5 Revolutionary Ways to Exploit a CPA Website & Communicate with Clients

If you want to develop your accounting firm these days, you need to get online. The business world is now wide open, and you could be bringing in prospects from around the globe. But be careful of a hard-to-swallow truth here: Most Practices are finding that simply getting a serious CPA website isn't good enough. To be successful in your online strategy, you have to be careful to respond to your contacts quickly and in a respectful manner.

In this piece, we examine five areas to watch out for in the new online technology, with social media, and with the extra interest in your accounting company. Crafting a solid online presence requires a number of different tactics: social networking (like Twitter and Facebook), drawing attention to your site via article marketing and other tactics.

Let's take a look at how to handle your digital presence so that it brings in more clients, rather than simply creates more headaches. What if you aren't sure how to find the blog comments and respond to them?

Keep the following points in mind as you strategize how to keep your customer relationships strong, even online.

Blog Comments Are Not to Be Overlooked

Making a blog is an excellent way to attract a customer base and keep the world informed about where your business is heading. But don't just "set it and forget it." If someone gives you feedback in the form of a blog comment, you have to comment on that comment. It's polite to answer someone who's taken the time to read what you've written: addressing questions and concerns at this level not only shows professionalism but also helps to prevent escalation.

If you take the time to respond to each comment, you'll find your blog receiving greater and greater attention. By the same token, if you ignore your commenters, others who check out your posts won't be encouraged to leave a response.

Respond Quickly to Emails

We all know how easy it is to let the email flow through your inbox while you're trying to keep up with billable work. But the danger is that if you don't respond to email within a day or two at the most, your clients will feel neglected - which perhaps the worst impression to give them. You want them to feel attended to, not unimportant or dismissed. The best course of action is to set up your email client with an auto-response so that your clients know the email has reached you. Then answer in person as soon as you can. If you don't know the answer yet, be honest, and tell them you'll follow up as soon as you're better informed. Be sure to actually follow up!

Forums Matter - A Lot

Forums are notoriously difficult to get to a popular state, so why would you leave questions unanswered and comments ignored? If you decide to start a forum, it's absolutely critical that you monitor it regularly (check in every hour or so) and respond to all worthy posts - especially if they're negative. And it goes without saying that all spam and otherwise inappropriate posts should be promptly removed.

Treat Twitter Seriously

Twitter has become one of the most widely used forms of social communication online in recent years and a platform for sharing experiences – both positive and negative – about companies they've dealt with. Folks are now using Twitter as a way to reach companies - and, alarmingly, lodge complaints against them. (They also say nice things, too.) Assume that folks ARE reading these comments and make sure you respond to them. It's certainly important for the person who leaves the message - but it's even more crucial for anyone "watching" your conversation to see that you haven't ignored your naysayers and supporters. It doesn't matter whether the tweet is negative or positive - both kinds deserve a response. Being actively involved with your customers in this way can be the difference between success and failure in a competitive market.

It May Only Exist on the Screen - But It's Still Important

The object of both types of communication is the same, after all. But we can't deny it: almost no one pens letters today. Email has taken their place - and whereas email is used so casually in our social lives, in business, it should be treated as carefully as you would a letter.

Staying in touch with your customer base and maintaining communication in the ways outlined above will strengthen your connection to your clients and improve your professional image on the web for years to come.

Kenny Marshall is a business consultant and one-time Vice President of CPA Site Solutions. His special area of expertise is CPA website design and marketing. While using online social networking sites and Search Engines forms the core of his methodology he also stresses the importance of good, old fashioned networking and customer service in helping accounting firms grow their client bases.