Website design is central to your success. Where your internet persona is concerned your site is your single most vital asset. You may have terrific content, and the expression “content is king” emphatically remains spot on, but just as a special treat we’re going to discuss some fundamental components that are sometimes neglected when businesses are designing websites. If websites for accountants are inadequately designed prospects may not actually stick around to see all their fantastic content. Let’s consider a few basic tips about basic CPA website design that we rarely talk about including aesthetics and organization.
Overkill is Bad: This is an accounting website, and while stuff like animations have a place don’t overdo it! A few dignified animations and rolling images can give your website a polished look, but if you go too far it’s going to start looking like a website for children. If images tell a relevant story, or if they show your connection to the local community or illustrate your relationship to accounting or taxation then you may want to consider putting a few static images or a slowly rotating slide show on your home page. This connection is one of the keys to building websites for accountants. If you can connect with prospects on a personal or emotional level you’ll have a much easier time converting them into clients.
This “less is more” sensibility is pretty much a universal rule in design. The same rules apply to your copy. Here’s a good rule of thumb: If it doesn’t actually HAVE to be there, it probably doesn’t belong on the page. Don’t clutter your home page, especially, with text. It will overwhelm visitors to your site and will be a turn-off, potentially causing them to click away. Put your major key points (even use bullet points) on your page, and then create hyper-links if you want the user to be able to read more. Avoid the temptation to put too much information on your home page. All you need is a short introduction that distinguishes you from other accounting firms in the area. Nobody wants to read a web page that looks like a college text book, and the attention span of a website reader is even shorter than the attention span of someone reading a newspaper or magazine.
Keep It Organized: If you ask people to search around for what they need you won’t keep them long. If after two clicks a visitor doesn’t feel they’re on the right track most of them will just leave. Personally I’m a big fan of horizontal drop down menus, but vertical menus with dropdown sub pages are great, too. Horizontal menus are a little harder to use because the width of the browser limits the number of first tier menu items you can have, but people are already accustomed to them and find them easy to use. The “top level” or “fist tier” navigation items should be your main topics. From there you can create your sub-links, specific pages that are logical extensions of the top tier item. You can even create a third tier if necessary. You probably don’t want to go much further than three levels deep because that can start getting confusing for the user.
The name of the game is to keep clients on your site. Keeping the site easy to navigate is essential to this end. Your website can even help you cross-sell your services. By keeping everything neatly organized and easy to find you increase the probability of a client finding a service he or she might need, perhaps even something that will help you generate some billable hours off-season.
Make Yourself Easy to Find: Once a prospect decides to get in touch with you they shouldn’t have to search your site for a phone number. Well designed websites for accountants make it easy for a visitor to find your contact information. Have your contact information on the footer of every page of your site (at least phone number and/or email address).
Designing superior websites for accountants is a unique craft, but in the above respects it’s very much like designing any site. They have to engross prospective clients and keep them interested. These basic design principles will help ensure that your visitors enjoy their experiences on your site. All the while it will also expose prospective clients to your brand and position your practice as the specialists to turn to whenever they find themselves having tax or financial planning concerns.