How accounting firms can get more leads

Most CPAs pull lots of extra hours during tax season. Once April 15th passes, they have two weeks to get their clients? first-quarter payroll taxes done. Yet a typical accounting firm is no different from any other company that wants to grow its business. It needs a steady stream of qualified leads that can be converted into new clients.

Most accounting firms get the majority of their work through referrals. But referrals take time, and they do not always come through at a rate that?s desirable.

So how can such a firm get accounting leads? It all begins with having a well-developed website. Many accounting firms have sketchy websites that are little more than digital brochures. The only conversion opportunity is on the Contact page where a form asks for information to be followed up on. Of course, few if any leads actually come in to the firm through this form, and the general consensus is often that the website is a necessary expense but of little value as a marketing tool.

Nothing could be further from the truth.
The key to getting traffic to your site is content. It?s a simple fact that the more content you create, the more traffic and leads your business will see. For example, research by HubSpot shows that websites with 400 to 1,000 pages have nine times more traffic than those with just 51 to 100 pages.

Accounting leads come through blogging
So, you ask, how do I take a simple website from a local accounting firm and build it out to have 400 or a thousand pages or even more? One obvious way is by blogging. A blog post takes an hour to write, but it lasts on the web forever. When you consider that the IRS tax code is more than 70,000 pages, you should have no trouble finding things to blog about.

One method of finding blogging topics is to simply identify any question you get asked and then answer it in your blog. Think of all the accounting questions your clients have asked you ? to what extent are business meals deductible, when do I have to file payroll taxes, what is the standard mileage rate for this year, etc.

You can tailor the questions to the type of businesses you want to attract to your site. Answer those questions with a full explanation, giving readers all the details and ramifications, and you?ll have a compelling blog post and one more page of content on your site.

If you’re in accounting, or any other professional services group, and you’re looking for a steady stream of new leads, call me today at 330-701-4743. I can show you specific examples of leads flowing into a business that goes beyond anything they expected.