Be found by potential clients!
Accounting firms (law firms and other professional services) need a steady flow of new clients to thrive. If the accounting firm is to grow, it needs new clients. Just to stand still the firm new clients to replace those that fall off the client database. Before you can sign-up a new client, they need to be aware of your firm and what it has to offer. One of the most effective ways to attract new clients to the business is, not surprisingly, via the website.
Having a website is a great way to let potential clients learn about your firm and what it has to offer. To be truly effective, the website needs to be optimised for the search engines (Google, Bing and so on). The process of optimising the website is known as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Are potential clients finding your services?
You may or may not have been involved in the creation of the text for the firm’s website. If you were not, or even if you were, the question is:
- Are potential clients finding the firm’s website for the very services you and your team offer?
- Is the website ranking on page 1 of the search engine results pages for those services?
A Quick, Simple Test
Now you could ask your website design people for the search engine stats., or you can run a quick, easy test yourself. (And, to my mind this is far easier to understand.) So, here’s how to do it, step-by-step:
- Go to the firm’s website and open the page that contains one of the services your team provides
- Read the title of the page, which appears at the very top of the page (Above the page its self, in the middle, but below where the website address is found.)
- Look for the name of the service within the title. The name may well be a phrase e.g. “cloud accounting for importers”
- Type the phrase in the same area as the website address. Press enter
- The search engine (e.g. Google) will then present you with a list of websites. Ignoring the paid for advertising see where your firm ranks
- Not on page 1 (or 2)? Refine the search by adding your town/city or NZ at the end
Your Results
You have done a great job. You now have some understanding of what potential clients will find when they hop on line to search for the very services your firm offers. The question is, however, how did your searching go?
- Services found on page 1. Then put your feet up and return to whatever you were doing before reading this article.
- Not visible. Not on the first page of Google. Oh, dear. How are potential clients going to find the services offered by your firm when they go online?
Next Steps to a High Ranking*
- Run the test on one or two other services
- Talk to others in the team. They may not see it as a problem (especially if you have too much work)
- Call Pierre on (04) 383 8086 to discuss what needs to be done to boost your firm’s rankings on Google
*I like to think I know about SEO. Type “Marketing Resources for Accountants” and there we are on page one. Not bad given that Xero and others have far bigger marketing budgets than my firm.