10 Local SEO Tips For Accountants
Posted by Marketing Man in Google Places,Local SEO,Marketing for Accountants,Online Marketing,SEO | September 19, 2012
With local search becoming more and more important it is vital that your accountancy firm’s website is set up to capture as much of this traffic as it can. Here are 10 quick local SEO tips for accountants to optimise your website and content to attract local customers.
1. Claim your profile
The first thing you need to do is claim your company’s profile in Google Places, Bing Local and Yahoo Local. You will need to go through the verification steps to activate your profile, this will usually include either a phone call or post card to verify your address.
2. Upload Pictures
A lot of the local listing services, like Google Places, like to show photos to their users. To make sure they are using the photos you would like associated with your company make sure you upload them yourself. Photos don’t need to be professional quality but they will be representing your business so make sure you choose wisely.
3. Be consistent
There are many websites available where you can upload details about your company, when doing so you need to make sure you are being consistent with the information you provide. For example don’t use your full company name for half of the sites and a shortened version for the other half. Wherever possible you want exactly the same information on every site.
4. Ask for reviews
Most local sites are perfectly fine with you telling your customers to leave a review. So make sure you ask them! On invoices, on email communications, or on specially made postcards make a point to say “Thanks for your business and we’d love it if you gave our business a review on Google/Bing/Yahoo Local.” These reviews, good or bad, make your business seem much more credible to potential customers.
5. Bad reviews aren’t always bad
People are aware that no company is perfect, we all have off days and mistakes get made. Therefore it can sometimes raise suspicions if every review for a company is a 5 star “this company is great” review. Obviously don’t go trying to encourage a negative review just don’t think it as the end of the world if you get one.
How you deal with a bad review on a third party website can ultimately make a person’s mind up. Try not to get confrontational with the reviewer and try to stress that your company will go out of your way to put things right.
6. Add local phone number
If you are targeting a specific area it is a good idea to get a local phone number, even if it re-directs to your main line. On your website, be sure to publish your local phone number in text instead of within an image. 0800 numbers may be nice, but on their own they don’t give any kind of indication on where the company is located.
7. Have a full physical mailing address on all pages of your website.
Your address is important and it should be on all pages of your website to re-enforce your geographic location. If you take nothing else away from this article make sure you take this point on board.
8. Try to think like the searcher/customer.
What would a potential customers of your accountancy firm enter into a search box to find you and buy your services?
A lot of accountancy firms get caught up in popular keywords or keywords that will drive a lot of traffic and forget to focus on less popular keywords that have a higher probability of converting into sales. Ranking number one in Google for Accountant is sure to bring a lot more traffic than “fixed fee accountant in Wolverhampton” but the second term is much easier to rank for and will have a much higher conversion rate. Ranking for a generic term like accountant will bring you a lot of wasted traffic in searches by people looking for info on accountancy, accountancy jobs, school or university project research etc.
Remember to think like a potential customer.
9. Multiple locations require multiple landing pages.
Local sites don’t like a business having more than one local listing, but if the business has two locations, then you can set up another listing. However, you need to make sure that each location specific listing links back to a page on your website that is all about that location. Sending both local listings back to the same page, or your homepage, isn’t ideal.
10. Treat current customers well
It goes without saying that for your accountancy business to prosper you need to look after your current clients, but with the rise of social media and review sites now, more than ever, you need to keep customers happy. Bad news and bad reviews have the potential to spread like wildfire and taint your company image for future clients.
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About the Author – Marketing Man
Marketing Man is a superhero marketer hell bent on a personal crusade to improve the websites and marketing of UK accountancy firms. Check him out on Google+
Excellent list! SEO can be a daunting proposition, but for most local services, such as accounting and cpa firms, the real focus should be on your local listing. When you think like the searcher, you find what they are looking for is a local firm, and local listings are generally easier to rank for, especially if you follow these basic steps.
Thanks for the comment Norm, much appreciated.