How to create the perfect website for an accounting office?

Who uses the services of an accounting office and how to attract new customers?

To reach more customers, it is worth analyzing who they are. If you run an accounting office, look at who uses your services and whether you can divide these people into any categories.

Try to write out the profiles of potential customers (sales staff). Think about who they are and what is important to them. It is important what motivates them and what arguments to use to convince them to choose you.

On the other hand, if you don't have an accounting office yet or are just starting, check out the descriptions below and consider whether you address your services to such a group of clients.

Here are examples of clients of an accounting office:

David, 29 years old

He runs a sole proprietorship. The circumstances forced him to set up the company - either there were no good job offers or he had enough of a full-time job and decided to try to develop his own business. He started his company recently and it is his only source of income. For Przemek, the costs must be as low as possible because his income is not too high. He’s also not very experienced in the field, therefore he needs someone to help him in accounting services for the company and to prepare monthly settlements and tax returns at the end of the year.

Sara, 36 years old

Sara has been conducting business activity for at least several years and employs several people. She has a lot of responsibilities because she does not want to hire more employees - the costs would be too high. Usually, she deals with the marketing of the company, serves some regular customers, trains new employees, recruits and cares for supply. Marzena needs help in accounting, because she has very little time, and wants to spend it on running a business, not on paperwork. She is interested in a favorable but not the lowest price, and from time to time needs accounting advice. She expects the accountant to understand her situation and devote attention to her affairs. Unfortunately, for Marzena it’s difficult to find such a person and is thinking about changing the accounting office that provides services for her.

Robert, 44 years old

An experienced entrepreneur, he employs at least a dozen people. Instead of hiring an accountant, he prefers to outsource accounting and payroll services to one company so that all accounting and employee matters are organized, and that someone prepares contract templates and other necessary documents. He also needs accounting consultations, because during his business he might change the profile of his business or the form of taxation. He has high requirements and is not entirely satisfied with the accounting company that currently provides services for him. Robert wants to deal with competent people who know the answers to all his questions. He wants the company to be insured so that in the event of a mistake mades, he can recover money for the losses suffered.

Why is it worth using the services of your accounting office?

Think about the value you give customers. What can it be? For example, professional consulting in establishing a company, a dedicated accountant at the disposal of each client, comprehensive services in packages (e.g. accounting, human resources, and payroll). Competitive prices and a convenient location in the city centre will also be great advantages.

Create a list of benefits for customers based on the strengths of your business. Finished? Check out the following list of typical benefits an accounting office provides to clients and compare it with your notes.

What are the benefits of an accounting office for entrepreneurs:

• Security of the entrepreneur's finances guaranteed by certificates and insurance
• Meticulousness and high quality of services rendered
• Reliable accounting, orderly accounting matters and efficient and timely settlement of all matters for the client
• Specializations, required qualifications, extensive knowledge and experience of accountants
• Effective help in optimizing business costs - accountants know how to reduce costs and generate savings for an entrepreneur
• Conducting consultancy accounting, thanks to which clients have more complete knowledge about their company
• Save time - an accountant takes care of all matters, and entrepreneurs can focus on running their business
• Relieving the entrepreneur and performing paperwork for him, which most people do not like or do not have time for
• Financial matters are in good hands, a trustworthy company, recognized and recommended by customers
• Services tailored to the needs of the company
• Good price (important especially for small companies with a small number of invoices)
• Location accessibility/attractiveness - location near the customer enabling easy access
• Think about what values you want to communicate on its corporate website. How to choose them? Imagine how you would like to be perceived by clients, and how the client should feel when entrusting you with his accounting and HR issues. Simulate a simple experience: imagine what kind of customer you see when leaving your accounting office or who the typical person using your services is. Answer the question: what is important for such a person? This will allow you to more accurately express the values relevant to them.

Values that the accounting office can communicate

• Confidence
• Security
• Experience
• Professionalism
• Knowledge
• Trust
• Reliability
• Order
• Help
• Modernity
• Optimization
• Save time

Corporate website design for the accountant - what should it be like?

Most accounting offices are sole proprietorships, micro or sometimes small businesses. Usually, a few people work in them. The basic design principles should, therefore, be the same as for a website for a small, local company. 

