Accountancy is a competitive industry, as you will well know, so gaining any sort of competitive advantage is essential for the survival and growth of your business. When it comes to potential customers sourcing accountancy services online one of the main ways to ensure they call, or email, you rather than a competitor is to have plenty of reviews on 3rd party sites like Google+ Local, Qype and IzzBox.

Google do not give you clear instructions on how their algorithm works and what you should do to rank well, they do though give you clear guidelines on what you should not be doing. The Google Webmaster Guidelines are something that anyone performing SEO for a business should be familiar with. Here are a few things that you need to stay clear of:

We recently had the pleasure of working with Trewin Bookkeeping Services on the design and implementation of their new website, the site went live last night at www.trewinbookkeepingservices.co.uk.

If you have been looking after the SEO for your accountancy firms website then you will no doubt have been link building for your accountancy website, this article is not designed to discuss the importance of link building rather it is to give you an insight in to how you should be building links to your website.

Far too many accountants who are marketing themselves online using Google’s paid search ads are directing visitors who click on the ads directly to their homepage, they are in desperate need of some Google AdWords Optimisation. Directing all traffic to your homepage is bad for a number of reasons:

• Homepage’s are generally very generic. If you are trying to convert a visitor into a sales lead you will want to be a lot more focused with a clear call to action. The content of the page should accurately match the keyword that they searched for. For instance if someone clicked your ad after searching for “payroll services” and they land on your homepage you are asking that visitor to then search your site for the relevant information. What they should be presented with is clear and concise information on your payroll services with a clear call to action (either a contact form and a large call us now graphic).

I will hold my hands up and say that, left to my own devices, I am not the most organised of people in the world. If I have an idea or something pops into my mind that needs doing I will usually jot it down on a scrap of paper and carry on with what I was doing. However, what I have increasingly found is that scraps of paper get lost and I end up a week later thinking to myself “I’m sure there was something I wanted to do with that website”. This is why I have decided to put technology to use and embrace a To-Do List app, something that will prompt me to do something and record what has and hasn’t been done.

As local search becomes more and more prevalent, accountants aiming to target local traffic must ask themselves what can they do to incorporate this marketing strategy into their overall online marketing arsenal.

For accountancy companies that have a local presence, top visibility on local search is essential or that traffic and potetntial sales leads will simply go to competitors. Google Maps is one of the most frequently used local search destinations on the internet and even comes standard on many mobile devices including the iPhone. Google+ Local provides a great opportunity to begin marketing on a local level to your potential customers.

No matter what you do, everything always comes down to one critical factor at the end of the day. How does it effect your bottom line?

A Few Ways You Can Increase Your Conversion Rate

Help Visitors Trust Your Website

A lot of people are still extremely cautious when buying online, either buying directly through a site or contacting somebody for a quote, and rightly so you have to say. A few months back a good friend of mine, who was moving abroad, decided he had found the right service on the internet. This company took his money and disappeared off the face of the Earth. It is easy for an unscrupulous individual to hide behind a website collecting peoples credit card information.

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.

When it comes to maximising the marketing potential of your accountancy firm getting referrals from past customers is a huge part of a successful campaign. Referrals are inexpensive to get and are much easier to sell to as they come to you recommended by a trusted source. It sounds perfect, but obtaining referrals can actually be a difficult process for many accountancy firms.