If you don't like to write, busy season is not going to help your blog.

When busy season hits, it can be really tough to keep up with your CPA website blog.

But if you give up now, you might not get back to it until the end of May, or even later.

And this can sabotage your whole blogging enterprise. Blogging needs to be consistent to give positive results.

Experts in online marketing say that the most important feature of a blog is that it’s published on a regular schedule – even if it’s just once a month.

So how do you commit to blogging when you’re waist deep in client work?

Here are 5 helpful tips…

1. What Comes After “Old McDonald Had a Farm…”?

Social Media Examiner wrote about this handy mnemonic for how to earn attention from fans:

E = Entertain

I = Inspire

E = Educate

I = Inform

O = Outrage

Use the familiar Old McDonald tune to remind yourself the different ways you can approach a post.

For example, an entertaining post can be a story about something funny that happened at the office. (For a good example of this, check out Boost Accounting Referral’s accounting humor blog.) An inspirational post can be thoughts about one of your favorite quotes. An educational or informative article can be a simple reporting of some tax-related news. You get the idea!

2. Let Twitter Help

When you follow well-known business, financial, and tax-related publications on Twitter, you get a regular feed of late-breaking news that will be of interest to your readers.

With a minimal time commitment, you can write a post explaining the news and how it impacts your audience.

Consider following these tweeters for the latest in the tax and finance world:

@IRSnews

@WSJ (Wall Street Journal)

@SmartMoney (the personal finance arm of the Wall Street Journal)

@CPALetter_Daily (from AICPA)

@CPA_Trendlines

3. Get in Touch with Your Inner Broadcaster

If you hate to write, consider making a video instead! Just a minute talking about the latest tax news or giving some helpful hints about gathering up materials for your accountant can make a great post – and it’s quicker than writing.

For an excellent free tool that enables you to do this simply, check out Screenr.

4. Spread the Blogging Duties

There’s no reason why one person in the office needs to do all the blogging. If there’s more than one of you, you can take turns writing that month’s post.

For example, in an office of two practitioners and one administrative assistant, each of you will be posting just once during busy season.

5. Outsource It

When you hire a writer to work on your blog, you still get posts injected with your personality. A good writer will interview you for material and get a sense of your style and mannerisms so they can be reflected in the article.

How do you find a writer? You can hire one through Craigslist or a bidding site for creative services, like Guru.com.

Or you can hire us! We now offer Custom Copywriting – and when you hire us, you get a personalized blog post on your site within one business week.

Give us a call at 1-800-896-4500 or email support@cpasitesolutions with questions – or sign up for our copywriting services here.

Don’t Give Up!

When you have a website with CPA Site Solutions, you have two blogging options: a fully integrated blog that comes free with your website, and a WordPress blog, which we host and add to your website.

No matter how you do it, try not to lose momentum with your blogging. There are quick and easy ways to keep up with it during tax season.

What works for you? Share your tips with a comment!

Brian O'Connell, President

It feels so good to have a professional CPA website for your accounting firm. One with a modern design and loads of tools.

And what feels even better is putting your own stamp on it – personalizing it so it reflects the uniqueness of your firm.

The best way to do this is through writing new content. When you write up a unique home page, About page, or blog posts, your website visitors get a great sense of your personality, which helps them decide to do business with you.

The challenge is that it takes time to write. With a busy accounting office to run, many of our clients find this task falls to the bottom of their (impressive) to-do list.

But I think we have the solution for you: our new custom copywriting service.

When you hire us to write for your website, you get the relief that comes with striking something off your list. Further, your site becomes personalized and unique…

…and as a bonus, the custom content helps your site rise in the search results and increase conversions.

Writing for your website takes a certain set of skills.

The Challenges of Writing for the Web

Writing for the Web is its own beast. Believe it or not, people ingest information differently online than they do when reading a newspaper, brochure, or other printed material.

For one thing, people scan. Using headlines and lots of bolds help them get the gist of a page in a minute or two, without having to read the whole thing word for word.