Website layout

 The website should be responsive, i.e. designed to look good displayed on various devices (desktop computer, laptop, tablet, mobile phone). Must have a clear graphic layout. the layout, which will immediately communicate that it is an accounting office page, will allow you to professionally present services and inspire trust among people visiting it. It is best if the content is divided into several subpages and placed in sections containing good quality photos and readable texts.

The most important to communicate are the services provided, the benefits to the client and the address because the vast majority of entrepreneurs are looking for an accountant near work or their place of residence (after all, an important value that you provide is saving time).

It is important not only what you want to say, but also how you convey it. The website should reflect on how you will communicate with the client in the future. Describe the benefits in simple words so that your customers understand you. Ideally, the information should be visually detailed, short texts, containing headers with their expansion and accompanying, well-chosen icons.

Website colors

What should the color of the accounting office website be? It is customary to use such colors as navy blue, dark green, burgundy on the websites of accountants. If we want to emphasize the long tradition and experience of the office and the security it guarantees, such colors will work. However, if we prefer to present the accounting office as a modern company, adapted to the needs of modern entrepreneurs, which is easily accessible to clients, it is better to use brighter and more vivid colors that also reduce the distance, e.g. bright blue, orange, red and even pink.

Pictures for the company website

 At first, we pay attention to the image, and only then the texts, which is why it is so important to ensure good photos for the website.

It can often be noticed that the pages of accounting offices contain photos associated with the work of an accountant, e.g. a calculator, calculations or charts. This is a good lead, but such photos are impersonal. Presenting accountants at work is a much better solution. It is worth employing photography and organizing a photo session to publish real photographs on the website. When you show your face and your employees, it will be much easier for you to build the trust of potential customers. If you are not planning a photo session, you can use stock photos, but choose photos that look natural. Otherwise, the person visiting your website will immediately know that the characters in the pictures presented in the pictures are not employees of your company.

A page that can be managed

It is a waste of time and money to hire a person to administer the website. It is much better to have such a site that you can independently manage and update its content, especially since in your industry working with a computer in everyday life. Sometimes changes are simply necessary when, for example, your office address, opening hours, telephone number or employees change.

In the BOWWE Website Builder, you can create your website online and easily manage it. Using it, you can quickly add a new subpage and change its content. You can also publish news and blog. It is worth taking care of such an update because its implementation has a positive impact on the position of the page in Google search results. And the higher the page appears in the search results - the more people visit it. Also, thanks to such activities, the company gives the impression of being active, thriving and up-to-date with changes, which contributes to increasing trust in it.

Accounting office website layout

The suggested layout of subpages for the accounting office:

• Home
• About us (Why us, the team)
• Services (Offer)
• Customers (references, reviews)
• Price list
• News / Blog
• Contact

It may often turn out that it is worth breaking the Offer (Services) tab into several different subpages. These subpages associated with individual services will allow the website to position itself better with phrases related to the offer and increase the number of visits to the website.

Examples of subpages in the Offer (Services) tab:

• Establishing companies
• Accounting
• Tax consulting
• HR and payroll

Other subpages that you should consider adding:

• Promotions
• Guide (Blog)

What should each subpage contain?

Menu and footer

These are not subpages, but elements of every website that perform an important function - provide access to the most important information.

Menu

The names of the subpages in the menu should be very visible and legible. It is also good to include contact information: email address and phone number so that the visitor can contact you about the offer immediately. It is also worth considering placing the opening hours in the menu and the CTA button - Contact. It is customary to see the company logo on the left, but a different menu layout is also possible, e.g. with the logo in the center.

 Footer

In the footer of a small business website, we provide contact details - address, phone number, e-mail address. Opening hours are also worth mentioning. You can also include a site map, access map and links to company profiles on social media. It may also be a good idea to place a contact form on the menu or a field to subscribe to the newsletter. Information about insurance of the accounting office and promotion for accounting services will also be attractive. 

Home

Usually, users access it first, so it should contain the most important information in a short form and quickly show what the company does and why it is worth using its services.

Elements that should be included on the main page of the accounting office:

Banner / Slider

It is visible immediately after the user visits the home page, so he should communicate very quickly what type of business the company is doing. There can only be one photo at the very top of the page (banner) or several photos that are displayed in succession (slide). It is best for the photos to present employees at work while contacting clients, and one of the following photos on the slide can show the success of the company, which it achieves thanks to cooperation with the accounting office.

