If ever there was a headline that is slightly controversial enough to get your attention – hopefully this is it!
I’m not really going to name and shame Leicester based accountancy firms’ websites (that would be mean) but what I will do is to share 10 marketing fails and flops that feature on some Leicester accountancy firms’ websites, so that you know what not to do (or what to change if your accountancy website features any of these marketing no no’s’!).
Your website can’t be found
I was actually shocked to find one of these when researching firms, but believe it or not when you click through to one local accountancy firm’s website, the words ‘This site can’t be reached’ appeared. The only thing I can equate how annoying it is when searching for something you need information about (like an accountancy firm in Leicester) to, is when you lock your email account by putting in an incorrect password three times, proceed to re-set it, put in what you thought your password was – because you know you’ll remember that – only to be told that you can’t use a previous password. Infuriating. The difference is, you have to persevere with your email account, but when you see ‘This site can’t be reached’ you can’t carry on to the accountant’s website, even if you still wanted to.
Accountancy websites with only one page
It’s fine to have one page if you’ve just set up your accountancy firm and need to find time to create relevant and engaging content for your website. However, whilst you’re at the one page stage, you stand exceptionally little chance of being found online when people search for accountancy firms. Google isn’t impressed with one page websites and to be honest, your potential clients won’t be either.
Your homepage does not say that you are an accountancy firm
You’ve been designing and developing your website for months and it is finally time for it to be unveiled. You’re completely happy with it now – it looks amazing and it’s even got a picture of the office! What some firms are forgetting at this stage, is that your website is not actually meant as a resource for you, it’s the shop window to your accountancy firm online. If you don’t say what you do, people could easily be forgiven for stumbling across your website and stumbling straight away again. When you’re searching for something online, the first thing that you want to see when you have clicked through is that you’ve found what you are looking for.
It looks awful
On the flipside, if your website has all the right information, search engine optimised (SEO) content and some cracking client case studies but looks terrible, it’s not going to work very well to convert people to clients. What I mean by terrible, is accountancy firms’ websites that are bland, plain, old-fashioned, don’t fit the screen properly or websites that are messy in terms of branding. Whilst website content is extremely important, people will judge a firm based on how it looks online as much as they will with its offline marketing. Keep it simple with wording, whilst using enough relevant visuals to keep even the most kinaesthetic of people happy.
Your latest article was published in 2010
2010 was 7 years ago, (I know, I still find it shocking too). If someone is checking out an accountancy firm’s website, it’s usually because they need an accountant. Alongside finding out if the accountant is local, people generally want to know that the accountant deals with (and is experienced in) the type of service that they need. One of the ways of checking how experienced, relevant and credible the accountant is, is to look at the website’s latest news articles.
In the current climate, there is so much going on in the world that could make a business or an individual decide to quit doing their own finances and get some expert advice, so if you have recently commented on something like Brexit or provided a useful view on the budget, that’s your credibility box well and truly ticked. On the other hand, if the last thing you posted was about how it looks like we’re on the way out of the recession, someone perusing your website could be forgiven for wondering whether you’re the best accountant to help them.
You haven’t considered who your target clientele is at all
You’re a professional and a professional services firms’ website needs to look professional, right? However, one easy mistake to make is to make your website so that you like it. You are not your client and in many instances, you will not be your target client either. If what appeals to you is a bright red theme which shouts ‘We are loud, strong and powerful!’, you need to stop to think: is that what a client actually wants from their accountant? I’m not saying cover your website in cartoons, but by making your website appealing to your target client, rather than being a shop window that you think other accountants will be envious of, the chances are you’ll come across as professional and accessible.
Your website information is based on things you think people want to know
Unless absolutely everyone that you could possibly ever want to be your client knows about your accountancy firm and its exact website address, your potential clients are going to use a search engine to find you (or another accountancy firm if your website isn’t very good!) online.
So, how do they find you? They use words in their search that mean something to them. For example, if you wanted people to use your website to find your accountancy firm for tax services, there are far more people searching for ‘Tax Accountant’ (1,000 to 10,000 average monthly searches in the UK) than for ‘Chartered Tax Advisor’ (100 to 1,000 average monthly searches in the UK).
This applies to the information on your homepage, your services pages, your ‘about us’ page, your ‘contact us’ page and each and every one of the articles that you publish in a news or blog section.
You have random site navigation
This is a classic example of what I’ve just explained above. There are tools that will show you how people travel around your website and if you have one of your sections (the tabs at the top of a website) labelled as something that you think is important/impressive – even if it contains some fantastic highly relevant information – if no-one’s really bothered by the section heading, that page isn’t going to get many visits.
Similarly, if your accountancy firm’s website is difficult to navigate, or has the best information tucked away on a page that most people won’t usually visit, people are impatient – they will give up and look somewhere else (just like you probably would).
You’ve copied the wording from someone else’s website
Google rewards sites that have unique, regularly updated content by pushing them up its rankings. If all of your website is duplicated content, which has been published elsewhere before it was published on your site, Google won’t be able to find any sign of added value in your site. It’s as simple as that. Why would you go to a version 2 of a website that already exists? You wouldn’t.
Not mobile optimised
Perhaps the best point, I have saved for last! A Reuters report states that 75% of Internet use in 2017 will be from mobile devices. Statistics like this can be found all over the internet. The majority of people now search for products and services using their mobile phones. Not surprisingly, if your website doesn’t show up well on a mobile phone, it will be because it hasn’t been designed in a way that is mobile optimised (usually the words and pictures are all over the place).
Website and SEO advice for accountants’ firms
If you would like to improve your website and its search engine performance, we can help. We have a team of online marketing specialists who can provide you with guidance to help improve your online marketing performance, either by doing it for you or by giving you the knowledge and tools that you need to do it yourself. If it’s a whole new website that you need, we can help with that too!
We don’t charge for our first meeting with you and you could find that achieving the results that work best for your firm’s website, are far more cost effective than you may think!
