Good designs mean nothing without high-quality content.

The copy on your accounting website is vital. Your words are your marketing voice. You will attract prospective customers by telling them what sets you apart from the competition. A nicely designed site alone can’t do that. Here are a few tips for making sure the text on your site doesn’t get overlooked.

Don’t Underestimate, Punctuate

Those grammar rules you learned so long ago STILL apply on the Internet. Do you know the difference between their vs. there vs. they’re? What about your versus you’re? If not, you should probably brush up, because being accurate adds credibility to your website.

If you promise me you’re going to do my taxes right, but you don’t remember which witch is which, then I’m less likely to believe your promise of carefully filing my taxes. You want to market yourself as a reputable and accurate accountant who goes the extra mile to get it right.

Put in the effort to read over your site, ask a trusted friend to check it for spelling, punctuation and grammar. Show your clients that you make the extra step and make accuracy a top priority.

Break it Up!

Even newspapers, known for their text-heavy pages, break up their paragraphs with spaces, bullet points, photos and graphics. The same should apply to website copy, perhaps even more so. Online readers are accustomed to glancing at headlines, and are often drawn towards small blocks of text as opposed to larger ones.

Don’t overwhelm visitors to your accounting website with paragraph upon paragraph of text without using something to break it up.

• Bullet point information that lends itself to being in a list.
• Don’t be afraid to hit the enter key each time you begin a new thought.
• If you’ve got a visual, throw a small photo or graphic icon on the page to break up all those words!

Some readers are turned off by a page of static text, no matter how well-written it is. Take that same page of text and jazz up the layout just by using some simple spacing.

Give Them Reasons to Care

Why should your potential client care what you have to say? The answer should ring loud and clear throughout your copy. It’s not about all the tools you have on your accounting website. It’s about why those tools save your clients time, money and energy.

null Let clients know, for example, that a secure file exchange system means instant access to their tax documents 24/7. You can’t just tell the clients what services you offer. Let them see the value behind those services!

You know why these services have value to your clients and prospects. What you need to do is effectively commmunicate it to them. “What’s in it for me” is the chief objection to any sales attempt. Put yourself into her shoes, and address this objection form their viewpoint.