 The banner/slider should contain slogans promoting an accounting office, emphasizing its advantages. In the case of a banner - one slogan, and in the case of a slide - one slogan on each slide. It is worth that slogans communicate benefits for customers, e.g. "We will optimize your company's costs", express mission or values, e.g. "We care for the security of corporate finances", show knowledge and comprehensiveness of the offer, e.g. "Accounting and HR from A to Z". Particulars and numbers appeal to the recipients, which is why it is worth including them in passwords, eg "Accounting from PLN 100 / month", "Join the group of 200 satisfied customers".

 Buttons are another important element of the banner and slide. If we devote one of the slides to the offer and use the slogan mentioned above: "Accounting from PLN 100 / month", then it is worth placing the CHECK OFFER link linked to the price list, so that people who click on the button can quickly find out what are the costs of office accounting.

Company information

Under the banner, it is worth placing a short text about the accounting office, showing its advantages, e.g. extensive accountants' experience and effective optimization of company costs. The text may be accompanied by a button referring to the About us page, where you will find more information about the office. Such information will also have a positive impact on the positioning of your website.

A panel with numbers presenting the company's most important achievements

This section stands out graphically and briefly, summarizes the company's activities. The panel can include - the year of establishment of the company, the number of supported companies, invoices issued or employees for whom the office has dealt with HR and payroll issues, etc.

Services

The offer at a glance, which is listing what is offered, e.g. Accounting, Accounting Services, and Human Resources. Each service name may be accompanied by an icon or a short description. It is worth placing a button to the Offer subpage, on which services will be discussed in more detail. Alternatively, you can link service names to subpages dedicated to them.

Benefits

An important section to make entrepreneurs aware of why it is worth choosing this particular accounting office. When creating a section, it is worth coming back to salespeople and check why they are looking for accounting services.

Meet us

In this section, it is worth showing who works in the accounting office. Upload a photo of each person, sign it with their name and surname, state their function. In addition, you can add information about the departments in which specific people work and what their scope of duties is, e.g. who keeps full tax books, who books the revenues and expenses, and who handles HR and payroll matters.

In this section, it is worth showing who works in the accounting office. Upload a photo of each person, sign it with their name and surname, state their function. In addition, you can add information about the departments in which specific people work and what their scope of duties is, e.g. who keeps full tax books, who books the revenues and expenses, and who handles HR and payroll matters.

Pricing

If the accounting office offers favorable prices, it would be a good idea to place information about them on the home page. It is worth communicating what are the lowest rates at which individual services are provided. An extensive price list can be published on a separate, dedicated subpage, where a potential customer will find detailed information on prices for keeping accounting, human resources, and payroll, etc.

Our customers

This is an optional section, the addition of which is worth considering, especially if the accounting office serves clients recognizable on the market. It's best to publish the logos of these companies and link them, but use no-follow links to NOT deposition your site. It is also worth including the information "With us for 5 years" or "With us for 10 years" to show that the office is trustworthy and builds lasting relationships with clients.

Coupons

How to attract customers? This can be done by offering them a discount on services, e.g. for the first three months. It's best to place coupons on your homepage so that they are easily accessible to the visitor. In BOWWE, you can easily insert coupons using the Honaro Coupons application. All you have to do is upload photos, write what discount you offer and what services it applies to.

Contact information

Already on the main page, we can encourage website visitors to contact us. All you have to do is enter your phone number, opening hours and password encouraging you to make the call.

Lead generator

How to immediately collect the data of a person potentially interested in the accounting office's offer? A pop-up will help, i.e. a window that appears after scrolling the website or a properly placed form. By supplementing it, the entrepreneur will be able to send a request for a quote. All you need to do is select from the list the form of business, the number of invoices issued, the number of employees and civil law contracts, enter your e-mail address, and the accounting office employee will make a quote and send it to the e-mail address provided.

About us (Why us, the team)

The About us section allows users to learn more about the accounting office. Potential customers verify if you are trustworthy or arouse their sympathy. It's a good place to convince them.

Team

For some people, before making a purchasing decision, it is very important to find out who provides the services because they want to know who will work for them. Posting photos of employees, their names and surnames as well as functions performed will show your authenticity. On the other hand, the owner of the company must reckon with the fact that employees will leave and in connection with the employment of new people it will be necessary to organize a photo session several times.

