Manage An Affiliate Program
Affiliate Program Management
5 Helpful Tips for Managing Your CPA Website
Getting your accounting firm online is an important stage toward growth in a world in which commerce is becoming progressively wide ranging – even international in scope. The web opened whole new horizons to all types of businesses and, providentially for your firm, many of your competitors aren’t currently taking proper advantage of modern CPA website marketing strategies. Opportunities are still abundant in virtually every market for businesses who are willing to utilize a few fundamental online marketing strategies to pull prospects into their practices. However, once you’ve put yourself out there on an outstanding CPA Website, are you letting prospective clients get away by failing to return their contacts in a timely manner?
Financial firms run into five dangers when first getting into the web space. If companies aren’t prepared to meet the unique challenges of successfully managing an online presence – article marketing, social networking, even online advertising – then failure is a distinct possibility.
Let’s take a look at how to handle your digital presence so that it brings in more clients, rather than simply creates more headaches. What if you don’t know how to check your blog comments?
Keep the following points in mind as you strategize how to keep your customer relationships strong, even online.
Comments on Your Blog Are Not to Be Overlooked
Making a blog is an excellent way to attract a customer base and keep the world informed about where your business is heading. But don’t just “set it and forget it.” If someone gives you feedback in the form of a blog comment, you have to comment on that comment. It’s just plain polite to respond to people who have made the effort to read your work. When you do, you show your professionalism, and you also keep any negative situation from getting out of control.
Assigning someone from your organization to respond to blog comments (even if that person is you) is good web etiquette – remember, communication flows both ways.
Answer Emails the Same Day
This one’s a big one: if you’re leaving email unanswered for weeks at a time – or even worse, not answering them at all – your customers are not going to be your customers for very long. The best course of action is to set up your email client with an auto-response so that your clients know the email has reached you. Then answer in person as soon as you can. If you don’t know the answer yet, be honest, and tell them you’ll follow up as soon as you’re better informed. Be sure to actually follow up!
Forums Are Surprisingly Important
Forums are notoriously difficult to get to a popular state, so why would you leave questions unanswered and comments ignored? If you decide to start a forum, it’s absolutely critical that you monitor it regularly (check in every hour or so) and respond to all worthy posts – especially if they’re negative. Ensuring your forum is properly moderated, free of spam and inflammatory material is tremendously important, as well as dealing with issues promptly.
Take Twitter Seriously
Twitter has become one of the most widely used forms of social communication online in recent years and a platform for sharing experiences – both positive and negative – about companies they’ve dealt with. Folks are now using Twitter as a way to reach companies – and, alarmingly, lodge complaints against them. (They also say nice things, too.) Assume that folks ARE reading these comments and make sure you respond to them. It’s certainly important for the person who leaves the message – but it’s even more crucial for anyone “watching” your conversation to see that you haven’t ignored your naysayers and supporters. Respond to negative and positive tweets alike: ask the user to contact your company for a resolution, or thank them for their positive comment. Remember, ignoring your clients online is a surefire way to lose business.
One note: Twitter is less important for the service professional than for the retail outfit or big brand. That said, it IS the wave of the future. Be careful not to ignore this new tool, even if you have evidence that your target market isn’t using it – because they very likely will be soon.
“Online” Shouldn’t Mean “Unimportant”
The object of both email and snail-mail is the same, after all. But we can’t deny it: nobody pens letters these days. Email has taken their place – and whereas email is used casually in our personal lives, in business, it must be treated as carefully as you would a letter.
If you decide to market your practice online – and I highly recommend you do – please don’t make the mistake others have made. Getting CPA websites up to speed and then going back to business as usual is not an effective strategy.