CPA Website Designs: Picking the Best Color Combinations

If your accounting firm is ready to debut a business website, be sure to design one that’s pleasing to look at, professional, and loaded with content. An often-overlooked piece of this is choosing the best palette to convey the appropriate image for your website.

Pleasing Background Colors Are Vital for Attractive Websites

Many CPA website designs can be easily customized to fit your specific style and preferences. Your site’s background color is one of the elements that can and should be tweaked when giving your site a personal touch. Why? Because the color of the background immediately conveys your level of expertise and trustworthiness.

When picking a color, remember that every color has a particular meaning in the marketing world. Here are some smart colors to consider:

• Blue is a good pick for an accounting website’s background as it represents steadiness, professionalism, and seriousness.
• Green symbolizes money and health, which gives the message that you will help a business become healthy and profitable.
• White makes a nice background color for your accounting website because it represents simplicity. Trying to pick the right accountant can be a complex process; a clean, simple background color can make it seem less daunting and, therefore, make your firm an attractive choice.
• Black is another good color for the background of your accounting website. Black also connotes seriousness, like blue, and this gives the clear message that you’re serious about your work and will be a reliable service provider.

Choose a Color for Your Text That’s Super Readable

After picking the background color for your site, you need to decide on the color of your website’s words.

Given that your website is meant to showcase your accounting services, your text colors should be clean, crisp, and, above all, readable. Check out a variety of CPA website designs to get a range of ideas before picking a color scheme.

Most companies’ websites have either a black or white background. A white background with black text is the most common color scheme. This is the easiest to read (although it isn’t the most eye-catching).

If you decide on a black background, you must use brightly colored text – but not too bright, which can blur edges. A medium blue could be the best choice for this background.

At bottom, a psychologically thoughtful background overlaid with easy-to-read copy is the best recipe when putting your own spin on CPA website designs. When you carefully consider which color scheme to use, you increase the odds of establishing an impressive firm website.

CPA Websites Shouldn’t Scare People Away

The devil really is in the details, especially when it comes to CPA websites. Even the smallest thing on your website could be sending people the other way. A professional looking website will be judged as being professional. The opposite is true as well. Therefore, any small detail that is off, can truly send visitors away from your website. You might think that you have a solid reputation and your website isn’t all that important. However, if you really want to your business to grow, you will need to improve your online presence. Your competitors’ CPA websites may not be the greatest, but that’s no reason to neglect your own.

Your competition is literally a click away. It takes only a few seconds for people to assess your website. Subconsciously people are looking at it and determining its level of credibility. A clean professional layout with compelling content will gain you a serious edge over the competition. Many accounting firms put their CPA websites on the back burner and focus primarily on more traditional marketing techniques. Use this to your advantage and make your website the number one destination on the Internet for the niche you serve. In order to accomplish this first need to impress your visitors.

Take the advice of people you trust about your website. People’s first impressions are always going to be more valuable than any analysis you or hired professionals can make. Ask a few of your friends to tell you their honest opinions. Don’t just listen to their advice, act on it. Constructive criticism is what is going to give your website a great look and feel for visitors. Remember, these people who are visiting your website could easily be loyal clients one day.

Clearly list your services on the main page of your accounting website. Always keep in mind people’s main purpose for visiting your website which is to find help with their accounting situation. There are a lot of CPA websites that focus too much on detailed explanations and not enough on their services. Don’t make that same mistake on your own website. Most people will be searching online for help filing their taxes. So make that a big portion of your services listing your website.

Page layout and design are as important as the individual elements on your website. Text on great CPA websites should be in small blocks with adequate spacing. People scan for information on the Internet rather than read. Therefore it’s best to keep your text short and easy to read. If necessary, you can provide more detailed information on secondary pages of your website. In actuality it may be better to save any long explanations for in-person.

People don’t want to waste their time on CPA websites. Therefore you need to keep your website user-friendly. Keep this in mind throughout the entire design process. Go through your website and question each and every element. Try to make it as intuitive as possible. This is essential to the success of your website. A final caution when working on your website is to be honest. Sometimes people will try to pad their resume or client list. However, it is important to remember that people can easily spot this kind of thing. You may not have the best credentials or most impressive client list, but be yourself. An honest approach will win you more clients than pretending to be someone you’re not. Present your business on your website the same way as you would in person at the office.

