Generating Clients for Your CPA Company – 10 Effective Strategies

Professional accountants may all share a title, but their work can widely vary – from specializing in tax returns, to offering QuickBooks support to small businesses, to offering audit support. This is one of the many reasons I love consulting with them as much as I do.

Regardless of their specialty, one fact is true in every case: as with any business that offers services, CPAs need paying clients. An accounting professional might be at the top in school and graced with superior client skills – but unless and until she gets an adequate number of paying customers, her talent will go wasted.

Therefore, one of the first and most important question any accountant can ask is, How do I get my clients?

The best way is with effective accountant websites.

The internet is today what the yellow pages was a few decades ago. These days, you have to have an online presence, or your marketing efforts will fall flat.

This won’t change in the future, either. With thousands of students studying accounting, coupled with one of the most challenging of economies, finding clients is becoming a very competitive endeavor. Having a website will remain critical.

So what can you do to help your firm thrive in this environment? Below are 10 pointers for how to obtain and make the best use of your accounting website:

I. Ensure that your website isn’t amateurish. These days, it is extremely easy to create a website. Plenty of options exist for you to not only get a web address, but also pick a professional design that’s targeted exclusively to the clients you want to attract.

II. It’s best to use a contractor to set up your website for you. Your talents lie with numbers, not design. A professional designer can effortlessly make your website look and run just right.

The key to designing accountant websites is to keep visitors on your site once they are there. Make it attractive and informative.

III. Don’t overlook the importance of social media sites for getting the word out. This isn’t as much of a hassle as you may have heard, although the more energy you put into it the better your results will be. The simple act – which takes all of half an hour – of creating profiles on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn is enough to gain exposure.

Facebook is the most important of these. To get started on this popular social sharing platform, simply create a personal profile and then create a “fan” page for your business. Get your friends to “like” your page, and soon their friends and their friends’ friends will be seeing your business’s name and a link to it.

IV. Links are vital to generating traffic – so, on your website, be sure to post links to your social media pages. When folks see your website and approve of it, it’ll be easy for them to click on your social media link. This will help you get even more traffic. A “like me on Facebook” or “follow me on Twitter” link will expose you to even more potential clients.

V. Your clients who have websites can use a plug – and adding a link to their site gives you a benefit, too (because the more links on your site, the better). People judge you by the clients that have hired you, so brag a little about who trusts your work.

VI. Take advantage of merchant websites that can help you get leads – such as eBay and Craigslist. Sites like these, along with other, similar ones, see mega numbers of visitors, and when you advertise in their classified section, your visibility goes through the roof. Normally, there is no charge to list services; advertising with these sites will expand your reach to well outside your local client base.

VII. Don’t forget about ads in the newspaper that include your web address, which still work well for local clients. Getting people to click on links and visit accountant websites is a lot easier than getting them to drive accross town to visit or even just pick up the phone and call. Check your local newspapers. Chances are they have an online edition that uses banner ads as well as a services or marketplace section. Look into websites for publications in surrounding towns that are a reasonable driving distance for potential clients.

VIII. Be proactive; look for websites that advertise specifically for accountants. Sites like Accountant-Finder.com list accountants for a small fee, making it that much easier for leads to find you.

IX. Bid system and lead generating websites such as adknowledge.com are plentiful online. These services, when used properly, can get you in contact with the clients you want and who need what you have to offer.

Do your homework here and ensure that you investigate the site before you join it. Some have fees involved and some are fly-by-night operations. If you want quality clients, use a quality lead generation site.

X. Lastly, make it a point to find the veterans in your field. Ask how they find clients, and then mimic them. There’s no point in reinventing the wheel. Using Internet resources such as Websites 4 Accountants is a great way to learn new tricks and tips that can greatly improve your lead generation, which will then increase your sales.

Those who tell you it’s not hard to get new clients and build a thriving CPA firm are, sadly, hiding the truth. However, don’t allow this to discourage you. Having a professional accounting site is an achievable way to make this goal come true.

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