To “get results” with your Web site, the first question that you must ask yourself is, “What results do I want?” Are you trying to find clients through your Web presence or just providing information about your service, where you are located, and what you do.
Why Do You Need a Web Site?
Beyond being strictly informational, your Web site shows that you are for real. It pronounces to prospective clients that you are serious about what you do and that your service is here to stay. Your site should be attractive, but not overdone with eye-candy and graphics. Graphics add to the appeal of a site, but if overdone, can distract from the message that you are trying to send. And besides, graphics don’t convince visitors to buy your services, well-crafted words do.
Your Virtual Business Flyer
When building an Accounting service Web site, the first thing that it must accomplish is to introduce who you are. You should make it clear how to contact you by phone, email, or other means. You should tell who you are and what you do.
That is pretty basic, but many Web sites do not even answer the who, where, and what of who your business is, where you are located and how to contact you, and what services you perform. Clients need to know what’s in it for them to do business with you and what you can do for them.
First and foremost, you Web site is an extension of your business card. It says what you would tell to anyone that you would hand your business card to if you had room to fit it on the card. Tell about the services that you can perform from the perspective of what benefit a client will get from using your service.
Field of Dreams Myth
Many early adopters of the Internet fooled themselves and others into the Field of Dreams myth, that, “If you build it, they will come.” Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to the Internet. In the birth of the Internet, people “surfed”. They browsed for interesting information or entertainment. While that aspect of the Internet still exists, it has lessened with all but those new to the Net and still curious enough to click on any link that looks interesting. The reality is that people today go to the Internet primarily to do business or to find facts, and they are in a hurry!
Web designers often make the mistake of thinking that visitors will come to a site and admire the look of the site and click on each link they see and appreciate each page. It’s never going to happen. Visitors to a Web site are normally there on a specific errand to get information or to solve a problem. Once they find what they are looking for, they are gone. If you bury the information that is important to them in large blocks of text, they become frustrated. Always remember that a competitor’s Web site is just a back-button away, so you have to give viewers what they came for, and fast.
Example Site That Follows These Principles
An example of the kind of “just the facts” site that we are talking about are the sites that Professional Bookkeeper program graduates get at no additional charge when ordering the course. To see a sample of the sites that graduates of the Professional Bookkeeper™ program receive, displayed in a new browser window, Click HERE. When you figure in what other Web designers will charge, in addition to hosting and setup fees, you could expect to pay as much as $980 for a similar site. If you need a Web site for your business (and most do), you will appreciate what a great deal that the Professional Bookkeeper program really is.
So How Do I Get Traffic to My Site?
Entire books and hundreds of Web sites address this topic from the standpoint of search engine optimization, or how to get search engines like Yahoo and Google to show your site among the top sites when keyword searches are made. Search engine optimization is beyond the scope of this article. Besides, if someone in your area is searching for an accountant, they normally won’t search the Web. If they do, they will get accountants from here to Bombay. So if search engines are not the way that you will get traffic to your site, how do you get traffic?
Your Web Site is Just One Aspect of Your Total Marketing Effort
Simply put, the source of Web traffic that you have the most direct control over is your own personal referrals. Put your Web address on business cards, flyers, in your emails, and any other place where you tell about your service. Your Web site will work wonderfully in concert with your other marketing efforts. If you expect that once you have a Web presence that customers will flock to you, you will be dissappointed. If you make your Web site a complimentary method to your other marketing efforts, you will win with it.
Learn More Ways to Market Your Accounting and Bookkeeping Skills