CPA websites and Your Firm’s Brand Marketing

Every year a higher percentage of business is conducted via the web. With a steadily increasing client pool depending on online resources to find professional services, accounting practices must design effective CPA websites to attract would-be clients. Therefore your image on your website is everything. The quality of a site, plus the desirability of the brand image it builds, is a crucial part of building your business.

A powerful brand image on the web begins by avoiding the rote feel of a free template. However the website should be straight forward, instructive and intuitive, and steer clear of cheap gimmicks which sidetrack the user.

You can ensure your website’s drawing power by following several basic principles.

Make Design a Priority

Choosing a basic, pre-made design and filling in the blanks is no longer enough. Think carefully about the image your site should convey.

While modern website designs can offer dizzying array of images, animations and creative layouts, CPA websites need to project an air of competence and professionalism. Poor color choices can make a site look gaudy or unprofessional, while over-reliance on flashy features can convey lack of substance.

Stay True to What Makes You Unique

It’s not that you need to keep it drab and dull. But you must choose elements that work together to reflect your business positively and accurately. The emphasis should be on important aspects of your services or company culture, not on the technological equivalent of parlor tricks. Features for their own sake are a sign of an unprofessional site.

Imagine your website as another room in your office. If your space were digitized, what would it look like? What atmosphere would it project? Think about a website design that would not look out of place displayed on your office desk.

Function Over Form

Your firm’s website is there to guide people into your business – just like a virtual threshold. Your savvy layout, attractive graphics and well-crafted design can all contribute to drawing people’s attention and encourage them to look around, but their loyalty all rests on how effectively your site fulfills their needs. That is why that your website must to put functionality right at the top of its requirements. Even the most striking photos or most aesthetically pleasing website can’t rescue a website that’s hard to understand or find one’s way around.

CPA websites must succeed at the big job of presenting an attractive visitor experience and differentiating your business from your competitors while projecting an aura of expertise and professionalism which savvy customers will want from their accountants. By beginning with a clear brand strategy, sound design decisions, and an understanding of your website as a intrinsic part of your accountancy, you can ensure that your site maximizes your brand.

Create CPA Websites Just Like the Professionals

A solid understanding of basic design principles is the key to designing outstanding CPA websites. Standing out with your accounting website is critical to you success as an accounting firm in a time when everyone looks for professional services online. Because people are looking for a friendly and professional accountant, they are expecting CPA websites to reflect those same qualities.

Lay out your website in a professional manner. This means you’ll need to keep it simple and clean. Including a few pictures is alright, but don’t go overboard. The focus of your website should be on presenting a professional website that is welcoming to visitors. Provide your visitors with useful content and resources that will help them answer some of  their accounting related questions. Remember to provide them with a clear listing of your services so that they can come to you with the more complex accounting problems. Providing overly complex information with a lot of accounting jargon is a mistake that a lot of CPA websites make. Keep everything professional but easily for the average person to understand.

With those design principles in mind, you’ll need to find a good hosting service for your website before you set out to build it. The number of hosting plans available can be overwhelming. Look for one that meets your needs and give you a little room to grow. Two important considerations for accounting website hosts are speed and reliability. You’ll want to have your site up and running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Speed is critical because people just don’t have the patience to wait for a page to load. A slowly loading page could cause you to lose a large number of prospects.

After you’ve found a reliable host for your website, you’ll need to design it yourself or hire a trustworthy website designer. Hiring a designer is a good choice if you don’t have the time or skills to complete the website successfully. However, make sure that the designer understands your vision for your accounting website. Work with the designer to make your website exactly like you want it. It is your responsibility to make the website reflect your business in the best way possible.

Constantly check the details of your website throughout the design process such as your contact information. It can be easy to overlook some of the finer details when you are focusing on the big picture. Remember, it won’t matter how great your website turns out if you leave out the contact information. Your visitors will be forced to search through other CPA websites until they find an accountant they can contact. A nice way to interact with your website users is through a comments section. This will allow users to interact with you on a personal level directly through your website. It is a fantastic way to gain new clients. If you add this feature to your website remember to respond to all comments so that nobody feels ignored. This will send the message that you don’t need their business.

