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Internet Marketing Advice – Promoting CPA Businesses With Websites For Accountants
Back in the days of yore a CPA’s waiting room was believed to be the most vital design element in a working accounting practice. It was the initial impression nearly all prospects got of a practice, and as such they spent ludicrous sums on walnut furniture and art. Well in this day and age websites for accountants say a whole lot more about a practice than their waiting room. Your accounting site has displaced your waiting room as the first impression that many new clients will get of your firm. Happily a good website is much less expensive than rebuilding and decorating an entire room. It constantly surprises me the number of CPA practices are still posting outdated, even homemade, websites. Unfortunately, an outdated site, to most observers, represents an obsolete practice. Here are a few ideas you’ll want to keep in mind when reviewing your own company website.
Don’t Try to DIY Your website
If you don’t already know how to do it, and your not already good at it, don’t try to build your website yourself. It’s not going to come close to looking like something a professional can build. If you really want to attract clients (or, at the very least, not turn them away when they visit your site) you’ll want a website that looks like it was professionally done. Yes. It’s going to cost more. But you get what you pay for. If your site doesn’t look professional then visitors will think that you’re not professional. That’s not a good way to start out a potential business relationship.
Even Professional Sites Get Old
There were days when flashy websites with fast-moving images, loud backgrounds and music were all the rage. Not so much anymore. There are still uses for this kind of website. They’re still popular and effective for game, movie, and music sites. But every 2-3 years website designs become outdated. Technology changes, but as “simple” sites are coming back into fashion that’s not really a big deal at the moment. What really changes are design trends like site layouts and color themes. A few short years ago the most popular color scheme for websites was what we called “microsoft blue”. Now, for obvious reasons, blue has become something of a website design cliche and “fall” colors (browns, golds, and oranges) are exceedingly popular (with reds and burgundies looking like the up-and-coming trend). Navigation is exceedingly important. Don’t make your visitors search for what they want. There’s no excuse for having old school static menus and hub pages any more. Use “drop down” (or “fly out”) navigation instead.
If you can create a home page that isn’t text-heavy, and that maybe incorporates some imagery to break up the text, this will be an attractive feature to your visitors. When viewing a website, a viewers attention span isn’t very long. Don’t overwhelm clients or potential clients with all of the details of your company on your home page. Give a brief overview with links that will take the user to other places on your site. This not only gives visitors options, it also keeps your home page simple and clean.
Splash Pages
While the trend on content pages is moving away from gimmicks that can distract the visitor like animations and music, “splash” pages remain popular. Mind you music is still out, at least on accounting sites. But interactive animations, rotating images, and even some sound effects are still very popular on splash pages. Mind you animations and rotating images are entirely optional. What make a splash page different is the look and feel of the page. Splash pages tend to be light on content, and the style, even navigation, is unique; different; from the rest of the site. Splash pages are placed in the index position making it the first page you see when you type in the domain. The function of the page is not to provide information, but to quickly and easily help you find the information you’re looking for. They do tend to be a bit showy. This helps capture visitors’ attention and display the technical prowess of your firm.
Color and Branding
The subject of color is pretty subjective. There has been a lot of research conducted on color, and there are a lot of theories about what various colors mean to people. Mind you most actual studies have been done by fast food restaurants and product packagers. There’s no saying how well the research extends to the web so readers are advised to take these theories with a grain of salt, but the general consensus is that red suggests anger while blue suggests calm. There are many different schools of thought behind color choices, but what is most important is that your colors represent your company. Look at your existing brand. By looking at your logo and existing marketing materials you can choose a color that’s consistent with your branding. If your main company logo colors are green and gray, you probably won’t want a red website. Some accountants are willing to modify their company’s logo to match a website they particularly like, but think carefully before tweaking your branding. It’s important to stay consistent with your existing brand. Use your online presence as an extension of your present marketing efforts, not a substitution for them.