FREE Guide: Search Engine Optimization – SEO – Tips for Accounting, CPA Firms

I justed created a new guide for accounting and CPA firms: “How Accounting and CPA Firms Can Succeed with SEO.”

Get  your copy of the accounting and SEO guide today.

It’s from World Synergy and Accountants and CPA Firms.

Here is an excerpt:

Accounting firms have many options when it comes to marketing. They can start with traditional efforts like generating leads through networking and following up on referrals from existing clients.

For a moment, you might think that no one would hire a professional services firm just by searching online.

But it happens that way – all of the time.

Yes, individuals and companies check with friends and business associates to find an accounting firm that could be a good fit for their interests and needs. They also rely on directories and search engines like Google and Bing to identify potential firms. Here’s a quick sampling of monthly searches on Google:

And that’s just the broad, national data. Here’s a cross-section of local searches:

In this guide, we’ll look at key ways accounting firms can leverage search engine optimization (SEO) to connect with prospective clients:

SEO has been around since the early 1990s and people still seem bewildered by SEO like it’s some kind of special magic that only some marketers understand and few master. It is complicated and based on many variables. But it can work if you’re smart about your strategy.

If your accounting firm wants to succeed with SEO, you need to start with a simple reality – your web site’s viability. It can change over time, but each web site at any given time has certain strengths and an ability to rank well on major search engines.

You can’t just pick keywords like you’re a kid in an apple orchard. It’s not that simple. Take stock of your situation and get a handle on what your web site has going for it.

Search engine rate all sorts of information for every single page, including:

• Domain name
• Domain age
• Number of pages
• Inbound links from other web sites, newsletters, blogs, magazines, directories, etc.
• Keywords in title tags
• Keywords in page headers (like headlines)
• Keywords in subheads
• Keywords in the core content
• Keywords in and around links between pages on a web site (also called anchor text)
• Keywords in the navigation
• Keywords in URLs (page names)
• Amount of content on each page
• Keyword themes throughout a web site
• Keyword density (percentage of keywords in relationship to other words on a page)

U.S. Accounting, CPA Firms Need Much Help with SEO

I just released a new study called, “When Will SEO and Accounting Firms Add Up?” It was produced by with World Synergy,  Online Marketing Coach and the Internet directory Accounting Firms and CPA Firms.

Get a FREE copy of the accounting study today.

Or, check out this excerpt from the Executive Summary of the 39-page report:

Most accounting and CPA firms have a long way to go if they want to aggressively use search engine optimization (SEO) to connect with prospects and help their bottom lines.

Our analysis of 200 accounting firms (100 large and 100 small) shows that most firms do little to have their web sites found among natural search engine results.

It could be that they’re enormously successful with old-school and other marketing tactics. Or, maybe not. CPATrendlines reported that “revenues at the typical CPA firm are up 1.7%,” according to the 2011 Rosenberg MAP Survey.

At least for large accounting firms, the news is worse, according to Accounting Today. In its “Top 100 Accounting Firms 2011” report released in March 2011, Accounting Today used this apt title: “Waiting for the thaw.” The widely regarded report overview sized up the financial health of the industry this way: “The accounting profession … entered a cold snap in 2009 that has lasted right through 2010, and still seems to have The Top 100 Firms in a deep freeze, stuck in a second year of declining revenue, partner and staff figures.”

In a fiercely competitive world, accounting firms should be doing everything within their power to connect with their target markets and improve their profitability. With SEO, they could make some inroads on their own or rely on the wisdom of consultants.

Clearly, accounting firms get business from traditional marketing and favorable word-of-mouth. In other words, if an individual or a business has concerns about existing accounting professionals, they may ask friends to suggest alternative experts.

On the other hand, millions of people search for accounting firms every month through the Internet. They locate them through search engines, directories and other services. Some people may simply want help with an individual tax return. Others may be looking for help setting up a business or need long-term advice with growth plans. Either way, potential sales may be missing if no one knows the accounting firm exists.

Here are highlights from our study:

• Among small accounting firms, 62% use the vital page title on their home pages, but 38% don’t include any keywords and 82% get poor or fair marks for a lackluster strategy that sometimes has a single, shoot-for-the-moon keyword (if any at all).
• Sixty-eight percent of small accounting and CPA firms have no search engine presence even for keyword phrases related to their local cities.
• Small accounting firms do use a keyword in their domain name 66% of the time – a huge advantage if coupled with other strategies.
• Only 20% of large accounting firms use a keyword in their domain names.
• Large accounting and CPA firms use the home page title 57% of the time, but 43% don’t include even one keyword and 63% earn poor or fair ratings for not using keywords or barely mentioning one.
• Astonishingly, 55% of large firms lack a search engine presence – either for national keyword phrases or local search terms tied to their headquarters.
• In contrast, nearly four in 10 large accounting firms (39%) participate in paid search despite missed opportunities with SEO.
• The small accounting and CPA firms we looked at don’t appear to embrace paid search (only 2% demonstrate any interest).
• Sixty-three percent of small accounting firms have fewer than 25 inbound links (43% fewer than 10). But 57% of large firms have at least 501 inbound links (43% have 1,000 or more).
• Small accounting firms don’t seem interested in social media – 83% apparently don’t use it in their marketing; but 73% of large accounting firms promote one or more social media profiles.
• Unfortunately, with small and large accounting and CPA firms, web site social media references often are displayed at the bottom of the web site pages.

