10th August, 2023
In today’s digital age, having a website is crucial for success.
This is especially true for businesses in the accounting industry, as highlighted in this episode of Fiscal Therapy.
The guest, Matt Wilkinson, founder and CEO of BizInk, emphasises the importance of a website for practice.
One of the main reasons why your website is essential is its role in getting referrals over the line.
According to Wilkinson, about 90% of accounting and bookkeeping leads come from word of mouth referrals from clients and partners.
When someone receives a referral, the first thing they do is visit the website to do some due diligence.
A well-designed website can help establish credibility and trust, ultimately leading to more clients.
Moreover, your website serves as a valuable resource for existing clients.
By providing these resources, your website can become a destination for clients to find useful information.
Potential clients often conduct research and due diligence before deciding to work with a firm, and the website is often their first point of contact.
This is because clients want to get a sense of who they will be working with and the expertise and experience of the team.
Therefore, it is crucial for accounting firms to have a team page that showcases the individuals behind the firm.
This not only establishes trust and credibility but also allows potential clients to connect with the team on a personal level.
By showcasing personality on the website, accounting firms can differentiate themselves from competitors and create a memorable and engaging online presence.
Additionally, showcasing personality on your website can also help attract and retain top talent.
Job seekers often research potential employers online, and a website that reflects a positive and engaging company culture can be a significant factor in their decision-making process.
Your website should reflect the audience your practice is trying to reach, which can include new leads, existing clients, and potential employees.
By understanding the needs of these audiences, your practice can effectively communicate your value and attract the right people.
Before diving into the design and visual aspects of a website, it is essential to spend time developing the content and messaging.
While a visually appealing website is important, it is the copy and content that truly engages visitors and conveys the practice’s expertise.
A website with average design but great copy is far more effective than a flashy website with poor content.
To create compelling messaging and content, consider your brand and marketing plan.
This involves reflecting on how customers and the wider market perceive your practice.
It may also involve working with a marketing agency that understands ideal client profiles and personas.
By understanding the target audience, you can craft messaging that speaks directly to their needs.
Testimonials provide valuable feedback from clients and serve as social proof of your capabilities and expertise.
By showcasing positive experiences and outcomes, testimonials can instill trust and confidence in potential clients.
To gather testimonials, conduct zoom calls with clients and record the conversations.
This means clients can speak in their own words about how the practice has helped them.
By transcribing the conversation and using tools like Chat GPT, the testimonial can be summarised and repurposed for various marketing materials such as LinkedIn posts, tweets, emails, or blog posts.
The power of testimonials lies in how they can simplify complex services like accounting and bookkeeping.
While these services may be difficult for potential clients to fully understand, testimonials provide real-life examples of how the practice has helped other businesses.
This makes your practice more approachable and relatable, increasing the likelihood of attracting new clients.
It can be challenging to determine whether the expenditure on a website is generating success. However, measuring the lifetime value of a client can provide some insight into your website’s ROI.
For example, if a client is worth $6000 per year and a website costs less than half that amount to build, acquiring just one client would cover the cost of the website.
Furthermore, if that client stays with the accounting firm for five or ten years, the ROI continues to increase.
Measuring ROI is complex and a website alone may not be solely responsible for generating business.
To measure website success, focus on key metrics such as booking meetings with potential clients.
By tracking conversion rate from meetings to sales, the effectiveness of the website in generating new business can be assessed.
The secret is not relying on quick fixes, but putting in the effort to achieve long-term success.
But hard work alone is not enough. The importance of having a profitable and scalable business model can’t be understated.
A good example is a noodle shop, which may require a lot of hard work to run, but may have limitations on its potential profitability.
On the other hand, an app that can make money even while the owner is asleep shows the importance of having a business model that allows for scalability and passive income generation.
This highlights that while hard work is important, it must be coupled with a business model that allows for growth.
Simply working hard in a business that is not set up for success will not lead to the desired outcomes.