Promote your website strategically by providing a steady stream of new content to your users. CPA websites should be replete with plenty of resources such as financial calculators and answers to common accounting questions. You can really stand out from most of the competing CPA websites by giving visitors a one stop-solution to their accounting needs. This is what will really cause a buzz about your website and draw in visitors who will in turn become prospective clients.

CPA Websites & Blogging: A Great Tool for Generating Hot Leads

Often, the first impression prospects will form of accounting practices is their online presence. This is a good opportunity to develop good CPA websites that are visually attractive to leads. It is also a chance to offer information and details about accounting services the firm offers, and an opportunity to convert prospects into clients. A good method of doing this is to add a blog. Adding a blog can be very strategic.

In the modern online world, blogging has become increasingly important, allowing people to share their personal thoughts and businesses to showcase their professional expertise. Creating blogs on CPA websites is a great way to introduce the firm to potential clients, and present the practice as approachable to its current clients. It also establishes subject matter expertise in the field of accounting.

There are several strategies to consider while creating and maintaining professional blogs on high quality CPA business websites.

Creating a website blog makes a firm its own publisher. It means the firm will be creating its own content. While it is important to post to an accounting blog often to keep the blog fresh, it is also important to make sure the posts all have something valuable to say first so that readers will not lose interest; a blog is not a place to just sell accounting services. Accountant website blogs should be clear, concise and contain good grammar, while sharing accounting expertise with readers.

The field of accounting is relevant to anyone who pays taxes, so firms should try to set themselves apart from the competition. Successful CPA blogs offer readers a chance to educate themselves. A solid strategy is blog posts with tax filing tips and current information about tax law. When blogs offer something of value, readers will want to come back. Accounting blogs are a great place to list the services the practice provides to its clients. They are also a good place to answer questions. Creating interactivity on blogs is important. It establishes community and a loyal base of readers.

Accounting firms should promote blogs by spreading the word with others in their field and professional network, print blog names on their business cards, and advertise their blogs on the front page of their CPA practice websites. As accounting blogs gain popularity, they will earn search engine authority, which brings traffic to the blogs and help them earn more leads.

A critical part of keeping successful CPA blogs is that the authors should keep current with what interests readers. An excellent strategy is to periodically conduct a survey that asks blog readers what their concerns are. The survey should offer a few topics that might interest readers, and one of the responses should be left open-ended so that readers can suggest something original.

Blogging brings tremendous opportunity and benefit. One benefit is that it can boost the search engine authority and rankings for modern CPA websites. Every posting is a brand-new opportunity to be listed in the search engines, and the key is getting readers to come to accounting blogs with regularity. This helps accounting businesses by putting their brands in front of prospects while selling their services to their present customers, and offering the search engines good content to boost their search engine presence.

CPA Websites Need Persuasive Landing Pages

An accounting practice website can employ many design ideas and methods to gain popularity and to interest fresh clients. Consider for example the design of your landing page. The landing page either invites the readers who are sent there to peruse your site further or points them somewhere else.

Every time someone clicks on a search engine result, an on-line marketing link, or a social network click-through, her browser clicks through to a landing page. The landing page can amplify the initial marketing invitation in order to make people continue exploring the accounting practice web site.

What defines a first-rate design for your accounting firm website landing page? Here are a number of tricks you will want to utilize.

Your first priority is to make your site friendly and professional.  Plus, you need to make it easy for even first-time visitors to find the information they need. The key is building the page around a consistent and intuitive navigational structure.

Catch the reader’s eye with a descriptive and meaningful headline. Your headline tells visitors what content the page contains. Got more than three paragraphs?  Add subtitles. They delineate how you’ve organized the page.

Landing pages for the best CPA websites ought to also emphasize the services that you offer. Even the casual reader should understand what you offer customers. Most people reach accounting websites when looking for specific services or solutions to problems. Make sure your contact information is easy to find! Such functionalities will make it very easy for potential customers to get in touch with you.