Benefits for the entrepreneur

Most companies write about themselves in a very formal way and provide little information. And texts about the company should communicate its values and benefits that they bring to clients. In the case of an accounting office, these may already be mentioned: cost optimization, time-saving, ensuring the security of company finances.

Facts and figures 

It is worth using facts and figures. If the company has been operating for a long time, provide the number of years, and also mention the liability insurance of the accounting office and write what the office is better than competing companies (these can be, for example, an online system available to clients, a dedicated accountant or a specialization in tax optimization) enterprises.

The About us tab is also a good place to present your accounting certificate if you have one, and other diplomas related to your business (training, certificates, etc.).

By showing your team, emphasizing that the company has been on the market for a long time and has gained the recognition of many business owners, you are building a greater sense of trust among potential customers.

Graphic layout

Take care of the graphic arrangement of elements on this subpage so that the most important information is immediately visible to people scrolling the page. Compare texts with photos matched to them. If you write about customer service - show this situation. Add passwords that express customer benefits and encourage you to take advantage of your offer.

Video

An unconventional solution worth considering is a short film showing the founders of an accounting office talking about their company and its values. Such a video signals the transparency of the office and its modernity. 

Services (Offer, What we do)

This is a subpage where you can see in more detail what you do and what your customers can expect. Good texts will allow you to show that you know the field of accounting and that you offer comprehensive services that fully meet the needs of the company. 

Password

Attract attention first. In a few words, summarize why the user visiting your website should choose your accounting office. The password should communicate the benefits of the entrepreneur from using the services or show the qualifications of accountants, e.g. "Focus on the development of your business and we will deal with accounting", "Accounting and staff have no secrets for us", "Accounting from A to Z for Your company".

Benefits

It is best to show the value that the accounting office gives to clients again. 1-2 paragraphs of the text and the accompanying photo are a good introduction to discussing the offer and direct the reader's attention to what is important to him.

Services at a glance

Section for people who quickly scroll the page and want to get the most important information. You can place the same list of services with icons assigned as on the main page. Underneath it is worth placing a button linked to the Contact tab to encourage users to submit a query.

Service overview

Section for those who want to familiarize themselves with the details of the offer. Additional information about services can be included in the scrolling clicker. In this way, the description of services will not take up much space on the site, and at the same time you will be able to show your competence and even a person who is unfamiliar with accounting or HR issues will be able to understand what is included in the scope of a particular service.

Coupons 

Once an entrepreneur becomes a customer of an accounting office, he will probably remain with this choice. In this way, he will earn you money for many months or even years. To attract customers you can offer a discount for the first 3 months of using your services. A well-served entrepreneur will remain loyal to you and remain your customer for a long time.

Additional subpages

In the Offer section, you can specify more subpages related to the services provided. For the vast majority of accounting offices, the Accounting tabs, as well as HR and payroll tabs, will match. These solutions are often chosen by entrepreneurs, and the addition of such subpages with service names will help in positioning the website for key phrases related to them. On this subpage, you can specify on the list of what activities are performed as part of the accounting service or HR and payroll services. As in the case of the content on the Offer page, it is worth placing a link to the Contact tab to mobilize the user to send a message to the accounting office or to make a phone call.

Clients (references, reviews)

Instead of creating such a subpage, you can publish the opinions of accounting office clients on the About us page. However, adding a separate subpage will make customer information more visible and have a lot of persuasion power. 

A short introduction

A slogan emphasizing the importance of taking care of clients and the accompanying short text is a good introduction to presenting entrepreneurs' opinions about the accounting office.

Customer logos

As in the case of this section on the home page, it is worth considering presenting customer logos - especially if they are companies with which cooperation has been going on for several years.

Customer opinions

The most important section of this tab is customer reviews. It is always worth asking people who have been using your services for a while to issue a reference and for recommendations. It costs you nothing and will bring you many benefits. It is a very good solution to encourage customers to join the Honaro - social networking platform connecting consumers with companies. Only your real customers will be able to give you opinions, and you will easily insert a widget presenting them on your website created in BOWWE and adjust its layout to your needs. Your clients' recommendations will automatically appear on the page, which will also affect its positioning very well.

At the bottom of the page, it's worth adding a password encouraging to join the group of customers and a button linking to the Contact subpage.

