Why Accountants Can No Longer Rely on Word of Mouth for Gathering New Clients

If you are an accountant, you need to ask yourself this question. How do you make sure that you are attracting new clients to your company? If you do not have a clear answer to this question or you are struggling to get new clients on board, this means that you need to explore some different options. Namely, you need to understand what is happening in the modern world in order to capitalise.
In particular, more people are searching for services online now. This is often on their smartphone, and it includes trying to find an accountant. While most accountancy firms have relied on word of mouth in the past, this is no longer a standalone technique you can depend on. Let’s take a closer look at why.
Does Word of Mouth Still Work?
First of all, let’s answer this important question. Does word of mouth still work as a tactic to gain more clients? The short is yes, but it has its limitations. Yes, if you have done a good job with your client, they will recommend you as an accountant to family, friends and business colleagues. This means that you can gain more clients and improve your reputation.
However, as we have mentioned, there are limitations concerning word-of-mouth recommendations. Namely, you are not able to control how many recommendations are made. You do not know what clients will tell others about your services. While you could attract many clients, you could also collect zero through personal recommendations. It is just not a reliable way to gain new customers, and you need to combine this with other strategies.
What is the Alternative to Word of Mouth?
So, you are looking for a guaranteed way to attract new clients to your accountancy firm. Does this exist? Well, there are new options you can explore that are more reliable than word of mouth on its own. Namely, we are talking about having a search engine optimisation strategy. Accountant SEO has become very important for businesses in the modern world and this is a way to get the word out about your firm on the internet. More people are searching online when they want an accountant, which means that this is now the best place to be discovered by clients.
What are the Benefits of SEO?
If you have never invested in SEO before, you might not be aware of what this can bring you. Indeed, there is a range of benefits you can enjoy when you use an SEO service. Let’s take a closer look at them.
Gain More Traffic to Your Website
Is your website failing to attract many visitors? Unfortunately, this is something that can happen if you are not optimising your website on a regular basis. Of course, when you are not getting traffic, nobody knows about the services you can offer.
You can change this around by working on SEO. This is going to allow you to show up in Google searches, which is exactly what you want. It means people can find you and see everything you have to offer in terms if accountancy services.
More Inquiries About Your Services
Ultimately, when you have more people visiting your website and reading about your services, this is going to lead to more interest. In other words, you can attract new clients that want to use your expertise. SEO is the way to get them to your site, and when you are optimising your content, they are going to like what they see. Indeed, they are going to inquire about how you are able to help them.
Compete with Local Accountants
There are always going to be other accountants in your area that offer similar services to you. You cannot stop this from happening. Rather, you need to learn to compete and show that you are better to clients. One of the best ways to do this is by investing in SEO.
Most people trust the recommendations given to them by Google. They will stay on the first page and look at the top five results when they are searching for a new accountant. So, if you are in these spots, you can compete with local accountants and get noticed. Most other businesses are going to be working on their SEO too. So, this is something that you have to invest in consistently in order to beat them to the top spot on Google.
