If you think your website exists primarily for clients, think again.
A lot of firms think about investing in pricey features that would be in a client-only portion of the website. Did you know that only about 1% of clients return to a firm’s site after hiring them? And when they do, it’s usually to find an address or phone number.
Firms think about adding a payment feature or a document storage tool where clients can get their electronic documents without bothering the firm to send copies. Yikes, how firm-centric are these ideas??
Firms also talk about putting valuable content and tools behind this client-only wall.
This is exactly opposite of what your content strategy should be. Put your content and tools "out front" where people can see how brilliant and generous you are. And recognize other audiences are using your site a lot more than clients ever will.
Clients expect you to personally impart any and all important information to them. Everyone else wants to be able to find it without, or before, having to interact with you.
Most CPA firm website visitors are job seekers; second are prospective clients or referral sources—particularly looking at biographies. Least visited are firms’ services pages.
Build your site features and content according to these realities and you'll get a lot more ROI from your site.
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Great ideas
About following each other and I am now following YOU on twitter! :-D Thanks for posting!
Blogger Crew Community
Re: getting fellow 'Crew' members reading each others posts, you would think a sort of community would just evolve naturally. One thing that maybe we can throw Rob Nance's way is individual blog feeds. Right now if you subscribe you get everything and it results in information overload. If each blogger could subscribe to just a few other members feeds than it would be more manageable and easier to create 'interest areas' of related blogs. Also I think we all need to follow each other on twitter to build the community more.
www.twitter.com/vuchnich
Thanks Bill!
Right on about hoarding being unnecessary.
Every great great and successful accountant (call they rainmakers if you like, I just call them "happy") I've had the pleasure of observing or interviewing have this one thing in common: they are strong believers of giving free advice over lunch or off the clock...
Call it generosity or pay it forward or whatever. Bottom line: it works. People who hold back--perhaps thinking, I could tell them this but they should pay something for it--aren't bringing in (dare I say "attracting") the same level or quality of business.
About reading each others' blogs, that's a tough one. ;-)
Afraid to give away ideas?
Take a look at the big firms, who put on half day seminars with their senior consultants in attendance, all for free. The web site should be no different. Tell the world what you have and then say that if they call, you will PERSONALIZE it just for them.
All that content is just a teaser to get people to call. If you hoard it, they never will. But if you give it away, they will come asking for more.
Right on, Michelle!
P.S. How do we get members of the Blogging Crew reading each other's blogs?
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The article is true, sometimes the clients just only use websites of one's firm. I think this is unfair because the company is paying big amount of money for this and in return the benefit is not with them. But how can we overcome this kind of problem? Maybe I would suggest that the company must provide websites that are exclusively for their firm only or maybe a safe site for the company. It is just like when you are using credit card, what you know is that you the credit card company is helping in you but then the truth is you are the one who are benefiting them because of the high rate being charge in your accounts, so I guess personal loans is better than credit cards.