For another, writing for the Web often involves persuasive writing techniques with a call to action at the end. You want folks to read your services page, blog post, or email marketing message – and then DO something. Your writing needs to persuade the readers why they should contact you or sign up for your newsletter – and then give a clear way to do that.

Finally, to help with your rankings in the search engines, writing for the Web needs to incorporate keywords. You need to know what keywords to target, where to place them, and how many to use. When you get this right, you can dramatically improve your placement in Google and Bing – which brings you new prospects.

Our Writers Are Trained in Online Writing

Our writers know how to write compelling copy that urges readers to take action.

They know how to increase your listings through proper keyword copywriting.

And they do it quickly, with no typos or grammatical errors.

What Can We Write for You?

There’s truly no limit to what we can write for your website – but here are some ideas:

• Welcome / Home page
• About Us page
• Service page – a page covering a particular service or one describing all of them
• Blog post
• Email marketing message

Cross “Writing” Off Your To-Do List

Now that busy season is here, you might be feeling the need to outsource some of your duties. Writing is the perfect candidate.

Focus your efforts on serving your clients – and save the writing for us. We have the experience and skills to get the job done quickly – and get more traffic and better conversions for you.

Sign up for Custom Copywriting today – or contact us with questions: 1-800-896-4500, support@cpasitesolutions.com. We’re here to help!

Are you getting applicants with no relevant experience? You might be making this mistake...

The U.S. economy is coming back. It may not feel that way, but some key indicators are showing positive trends.

One of these is job growth. In January, 70,000 new jobs were created, the majority of them by small businesses (AccountingWEB).

But when small businesses – such as accounting firms – look to hire new employees, many are making one particular mistake.

This error leads to poor-quality applicants – folks who aren’t professional, don’t have the necessary experience, and won’t be a positive representation of the firm.

What is the mistake being made by accounting firms across the country?

A poorly designed, poorly written CPA website.

Why Your Website Matters in the Hiring Process

Hiring is a two-way street. You’re looking for a great employee – and the applicant is looking for a company that will nurture and advance their career.

(At least, that’s what you want – an employee who wants to further their career. You don’t want someone who’s just looking for a paycheck.)

When researching whether to apply for a position, one of the very first steps a job seeker takes is to look up the company’s website. They want to know how professional you are, who works there, and what your firm focuses on.

This visit will give them a ton of information. If your site is professional, they will be encouraged to apply. If it’s not, well, they might decide to skip it. That means you get applications not from the most motivated and career-minded candidates – but from the second or third string of talent.

Here are the parts of your site you should perfect to attract the best candidates:

• Home page - should be clean, well written, and current
• About Us page – should list all your employees, with pictures and bios
• Services – all services should be listed and explained, with separate pages for each if needed
• Employment Page – needs to list the current job openings and provide ample details and instructions (see more below)

What an Employment Page Can Do

A well-constructed Employment Page gives the job seeker a clear idea of the open position. The page should provide a thorough description of the job, qualifications, and how and when to apply.

Having this page on your site saves money on recruiting. If you have an Employment Page with all the necessary information, you can place shorter ads in newspapers with your website address pointing people back to your site. Rather than discouraging folks from applying, it ensures only the motivated job seekers – who take the time to visit your site – will apply.

An Employment Page also allows clients and other friends of the business to keep up on your open positions, which means you get referrals to qualified people they know.

Get a Professional CPA Website with an Employment Page

When you sign up for a website with CPA Site Solutions, you get a fully loaded site with a clean, modern design and loads of relevant content. There’s simply no better way to show your professionalism – and, in turn, attract the most impressive candidates.

You also have the option to ramp up your recruiting efforts with an Employment Page, which we add for no extra charge.

Here’s an example of our Employment Opportunities page…

Hiring is more important to the growth of your firm than you may realize. Don’t make a hiring mistake. Sign up for a professional website today.