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Stay ahead in the game with the latest marketing news tailored for SME business owners in Croydon, South London, and Surrey. Croydon Web Design and Digital Marketing specialists offer expert insights to elevate your brand presence

Website updates accountants

8 website updates for accounting firms

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With all the change and uncertainty right now, as an accountancy practice your main concern is servicing your existing clients offering the most-timely advice as and when updates are announced by government that could assist your client base.

Importantly it’s also the key time to maintain your presence online to continue building that groundwork that is the necessity of any lead generation strategy. In time, when circumstances change, and businesses start to grow, it’s the firms and suppliers that have provided helpful advice that will be remembered and be seen as the go to company for new business.  

So, what can you as an accounting firm do to optimise your website to help maintain your position in search rankings? Here’s our top website tips to help you kick start a great Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaign for your business to get your website seen. 

1. Is your website easy to navigate?  

Check that your accounting services are clearly visible in the menu so that there is an easy path for visitors who reach your homepage. Show your key services on your homepage and a call to action to read more, download information or get in touch.  

2. Do you have enough internal links on your website?  

This is another navigation tactic. Make sure that you are making it even easier for visitors to find information on your website. Embed links into keyword phrases.

3. Complete your H1, H2 headers 

This helps search engines work out the theme of the page to return the right answers to the searcher. 

4. Complete your meta descriptions 

This neat little paragraph is what you read when you search online. Keep to under 160 characters and make sure it’s relevant to the content on that web page.

5. Be image-led on your website 

Help create stand-out with good photography and video content. But, make sure images are the right size and you have completed the alt tag on the backend as this will help site speed and prevent visitors leaving your site.  

6. Create a content plan  

A solid basis for any website optimisation strategy is to develop a content marketing plan. This should include a regular schedule of information such as blogs that can be drafted and uploaded onto your website. Search engines love fresh content. It helps position you as an authority in your sector.   

However, ensure that you are using good keywords within your content. By this, we mean phrases that you want to be found for when people search for you. If you include these important phrases in content, in particular headings, then it helps you to be found when people search. Such as ‘Annual Accounts for construction firms’ or ‘Tax returns for a sole trader’. Think of who your target audience is and write content for them.  

This has only touched the surface, so if you want to delve a little deeper into SEO as part of your digital marketing strategy then do get in touch for a free consultation via Zoom.

7. Calls to action

Calls to action (CTA) should form a key part of your content marketing strategy. These are best placed above the fold, the space before the visitor has to scroll down. Make sure you have a bold CTA so that it stands out and use design to make it clear that it’s a clickable link.   

8. Get a free website review 

With so many factors affecting whether and where your website will be found on google search, complete our form to get a free website audit. This free review provided by Smart Cow Marketing will provide you with some interesting results to help with your inbound marketing. 

Navigating your digital marketing journey 

If you want the task of fixing these issues taken off your hands, then we’d be happy to assist you further with your digital marketing. Just get in touch about what your digital marketing requirements for your accountancy practice. 

Smart Cow marketing specialises in digital marketing for accountants helping firms improve online visibility to attract potential clients through online marketing.

Digital marketing resources 

Man remote working video conference

Is Zoom the new office?

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As we wake each day to new curbs and change in our everyday routine as a result of the coronavirus, many of us will now be working from home and getting used to social distancing. Yet somehow, are you finding that you’re more social than ever?

Working from an office base, communication on email still seems to be de rigueur. With a favour towards regular face to face meetings. Now, as many people adjust to remote working from home, here’s some tips on video conferencing.

Video conferencing apps

Well, video conferencing is not new, and it has been used by many businesses well before now. It’s allowed firms to be global when perhaps they may be based in Croydon in the UK.

Smart Cow had already started holding video meetings where distance between clients was an issue and as a great way to share screens and talk through work. But for many businesses, they will be starting to use this method for the first time. Not just for their work, but also for catching up with friends and family.

Zoom seems to be coming up top of the list for video apps. From business meetings to family drinks through to bands continuing to gig, the use of Zoom seems to be ticking all these boxes. Visit https://zoom.us/ – it offers a free sign up option.

If you’re finding it a bit daunting then Techtrader has a step by step guide on how to set up your Zoom video conferencing.

Microsoft teams is also a popular choice for businesses. Part of the Office 365 suite which includes Outlook, Cloud based Sharepoint and your Office stalwarts – Word, PowerPoint and Excel. It allows work collaboration in real-time but also offers mobile audio and video.

