter here as visitors will quickly judge your credibility based on the look and feel of your site. Beyond having appealing aesthetics, your website should make it easy for visitors to determine whether you provide the type of assistance they seek. Make certain that the site includes concise service descriptions, easy navigation, and multiple options to get in touch with you.
DON’T Use a Site Design that Performs Poorly on Mobile Devices
In today’s digital world, a website that is hard to read, navigate, or engage with on small screens like tablets and smartphones is a major liability. Far too many tax and accounting professionals focus only on having a site that looks great on a computer screen, forgetting that the majority of internet users access websites on mobile devices. The result can be a lot of potential clients giving up on the site in an instant, and those quick exits could spell not only lost business, but also lower rankings in search results. Once considered a flashy website add-on, a responsive site design that automatically adapts to any screen size is now an absolute necessity.
DO Keep Your Social Media Pages Fresh
An active social media presence helps to keep your business top of mind for both current and prospective clients, even during the tax offseason. Regularly posting new content shows that you stay on top of every tax law change or regulation update, and remain on the lookout for ways to help clients achieve better outcomes. Focus on short, insightful posts that provide value in a paragraph or two, like quick tax tips and deadline reminders. Consistency is key; a steady stream of relevant content builds trust over time. Make sure that it’s easy for readers to reach out to you with questions, and encourage them to share your posts with friends and family.
DON’T Let Your Website Content Fall out of Date
Outdated tax and accounting information causes confusion at best, and deep frustration at worst. If visitors to your site find articles on tax rules that no longer exist, or irrelevant announcements about deadlines long past, they may assume you have lost interest. In a field where accuracy and timeliness are critical, site visitors want to know that you are keenly tuned in to today’s challenges. To demonstrate that commitment, review and update your site content regularly to ensure that all information remains accurate and relevant.
DO Provide Secure Online Tools for Clients
Convenience is a major factor in client satisfaction. By offering secure ways for clients to pay for services and exchange documents with you online, you show both your desire to make things easy, and your commitment to protecting their sensitive data. In addition to making your services more accessible, these website features streamline workflows by reducing hours lost to sending billing reminders, processing payments, and waiting for clients to bring documents to your office. Every hour saved can translate into another client served.
DON’T Hold Back on Sharing Helpful Information
Some tax and accounting professionals worry that giving away information for free will reduce demand for their paid services. In reality, the opposite is true. By sharing your knowledge, you can establish yourself as a trusted expert who genuinely wants to help. To appeal to diverse reading and learning preferences, provide a blend of article styles, from breezy lists of common mistakes to deep dives on complex topics like cash vs. accrual accounting. When they need assistance, potential clients will want to reach out to a firm or professional who has already offered valuable insights, rather than someone who seems intent on keeping them in the dark.
DO Integrate Your Website and Social Media Pages
To maximize their impact, your website and social media profiles should work together seamlessly. Linking these online channels ensures that visitors can easily move between them, increasing both their engagement and your visibility. For starters, make sure that readers of your social media posts can easily jump over to your website for more information.
Similarly, your website should have prominent links for visitors to find and follow you on social media platforms. To enhance connectivity, consider embedding your main social media feed in your website homepage, helping to ensure that your site stays current and dynamic. A cohesive online presence can help you capture potential clients who might otherwise slip through the internet cracks.
Conclusion
All of these do’s and don’ts can be summarized with three critical C’s for a tax or accounting professional’s online presence: cohesive, current, and client-centered. By keeping those overarching goals in mind as you implement the specific measures in this article, you can more effectively recruit new clients, while better serving the ones you already have.
GetNetSet has proudly served as NSA’s website partner since 2015, providing customized websites exclusively for tax and accounting professionals. GetNetSet websites are specifically designed to help you present your services professionally, engage clients, and save time. Features include service listings, up-to-date tax resources, embedded social media feeds, contact forms, payment pages, an automated tax newsletter, and a secure client portal for safely sharing files and documents. GetNetSet makes it easy to keep your site fresh and effective year after year — so you can focus on running your business. GetNetSet also offers marketing and tax content packages that can be added to a GetNetSet website or any existing website, with all content regularly updated by our tax experts. NSA members receive a 10% discount on monthly GetNetSet website plans. Learn more at https://getnetset.com/NSA608.