Business owners and individuals in need of accounting, bookkeeping, or tax preparation services used to find professionals through newspaper ads, flyers, billboards, radio ads, and other traditional media. Now, all that advertising has moved online, so if you don’t have a website for your accounting firm, you could be losing valuable business.
Accountant websites should be just like the industry itself – simple, timeless, and professional – to showcase services and expertise, highlight customer reviews, and help visitors schedule a consultation.
With everything moving online, an accounting website is how you reach your potential clients and promote yourself. Here are some benefits of a quality accounting website design:
The first impression is key in staying top of mind for your prospects. It’s a mirror of your accounting firm, but more than that, it’s a competitive advantage. With an aesthetically pleasing design, simple navigation, and straightforward information about your company and services, you can present a credible, reliable brand that instills trust in your visitors.
Like other industries, accounting is becoming increasingly remote and multinational, allowing accountants to reach prospective clients all over the country or world. This is only possible with a website, however, not a local office. Your website acts as a gateway between your business and your clients, giving them all the information they need to reach out and
inquire about your services.
Accountants have a lot of competition. Your website can set you apart and build strong client relationships (and referrals), with an extensive and premium content library that helps existing clients get the information they need – and new clients gravitate toward you over your competitors.
Trust matters in any business, but accountants are entrusted with crucial and sensitive financial data for clients. The trust factor is arguably most important for accountants, and a website can highlight trust signals in the form of testimonials, reviews, awards, and professional memberships or certifications.
Attracting visitors and traffic is one thing but converting them into paying clients is another. Done right, a website can be a major source of significant lead generation. Your website can offer multiple platforms to get in touch, including an email list subscription, social media account integrations, and a contact page for inquiries.
What makes a website effective? It should convey the intended message while engaging the visitor, building trust, and leading them toward a desired action. Here are the elements you want for your website:
Simplicity is key to a positive user experience, especially for accounting or CPA website design. This is achieved through design elements like color contrast, high-quality images, white space, and interactive elements. All of the elements should balance the need for clear, uncluttered design with expressive elements that communicate your accounting brand.
Navigation is the way visitors interact with your site and find the information they’re looking for. Intuitive navigation will keep a visitor exploring and reading, learning more about your company and nurturing trust. In contrast, complicated or confusing navigation will only frustrate your visitors, potentially leading them to leave and seek out your competitors.
Visual hierarchy refers to how your elements are arranged and their importance. This can be indicated with size, color, contrast, imagery, typography, texture, and style to create a focal point and show visitors what matters most.
An effective website combines great design to appeal to visitors and great content to offer them value. Content like guides, tutorials, industry insights, case studies, infographics, videos, and an FAQ page help your visitors learn more about your services and the value you bring to the table. With search engine optimization (SEO), your content will be discoverable in search engine results pages and drives traffic to your website.
More and more people are relying on their devices to browse the internet and search for products and services, including accounting and CPA services. Your website should have a responsive, mobile-friendly layout that automatically adapts to different screens for a seamless experience.
Call-to-action phrases inspire action from your visitors. CTAs like “learn more,” “get a free quote,” and “work with us” encourage the visitor to take the next step you want them to take, such as signing up for an email list, scheduling a consultation, completing a purchase, enrolling in a subscription plan, or any other conversions. You shouldn’t overdo it with CTAs, but they should be included on your homepage, contact page, and other relevant pages on your site.
The best accountant websites have similar elements as effective websites for any other industry – a clean, simple design with a clear purpose and navigation, social proof, and plenty of quality content. The website’s design should also be tailored to your target audience to ensure that it speaks to them.
Some accountants manage to acquire new clients with traditional advertising or purely on word-of-mouth referrals, but that’s rare in the digital age. People are increasingly using online resources to find goods and services – including accountants and CPAs. If you want to stay ahead of your client acquisition and build a foundation for driving new business now and in the future, a website is a necessity for your accounting services.
The cost for an accounting website can range from free to thousands of dollars, depending on the design features and complexity you choose, whether you hire a professional, and what services you prefer. Remember, your website is an investment into your business, so you don’t want to skimp on some of the most important elements. Working with a web design agency can help you make the most of your budget without sacrificing the features you want.
At minimum, an accountant website should have a homepage, about us page, contact page, and services page. Beyond that, the information you include on your website depends on your specific business and audience.
You can learn to design and build your website on your own using tutorials, DIY platforms, and pre-built templates. But as service providers, accountants, CPA firms, and tax preparers often understand the value of outsourcing work experts to get the best results.
