As any accountant knows, taxes are complicated and most people do not have the knowledge or background to properly file taxes on their own. Realizing this, many people scour the web for articles and blog content that can teach them about the aspects of taxes they don’t understand. In other words, they search dutifully for the information and guidance they need to better understand their obligations and potential deductions during tax season.
This provides a great opportunity for accounting firms, tax professionals and financial advisors to attract new leads simply by offering people the information they’re searching for this time of the year. Having a regularly updated tax blog with articles on various aspects of preparing and filing taxes gives you the ability to deliver accurate, timely and engaging content to your current and potential clients.
Creating relevant blog content
One of the most common mistakes CPAs and accounting firms make when it comes to their tax blogs is offering too much complex information—complete with IRS jargon—that the average reader does not understand. Keep in mind that the reason why most individuals hire a CPA is to avoid the complexity of the IRS, so you need to be able to take elaborate concepts and make them easier to comprehend for your target audience.
When people visit your tax blog, they will first scan one or two posts to see if the content you provide is easy for them to digest. If it’s not, it will quickly turn them off, and you’ll lose a good chance to potentially earn new clients.
Instead, keep things as simple as possible. If you are having trouble coming up with topics, think about some of the most common questions you encounter as you serve your clients. Each one of these questions (along with a comprehensive answer) may translate into a good blog post. You can supplement these types of “evergreen” posts with recent news or trends in your industry, including changes to tax law and health care reform issues—and what they mean for your clients.
Promoting your tax blog
It’s also important to remember that maintaining a tax blog is a long game. Although quick results are possible, it’s much more likely that you’ll need to build both an audience and your search rankings over time. Thus, your firm should make a commitment to writing and posting content on a regular basis—ideally at least once per week.
To help promote your blog content, make use of social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Your firm should also have a presence on these sites, and you can provide regular updates on all of your recent blog posts.
Of course, keeping up with a tax blog, especially during this chaotic time of the year, can be difficult. If you need assistance, consider working with a skilled content writer who has experience developing articles and blog posts for accountants and financial professionals. This can help you maintain consistency with your content and avoid letting your tax blog fall by the wayside as other important business tasks require your attention.
Steve Bailey is president of ProPRcopy, a team of content writers assisting accounting firms, CPAs and tax professionals with their marketing efforts.