Recent surveys indicate that 85% of consumers utilise the internet to find local businesses. The implication is clear: it is imperative for your firm’s website to be optimised in order to convert visitors into clients effectively. Below, we present five concise strategies designed to transform your website into a powerful conversion tool.
The essentials (keep your design simple and to the point)
To retain visitor engagement, it is crucial to avoid overloading your web pages—particularly your home or landing pages—with excessive visual information.
(Landing pages are specifically designed web pages that users arrive at after interacting with promotional content, such as a social media advertisement for a sale or an offer of a complimentary ebook.)
When designing your website, it is critical to consider the perspective of a prospective client seeking accounting services. What information would they prioritise upon visiting your site?
Firstly, it should be immediately clear that you are an established accounting firm. Potential clients will also want to quickly ascertain the specific nature of your practice—whether you specialise in a niche industry or primarily focus on personal income taxes.
Your homepage should serve as an intuitive gateway to more detailed sections of your site. Instead of delving into elaborate descriptions of every service offered on the homepage, consider providing links to dedicated service pages or employing a drop-down menu under a “Services” tab at the top navigation bar. This approach ensures visitors can effortlessly find relevant information without feeling overwhelmed initially.
These service pages should convey the essential details of each specific service in a clear and straightforward manner.
Maintain a simple design; avoid flashy elements, limit picture slideshows (considering the nature of your accounting firm, imagery may not provide significant value), and select a colour scheme and font that are easy on the eyes and legible on mobile devices.
Ensure clarity and relevance for your audience in your text. Avoid overly clever language; unclear messaging can make it difficult for visitors to understand what you offer, potentially deterring them from engaging with your services. Make sure that calls-to-action and service names are direct, obvious, and concise.
Offer value that beats your competition (your value proposition)
While possessing a visually appealing website is advantageous, without substantive content to showcase, it can be likened to attempting to create something valuable from inferior materials.
It is imperative for your firm to identify and articulate its unique value proposition—preferably one that surpasses the competition in a significant way. Although competitive pricing may seem like an apparent strategy, it often involves increased work volume with diminished returns.
Consider whether your firm has specialists that are not available at other firms. Can you create bundled service packages that offer additional value without significantly increasing workload? Do you provide a distinctive service that competitors do not?
Position yourself as the authority within specific industries, such as the restaurant sector. Highlight any unique attributes of your team, such as being predominantly composed of women or representing minority groups.
Above all, determine what matters most to your audience and ensure this core message permeates both your firm’s operations and its online presence.
Relieve their worries
When potential clients visit your firm’s website, they seek to entrust you with their financial well-being, a responsibility that can understandably cause significant stress.
Alleviating this concern is crucial in influencing their decision to choose your firm over competitors. An effective method for reassuring visitors of your firm’s reliability and proficiency is through the inclusion of client testimonials and case studies.
These endorsements can be strategically placed either in a dedicated section or incorporated within service-specific pages on your website.
When conducting a case study, it is essential to pinpoint specific challenges faced by a client and demonstrate how your services successfully addressed these issues. This approach enables potential clients to recognize similar challenges within their own operations and see how your firm effectively solved them.
While text-only testimonials are valuable, video testimonials can significantly enhance impact. If you have clients who are particularly satisfied with your services, consider asking them to provide a testimonial on video. Ensuring proper lighting—either through online tutorials or by engaging a local videography service—and offering an incentive such as lunch can encourage many clients to participate willingly in the creation of testimonials for your site.
Moreover, securing testimonials from individuals associated with prominent businesses can add substantial credibility and relieve prospective clients’ apprehensions, delivering an additional ‘wow’ factor that underscores the reliability of your services.
Urgency sells
Recently, if you have made a purchase on Amazon, you may have observed that many items are listed with only three or so units remaining in their inventory. This situation demands swift decision-making to secure the item before it sells out.
This strategy can be effectively mirrored by accounting firms through tailored service packages. Begin with offering a foundational package comprising essential services that are indispensable for your clientele. Enhance this core offering by including one or two additional services that clients may not ordinarily request, and establish a definitive time frame for this offer.
Prominently display this package alongside its countdown timer as a banner on your homepage. Upon expiration of the current offer, develop a new package targeting another segment of your clientele to ensure fair value distribution across different customer groups. Implementing a similar countdown mechanism will create urgency and drive engagement among potential clients for each successive offer.
Test then test again
Your website functions as an ongoing experiment. When implementing various configurations, it is advisable to treat each aspect mentioned above as a distinct entity. Although the cumulative effect of improvements may exceed the impact of individual changes, focusing on one facet at a time will facilitate more effective enhancements to your site.