A CPA web site landing page ought to also contain a call to action. Apart from being informative, it must tell people what to do. Stimulating site visitors to become your clients is fundamentally what the landing page is all about. Good accountant web design can achieve that goal.

Have you noticed buttons on other websites?  That is the easiest way to invite a reader to take action.  It means the solution to their problems is just one click away. One such option is the addition of an “ask us a question” button. In this instance, you ought to have somebody available to provide potential clients with online accounting advice.

Terrific landing pages may also incorporate video information. Videos are particularly good at establishing a friendly relationship.  And a number of questions will be more easily addressed via video. The expertise you and your firm members offer can really shine on a video. Informative, straightforward and original accounting advice videos are a vastly mighty tool.

CPA websites should be way more potent if you have a thoughtfully-designed landing page.  The design will make your firm stand out. Design it correctly, and your landing page promises to sell your brand and company name recognition for you. Most of all, you want people to consider your practice every time they require CPA services.

Student Interns Can Be Useful Assets for Administering CPA Websites

The most effective initial contact with possible leads for most small practices are successful CPA websites. Their most important function is that they they must offer an excellent picture about your firm. Even though an online presence prospects for you behind the scenes all day and night, it takes hard work to manage your online content so that it is always fresh. You need your clients to discover your practice in the search engines. This means your site should be listed highly enough that your business is visible.

This is hard work, and one strategy is to hire an intern that will help you manage your web marketing programs. College students and new webmasters are always looking for opportunities to try out their web marketing skills. Some tips are below to help practices work with an intern to support marketing efforts and manage CPA websites.

Basic Skills

You actually don’t need an intern with a lot of accounting expertise for this position. Instead the most desirable candidates will already have some experience with online marketing. They need to be skilled in SEO (search engine optimization). They should also have SEM (search engine marketing) skills. It isn’t terribly difficult to increase your rankings, but it takes diligence and hard work. Accounting firms must consistently generate fresh content to maintain sound CPA websites. Ask your candidates for samples of their writing. The best candidates will have articles written about accounting and the field of financial management, but marketing and writing skills are MUCH more important. You may need to spend some time teaching them your business, but unless you get really lucky and find a good writer that already knows about your business it’s time well spent.

As a CPA, you understand the importance of a professional and dependable image for not only your prospects, but for your current clients as well. Although your intern is not in a client-facing role, their work will be a direct reflection of you and your firm. It is a good idea to review their work carefully. Because they will be representing you online, you want to make sure the quality of their work is sufficient.

Your intern needs only a basic set of math skills to be able to create and monitor performance metrics for your website. An understanding of spreadsheets and basic statistics is all that is needed to measure the effectiveness of the marketing programs over time.

Your Intern and Your Staff

Even though the intern role may be a temporary one, it is a good idea to treat your intern as if they are a permanent employee. They will be directly working with your office staff, so it is important to consider their compatibility with the rest of your team. You want to be sure there is seamless communication between the intern and your staff, so that the site content they produce can properly reflect your firm’s image.

Online Results

Your intern can provide valuable ideas for increasing the performance of your SEO and SEM programs. Keep in mind that it takes several months to see any kind of results. You’ll find that dedicating an intern to the job will allow them to make significant contributions to a CPA website’s quality and search position. Considering all your options is also a good idea. Your intern can contribute greatly to your firm’s revenue stream.

Once the first advertising programs are over, you may want to continue working with your intern past the original scope of the project. College students and aspiring webmasters can continue to contribute to your practice’s online success, in particular in the competitive landscape of accounting sites.

YouTube Promotion- A Cost effective Approach to Marketing CPA Websites

Many Accounting firms have websites to advertise their services. As an accountant you understand how tricky it can be to create strong website pages and grow its popularity. Standing out on the net is tough. Making an impression is highly essential because there are lots of other businesses on the Internet who offer Accounting services.

There are lots of steps that accounting firms can use to increase the relatability of their website and business in general. YouTube is a giant on the Internet. You can take advantage of this power by using it effectively to promote your business. YouTube video advertising is a very effective way to market CPA websites. Video clips that are strategically used to promote financial services have plenty of advantages over other marketing efforts. While the creation of quality marketing videos does take some careful planning and thought, it can often result in an increase in prospective clients.

