Acquiring a superior accounting website design is an excellent technique to impress existing customers and prospects, but it will be a much more effectual prospecting tool if you take the time to customize it it!

The single most common presumption most accountants and website designers make when designing their websites is failing to adequately ascertain what their prospects are looking for in a CPA. As a result a lot of CPA website designs read as stuffy and uninspired. To actually convert new clients you need to re-examine your suppositions and revisit the central question, "What are prospects truly looking for?".

Easy as pie, right? Your prospects are looking for the best accountant for the best price.

That seems pretty self-evident, doesn't it?

Believe it or not… that's wrong! That's what you'd think a prospect was looking for. Even the prospect thinks that what he's looking for. But study after study has been done on this and they have determined an equally obvious fact that we all already know, but most of us overlook when we're marketing.

The biggest resistance any salesman has to confront is our good old-fashioned fear of strangers. This fear is compounded by the intimacy of the relationship between you and your clients. Keep in mind the old joke, "Only God knows a man better than his accountant." Well trust me on this one… only accountants find that funny… Well… and probably God. To everyone else it's just plain intimidating.

The best way to get a prospect to pick up the phone and call you is to get him to LIKE you. Now this principle applies to all your marketing efforts; and I want you to keep it in mind from now on whenever you're interacting with prospects and contacts either personally or through ad media; but how exactly do you apply this principle to your accounting website design?

When writing copy for your website, keep this in mind...

Likability Matters

What's the point of convincing me how great you are if I'm too shy to call you afterwards?

The most important function of your website is to give your visitor a chance to feel like they know you.

Some Practical Design Tips for Your Website:

Include pictures

Add pictures of your staff and yourself. You don't have to be pretty. If the visitor feels he knows the person picking up the phone he's much more likely to call, and knowing what you look like will help them cultivate a sense of familiarity.

Be a Person

Hey... I'm a football fan. That's a possible personal connection. If you're a fan too I'm going to be inclined to like you! What are your interests? Dogs? Do you play tennis? climbing? Surfing? Skiing? All these seemingly irrelevant (to accounting) aspects of your personality are the key to marketing success! Tell me everything: Are you a Rotarian? Do you volunteer for your local church or synagogue? The United Way or March of Dimes? These are the things that make a personal connection possible with a prospect. This is the real secret to getting your prospects over their fear of strangers and into your office.

Show Trust

Get personal. Show your prospect some trust on a personal level. This makes it a LOT more likely that you'll get an initial contact. It also makes it a lot more likely you'll land the sale when the call comes in. I know it seems a little weird to base your marketing on these factors; factors that really have nothing to do with your skills as a service professional; but it works. As a rule people don't make major purchasing decisions rationally. They make the decision emotionally and then rationalize it.

Don't be a Wise Guy

Nobody like a wise guy. Resist the temptation to make your content too smart. Don't write over the prospects head. Don't lecture or talk down to your visitor. If you're lucky you'll just bore your customer, but if you make your visitor feel frustrated, confused, or stupid you'll only aggravate the fear factor. Dumb it down a little for us normal folks. We really don't care about the details. If we understood what the heck you were talking about we wouldn't need you in the first place. We just want you to git-'er-done so we can back to running our lives and businesses.

Your CPA or accounting website is a marketing goldmine, but the more you realize about using it properly the more money it will bring into your practice. Take a bit of time to personalize your site. You won't be sorry. It will become a MUCH more effective prospecting tool!