Check out this comprehensive list from PC Magazine featuring the best video conferencing software to find out what may be right for your business.

With the change in your daily routine, now is a good time to explore options for your business. Using video conferencing with colleagues is a great way to share ideas and thoughts for the business and how you can continue to maintain presence in a digital world.  

Further resources

8 Tips to improve marketing for accountants in London

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As an accounting firm, it’s easy to rely on repeat and referral business. However, if you want to grow, you need to turn to marketing your firm.

Marketing for accountants requires a bit more expertise to break through the noise and get your business noticed. There are more than 76,000 accountants in the UK. You have to work hard to get your business noticed online.  

Keep reading to learn the latest marketing tips for accountants that will help your business grow.  

1. Get on Google My Business

How will you be found on search engines if you don’t tell search engines that your business exists? You have to fill out a listing on Google My Business to show search engines that you have a legitimate business. It will also help your firm be found when people are searching.

2. Get Your Marketing Messages Right

How well can you communicate what sets your accounting firm apart from all of the other accounting firms in London?

You need to be able to explain to someone the services you provide, to whom, and why they need to go to your firm. That needs to happen in about 5-7 seconds.

If you do that well, you’ll be able to weed out the people who aren’t a good fit for your business and pique the curiosity of your ideal client.

3. Optimise for SEO

Millions of people turn to search engines every single day to find products and services. That includes searching for tax information and finding accountants.

Search engine optimisation is a great way to get your accounting firm in front of potential clients when they’re trying to learn about taxes or trying to find an accountant in London.

4. Content Builds Trust

Let’s say that someone is trying to find tax information. They don’t want to hire an accountant yet, but they want information on what capital allowances are and what qualifies.

You can write a blog post that addresses that very question. The goal is to optimise that post to appear in related searches for capital allowances.

The person wanting to understand what they are comes across your post, they read it, and they become more interested in your services.

Your content has to go above and beyond adding value and help people solve a very specific problem.

Marketing your accounting practice needs to establish trust with your target audience. The way you do that is by providing value and repetition.

The more people see your company, the more they’ll remember it. You want to be seen as a tax resource in London, not just another accountant.

Don’t be afraid to give away information for free.

5. Capture Email Addresses

In the example above, your website did its job to get someone interested in your accounting firm. Now it’s time to convert that person to a lead.

The best way to do that is to have them sign up to your email list. That allows you the opportunity to remain in communication with them until they decide to unsubscribe.

In order to capture an email address, you want to offer something of value. People aren’t really going to give up their email address because you want them to sign up for your newsletter.

However, a guide that outlines 5 tax saving strategies for small business owners would be a great way to get people to sign up to your list.

Whatever you have as your trap, so to speak, it has to be relevant and useful to your target audience.

6. Follow up With Retargeting

Not everyone will want to sign up for your email after they visit your website. You don’t want to lose that lead for good, so you need to find a way to keep your brand in front of them once they leave your site.

A retargeting campaign can do just that. A retargeting campaign uses tracking cookies to present your display ads on websites and social media networks once someone leaves your site.

Retargeting does “impact consumer behaviour” and it can help you get more clients to your accounting firm.

7. Take Networking Online

How often do you spend time at networking meetings? They can be incredibly valuable and provide a great source of referrals. You can take the same approach to a networking meeting and apply it to social media. LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are great places to connect with other professionals and individuals who could benefit from a good accountant. It’s another way to engage with potential customers and establish credibility and trust.

8. Measure Results and Adjust Your Campaign

Once you start a marketing campaign, you can’t let it run on autopilot. It needs attention and tweaking, which can be difficult when you’re trying to manage client work in the middle of tax season.

You need to measure the results of your campaign to see what tactics are working well and which ones aren’t. That will give you enough information to make an informed decision about your marketing.

For example, you look at your analytics and see what you’re getting traffic to your site, and they’re reading your content. However, they’re not converting to email leads or scheduling appointments.

It could be for a variety of reasons. The visitors may be early in the buying cycle and need more touches before

It could also be that your lead magnet isn’t compelling enough to drive signups. Good marketing takes patience and testing to get it to be perfect.

Marketing for Accountants

As an accounting firm, if you want to grow, you need to do more than rely on repeat and referral business. You need to learn the latest ways to improve marketing for accountants and apply them to your business.

There are plenty of ways to market your firm from content marketing to SEO. To be successful, you need to be consistent and be willing to measure and test your campaigns.

Do you need help with marketing your accounting firm? Contact us, digital marketing and SEO experts for accountants, today for a free consultation.

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