A lot of people search for accounting services online through search engines. The majority of these people are often in need of assistance with a problem they can’t understand or deal with on their own.

It’s easy to understand why videos that discuss common accounting problems are a great addition to independent CPA websites. You don’t need to hire a production company for your videos. All you need to do is present yourself well. A good option is to speak in the videos yourself. Another option would be to have a lead accountant take on the task. Just remember to keep the videos easy to understand, professional and inviting. The key is to accurately represent your company through the videos. People who view the videos will likely spend more time on your company’s website, develop a level of trust with your company based on your informative videos, and will very likely become a future client.

YouTube video marketing on CPA websites focuses on building credibility. It does this by demonstrating the knowledge of the CPA firm firsthand in a relatable manner. A lot of people don’t know anything about accounting or financial practices. Personable video clips can be an extremely effective method of marketing. If they are done in a professional manner, they can often be more effective in gaining the trust of the consumer than other forms of marketing.

YouTube advertising will connect you with the people who are looking for videos about accounting. The Internet will allow you to effectively reach your market. Because people are actually searching on YouTube for the information you are presenting, the chances of them finding you is greatly increased. It is an active way of finding people rather than the more passive traditional print or television ads.

Videos give viewers someone they can relate to, which is important in an online setting. It is particularly important when you are marketing a subject that is somewhat difficult for laymen to relate to. The human face will naturally allow people to relate to your business. Think about it, would you rather read about accounting or view an accountant explain it in an easy to understand manner in a short video? That connection will allow people to remember your business the next time they need accounting services.

Here’s an example. This is a video we produced to generate interest in CPA Site Solutions, the website design side of the ClientSource marketing solution:

Even better is that YouTube video marketing is affordable and is often free. The only resources you need are a video camera and a spokesperson. Although it is affordable or in many cases free, you still need to carefully plan and film the videos. Take your time and produce videos that will represent your company well. Give the project some thought and consider what people would find helpful.

Present the experience and knowledge of your accounting team in your videos and make sure that they link to your CPA website. This is one of the best approaches to promote a company that is part of the financial sector. The Internet is growing in importance as a promotional medium. The full potential of video marketing is just beginning to be recognized. Moving forward the net is going to be increasingly valuable. Thus it is imperative that accounting companies commit more and more effort into using it to its maximum capacity.

Do You Avoid Advertising Your Accounting Company? Here’s a Tested Alternative…

Retail shops are able to offer hot deals and interesting products to secure steady patronage, but financial service professionals need to be more creative to make sure their clients return year after year.

Looking professional with elegant CPA websites and completing timely, error-free returns are a couple ways to impress clients – but can financial professionals really stop there? CPA firms must work even harder to entice their clients to stick with them.

Here are several tips for how to retain clients.

Increase Convenience for Clients with CPA Websites and More

When the job is all about numbers, a personal feel is sometimes difficult to establish. Here are some steps you can take to humanize your business:

1. Establish an online presence. Successful accountant websites provide helpful tax tips and financial information for clients, as well as time-saving features like a client portal or a credit card processing service.
2. Utilize social media and answer easy accounting questions on your Facebook page or blog.
3. Use the good old-fashioned phone to check up on clients, making sure they don’t have any lingering questions after tax day.
4. Maintain notes on your clients’ personal details. Make it a habit to review the material before a meeting so you can chit-chat about your clients’ kids, their new summer home, or their recent travels; it may seem gimmicky, but this one really does help make your more likable and approachable. People are more comfortable trusting financial issues to those with whom they have personal relationships.

Keep Their Expectations Low – Then Exceed Them

Be very careful not to promise the world to your clients. For example, if they turn in their tax materials on April 13, you don’t want them to be disappointed when you need to file an extension.

That being said, you should always work to deliver more than you’ve promised. And if you make a big push and DO get taxes done by the 15th even though materials were late, be sure to point out your extra effort.

Another way to exceed client expectations is with accountant websites. Having a fully loaded website with online payroll services, QuickBooks training and support, and a client portal is definitely a huge advantage to your clients. The increased efficiency and convenience of online tools make a great impression.