Price list

Short beginning

In the beginning, it is worth including information about the price, why the range is given and to encourage us to get a quote.

Price list in the table

It's time for details and prices of individual services. For example, you can show how the price changes depending on the type of accounting and the number of documents that are billed monthly. A good idea is to offer packages, e.g. accounting and HR for a small company, or a package for startups. In this way, you can sell more services, attracting entrepreneurs with the price.

News

Updating website content is very important to achieve high positions in organic search results and reduce the costs of purchasing Google AdWords type advertisements. It is also a signal to clients that the company is active and well functioning, and accountants have a lot of knowledge and are well aware of current changes that occur in the regulations applicable to entrepreneurs.

Contact

An accounting office is almost always a company operating locally, so on the Contact subpage, it is worth highlighting the map showing where its headquarters is located. The telephone number and e-mail address should also be properly visible because you want users to promptly ask for accounting and accounting services. If there are parking spaces near your office, don't forget to mention it. Your customers are very busy business owners, and parking will be an important convenience for them.

Guide (Blog)

The list above contains suggestions for bookmarks in the accounting office. This does not mean that the website of such a company cannot be much more extensive. If we can save time for regular updating of the website, adding accounting and business entries will be a recommendable solution.

Thanks to the blog, your accounting office's website will be regularly visited by more people and it is quite likely that they will be interested in your offer because they will hit your blog looking for content related to your business. Specialized content will allow you not only to attract a much larger number of potential customers to your offer but also to present yourself as an expert and stand out from the background of many other accounting companies operating in your region. The blog will help you convince business owners that you have extensive knowledge and understand the situation and problems of entrepreneurs.

Suggested applications

Remember to manage your website efficiently. BOWWE, an easy-to-use page builder, will allow you to create a website for your business and modify its content. However, it is very likely that to achieve even better results you will need to install special applications on your website to facilitate and accelerate your work and provide better results. 

Here are the applications that will be useful on the accountant's website:

Reviews

On the Internet, the role of real-world instructions has been taken over my opinions. The commands enjoy a bit higher trust, but reviews allow reaching a much larger group of potential customers. Ideally, opinions should be given by clients from several industries and using various accounting services. They must appear on the site regularly, so ask them to issue your customers when they use your services.

Advanced contact form

It is worth considering adding an extensive contact form, often called a lead generator. Then the visitor will be able to choose in the form what contact he is contacting (e.g. Accounting, Human Resources, Other Services), and his data will be sent to your e-mail address and maybe automatically saved in the database or the CRM system so that you have a contact for the future.

News

The perfect place to share knowledge: to publish information about changes in the law, the obligations of entrepreneurs, upcoming appointments related to running a business. Publishing news helps build an expert position and increases the visibility of the page in Google search results. Posting news is also less demanding and time-consuming than running a blog.

Coupons

Discount coupons for services, e.g. a coupon whose use will allow the entrepreneur to use for free the small business accounting service for the first 3 months. Example of another coupon: 20% discount on HR and payroll services. Coupons motivate users to take advantage of the offer, limiting their risk.

Google Maps

A map showing where the business is located. It is worth making the map visible because many people want to talk to the accountant in person from time to time and especially before starting cooperation and signing the contract.

Pop-up

A pop-up window encouraging to leave messages/contact details will allow you to immediately obtain the data of visitors to your site who may be interested in your services. The client must perceive the offer as a one-time opportunity that he will not get a second time. This will convince him to leave the data and allow you to convince him of your company.

Chat 

An application in which customers ask a question and the accountant/assistant accountant answers. It shows the company's availability and commitment to solving customer problems. It allows you to quickly make contact, provides information and increases the chances of the user submitting an inquiry and finally choosing the accounting office that will answer it immediately. However, if you are not able to have someone available during working hours, it is better to opt out of this solution.

Blog

It is not easy to verify the accountant's knowledge, which is why accounting offices are often chosen by order or from online reviews. However, you can show your qualifications by running a blog where you will post accounting advice. Thanks to well-edited, valuable content, more people will go to your website and learn what you do.

Do you want to develop your business and successfully acquire customers? Create your page in BOWWE. If you need a ready page for an accounting office, use the template Finance Care or Finance Consulting dedicated to accountants. You don't have time to make a page yourself? Write to [email protected] and we'll create a professional website for you.