Guest post by Lynnea Bylund

Business blogging is not new, it started over a decade ago. And blogging is important to the marketing efforts of small and medium size accounting firms.

As we revealed in part-1 Blogging for Accountants, a major important  aspect of business blogging is inbound lead-inquiry generation via organic search.  Regular blogging increases search visibility by a significant measurable metric, and that means more inbound leads.  And inbound marketing leads cost less overall, and with a higher conversion rate, than ‘outbound’ generated leads (ie, email, direct mail, Adwords, etc.)

But… after speaking with dozens of bookkeepers and accountants over the past several months, when asked about blogging, the typical response is “We don’t have time” or “I wouldn’t know what to write about”.  (Wrong answer)

After you read this post you’ll find you do know what to write, and you do have time. Oh, and it’s really important that you do. Here’s why: On average, businesses that blog receive 55% more website visitors. B2B companies (like CPA firms) that blog receive 67% more leads per month than those that don’t.  And blog articles influence purchase decisions for products & services.

Matt McFedries, an Internet marketing pro who’s firm Practice Plus consults to professional practices in New Zealand and Austrailia, recommends some simple steps to get you started -

Step 1 – Have an opinion.  Think about a conversation you had or something you read in the past week that got you thinking – or better yet something that got you inspired or annoyed! Much like my approach for this blog… I was pondering the fact that blogging always seems too hard for the Accountants I talk to, but it shouldn’t be. They’re just thinking about blogging in the wrong way.

Step 2 – Many Accountants think that a blog post requires a copywriter’s touch and needs to be finished to the highest standard. But I contend that your blog should be the place where you converse with your audience (in the first person). It’s a place where you start conversations. It’s a place where you express your opinion on the things that matter to you (and your clients).

In this way you transmute your blog (and website) from a cold and impersonal, carefully curated public image to a more human place that people can connect with you and your practice.

Where to connect?

Think about where connections, followers and conversations are created today:

LinkedIn – People connect to each other & follow companies

YouTube – People subscribe to & follow each other’s channels

Tumblr – People follow each other’s blogs

Twitter – People follow people & organisations

Facebook – People follow people & organisations

Your Blog – People follow you and your practice. Because they’re interested in what YOU have to say.

It’s a connected world we live in. So what are you going to do to connect?

How to get people to follow your blog.

As above.  Have an opinion. Take some time to write about it.  Share it (via email & social media)

Once you figure this out, you’ll realise that starting meaningful conversations with your clients and prospects and having them spreading the word via social media is not as hard as you thought. In fact it just starts with a thought, an opinion.

 ”At the same time you will also increase your website visitors from people searching for your services via search engines. Plus your Tweets & Shares in Social Media will be much more insightful than “how bad the traffic was” on your way to work,” concludes McFedries.

Incoming search terms:

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• cpas and blogging (1)
• how to start a blog for accounting firm (1)