Maintain the Highest Degree of Honesty

Let’s face it: finance professionals don’t always have a reputation for honesty and high ethical standards, especially these days. Given this reality, accountants and CPAs have a bit of an uphill battle when it comes to establishing trust.

To combat this, never stretch the truth and always provide bad news in a gentle, straightforward manner.

It also helps to express your trustworthiness in other ways. Being courteous, considerate, and always following through on your promises are other ways you can convey your honesty. The little things really do add up.

Never Ignore Your Clients

Firms that are difficult to contact end up losing business. When clients are worried about money, waiting hours or days for a return phone call provides ample time for increased fears.

Make sure your office is able to deliver prompt communication on all issues. Follow up by phone or email as soon as you can, even if it’s just to report that you’ll be in touch with more information later.

Your Clients Want a Real Person – Be One!

People like to work with other human beings, not robots. So if you like to tell jokes, then tell jokes. If you’re shy, don’t pretend to be gregarious. Of course you won’t be a perfect fit for each and every client, but that shouldn’t be your goal. When you try too hard to be likable to everyone who comes through your door, you end up being unlikable to most.

Practicing the finer points of client retention is critical for all service professionals, accountants included. The more you can use CPA websites, social media platforms, and prompt communication to make your clients happy, the easier it will be to keep folks on your client list. If you focus your energy on catering to the clients that lead to the most revenue, then you should be able to put the brakes on procuring additional clients, or even cross it off your to-do list altogether.

Prospect Nurturing: Growing your Accounting Firm’s Client Base

For any company, leads are very crucial and this is especially true for accountants. It is not enough to accumulate leads. You need to learn how to nurture them.

Developing new accounting customers is an important goal. However, lead nurturing also makes sure you don’t let opportunities from the business landscape slip by. In today’s economy, you can’t let an ideal business relationship slip away. Lead nurturing ensures you can consider all options when developing new business.

While lead nurturing may seem tiresome or repetitive, it is absolutely critical to advertise to potential clients. As a CPA, lead nurturing is an essential business practice. Below are several of the reasons why.

1) Nurtured leads are over 75% of potential business.
It is not wise to leave your leads unnurtured. It creates a large risk of lost business. You can substantially grow your accounting business by keeping track of your lead touches. You can also exponentially expand your professional network as well.

2) Leads frequently change their mind as time goes by
It is a good strategy to give your leads room to evaluate your firm’s services. Asking for a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ right away is risky. Your leads need time to consider the possibilities. They need time to choose what is best for their particular situation. It is an important strategy to make sure your accounting firm stays on their mind. This is possible to do with continuous, light touches.

3) The process of nurturing leads is quite simple
After initial contact with leads from accountant website traffic, easy follow-up calls and adding your leads to a mailing list is an almost effortless way to grow your business. A very light touch shows that you care about your leads. It also adds very little to the workload of your staff.

4) Lead nurturing is a great way to build trust
If you express genuine concern for your leads, they will more likely be inclined to engage in business dealings with you. People are likely to respond to personal touches by hiring your accounting firm. An approach that is all-business can present your firm in a somewhat less than desirable manner.

5) Nurturing your leads shows your prospects you are thorough
The process of following up with a lead shows consistency, even in the very preliminary stages of business dealings that will translate into dedicated, consistent, and high quality results. The intent of lead nurturing is to win the lead over and convert them to a client for your accounting firm.

6) Nurturing your leads to better understand them
Learning the process of accounting website lead nurturing is a good way to understand your prospects’ needs. This way you can be of better service to them as your business relationship evolves.

7) Nurturing your leads offers you competitive advantage
Simple, light touches for your leads beyond initial contact set you apart from the competition, particularly in front of those who do not practice lead nurturing.

Nurturing leads helps avoid redundancy
It is very counterproductive to continue to touch leads that have declined your services. To continue to touch them makes them feel like they are being harassed, be sure not to touch them again. Categorize the leads that declined your accounting firm to avoid duplication. This will make sure you don’t present an unfavorable impression to prospects who have yet to decide.

About the Author
Brian O’Connell is the President and founder of CPA Site Solutions, one of the leading firms in the US dedicated exclusively to designing first-class CPA websites. His company at present provides sites for about 5000 CPA, accounting, and tax preparation firms.