nine things to ask as you build.
by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services
don’t kid yourself: creating a great website takes a lot of time and creative talent. websites must also be constantly updated with new material.
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if you plan to update your current website or prepare one for the first time, or if you plan to do it yourself or just hire a marketing communication specialist with website-building experience, make sure you have clear answers to the following questions:
- who is your target market? accounting firms usually have more than one market they are going after. consider how your various markets will find themselves on your site.
- what makes your services unique? viewers need to know immediately what’s in it for them so grab their attention from the start. you should be using a tool like google analytics, which provides data about how users navigate the website, bounce rate and time on the site, etc.
- good visual design. i would cut out the flashy design and graphic elements. keep the site clean. flashy elements only distract the viewer from what they are really looking for. clients and prospects won’t spend a lot of time searching your website for topics that are of value to them.
- clear and easy-to-use navigation. review your site to see how easy or hard it is to find subject matter. viewers won’t make the effort to go through a maze. you will lose many potential clients if they can’t easily find what they are looking for.
- a great website tells a story. describe your firm’s history and how you have contributed to the community over the years. keep it short. make your people come alive on the site by sharing some personal details.
- quality content. quality and not quantity is a major determinant of how long someone stays on the site. short, informational pieces are better than long ones. don’t keep articles on the site for more than a month or two. you should always be adding something new.
- credibility and trustworthiness. add real – not stock – photos of yourself and your team to build an emotional connection that will inspire trust in your future clients. great websites typically include information that can help clients and prospects learn more, such as articles printed by third parties, blog posts, case studies, video tutorials, testimonials and faqs. don’t hide your contact information and phone number.
- call to action. make it easy for a viewer to contact you with questions. think about adding a chat feature to your website.
- seo (search engine optimization). if you have done all the above, there is one last thing you need to do. you need to be found when someone does a search. you must add the keywords for your website to be found. adding too many is just as bad as adding too few. there are keyword research tools to help you decide the best words for your site.
a great website can take six months or more to complete. the process can bring unity to a firm or a great deal of discord. if your partners can’t agree on the overall points of the website, it merely means that there are different visions of the firm within the firm. the best way to overcome this obstacle is to start off with a self-analysis of the firm.
keep your website fresh and up to date.