Perhaps accounting executives simply don’t understand SEO. In some cases, they may be leaving web site development and marketing opportunities to others who fall short or don’t try hard enough in the first place.

Given the pages we looked at, it’s very apparent that SEO is viewed as a one-time exercise – if it’s implemented at all. At the same time, scores of pages among small and large accounting firms are loaded with identical page titles starting with the home page across dozens or even hundreds of pages. In other cases, page headers merely mimic page titles with no thought to modifying them for SEO purposes.

And yet, both small and large accounting firms have the right conditions for successful SEO strategies – given the age of their web sites, amount of content on many of the web sites, number of web site pages and text headers that could easily be updated. The influential page titles can be modified as well.

Get the CPA study today.

SEO and Accounting Don’t Add Up But Should

If you’re passionate about SEO or accounting, you’ll find want to get my new national study, “When Will SEO and Accounting Firms Add Up?”

Get the free study of accounting firms.

I spent a lot of time with 200 accounting firms – well maybe not in their offices. But I got to know them – from the single page that looks like it was made in 1996 to the largest CPA firms in the world. Amazingly, despite the apparent strides they’re making, they aren’t performing too well from a search engine optimization standpoint.

From what I could tell, they really lack visibility on the Internet. It appears that 62% don’t have a single word in the top 1o 0n Google for keywords based on the cities where they’re located.

Ouch.

I led the study with a team through Online Marketing Coach, a service of World Synergy (I’m the web strategy thought leader).

Online Marketing Coach manages an Internet directory I created called Accountants and CPA Firms. Until recently, it was Ohio CPA Firms. The directory ranks all over the place for major cities in Ohio. In recent months, we’ve been building up content with the new directory – and top rankings are springing up for everything from Fresno and Spokane to Ocean City (and a lot more).

Get listing info here.

By the way, we didn’t use any of the directory advertisers for the study except one we couldn’t avoid because it’s among the top 100 firms in the nation (one of the types of firms we targeted). We also looked at 100 small firms to see how they stacked up.

View the news release.

Let me know what you think of the study after you get a chance to check it out.

Try michael at onlinemarketingcoach.com or call me at 440.349.4940 ext. 635.

Online Search Marketing

For effective online search marketing, here are some SEO Basics:

Keywords:

Keyword phrases are the most important part of your strategy. You’re going to miss your target, but that’s OK. That’s web site development. That’s marketing.

You can cast a big net and grab everything or you can target a specific phrase. I favor a mixed portfolio. It increases your odds of some success. A mixed set of keyword phrases also ensures some commonality among keyword phrases like nature posters and nature posters for sale.

If you go broad, your opportunities to convert a visitor (prompt them to take some action) are more limited. The searcher may very well not be interested in what you offer. If you’re too specific, no one may be searching (or the search traffic may be rare).

Web Site Content for Online Search Marketing

You don’t have a Golden Rule for content and the number of times you need to mention a keyword phrase. Start with few and then add more. Overkill won’t cut it. Some people suggest having 250-500 words per page. I think that can vary site to site and depending on what keyword you’re targeting. I’ve received traffic with 50 keywords and had no traffic with 500.

Focus on page headers, subheads and info boxes (secondary navigation) to other parts of the web site. Search engines seem to like it when you cluster together related keywords and navigation).

Online Search Marketing Analysis:

You can’t look at data in a vacuum. The real story is in the multiple slices of data and how they relate. A keyword ranking is nothing if no one is searching. And a single web site visitor can be worthless or an invaluable piece of data. You need to know how often people search for your relevant phrase. For example, if you see that you only got one visitor, that may be good if you’re ranking #15 and 500 people search for your phrase each month. You can do more with the page that is ranking and create related pages to support that keyword phrase (to help you get on the first page of Google and get more of those 500 visitors). Or, if you’re already ranking #3 for the keyword phrase and you only got one visitor, it’s likely a keyword phrase people rarely use. So don’t dismiss low web site visitor traffic. Keep it in perspective. If the Google tool suggests that relevant search traffic is high and you’re in the ballpark with rankings, you can make some changes and get the web site traffic volume you want.

Learn More

2011 Search Engine Ranking Factors – SEOmoz
 

SEO

• Competition
• Domain age
• Keywords in domain
• Text navigation
• Number of pages
• Amount of content on a page
• Keyword themes (keyword focus on web site)
• Anchor text (linked words when cross-referencing pages)
• Inbound links (from other web sites)
• Alt tags (text associated with images)
• Page headers (like headlines – H1 code)
• Subheads
• Proximity and density of keywords on page (staggered or limited to one area)
• Info boxes (secondary navigation with closely related linked text)
• Page age
• Programming (prominence of text on page or text lost in mounds of programming)
• Page load time
• Splash page (bad for SEO, and limited value for visitors who leave or click on
• Skip Intro out of habit)
• Keywords in page URLs
• Web site traffic
• Social media (mentions of your web site)
• Future content (your capacity to add to the web site)

If you want to be successful at online search marketing, these are some of the many variables you need to consider.