subject: Cpa Websites: Creating Effective Copy [print this page] Writing unique content for a accounting or CPA website can be harder than it might give the impression of being on the surface. Not many accountants and CPA's do their own copy writing. Many get website "templates" with content already already built-in.
This approach is not without problems. Don't get me wrong. If you need to get a website posted this is most certainly the best technique. In order to bring in new customers faster and to get the search engines to index your domain as early as possible getting the website up quickly should be your first priority. Using a template can get your site up in days or even hours and set-up is usually free. A custom site usually takes months and costs thousands of dollars.
The downside to this strategy is that you are presenting what the search engines call "duplicate content". It's unlikely that you're the only CPA using that content provider, and all these other CPA Websites have essentially the same content on their websites as you have on yours. These pages will not usually be indexed well in the search engines. As a rule the search engines don't like to index the same information twice, so each page will only get indexed once. All these pages count... they'll get crawled and your website will get credit for them, but they won't appear on the search engine's results pages.
All you need to do is re-write your important pages. Voila! Problem solved.
Work on your "index" page first. The "index" page, also known as the the "home" page, is the most important page on your site. As a rule it has the most inherent authority, and it almost always gets indexed first. By rewriting it you are creating "unique content", and that's what the search engines are looking for.
Once that's done selectively rewrite other pages. As a rule the more pages you re-write, the better. You'll get more pages with better rankings, and your overall site will accumulate authority faster. To avoid getting bogged down in a huge project do your pages one at a time. Do the most important pages first and work down.
There are some important rules of thumb to keep in mind that will maximize your appeal both to search engines and prospects.
Customize Your Meta Tags
Before you begin writing create a keyword rich page title for your page. Make your page title 5-7 words, and make sure you include the city and state you're marketing to. For example:
Los Angeles, CA Accounting and Business Planning
Put this in the "Page Title" Meta Tag for the page (if you don't know what a Meta tag is or how to change it your web host may need to help you with this).
Now create a keyword rich, headline-style introduction to the page for the search engines to display when your page comes up. For example:
Your Los Angeles, CA Accounting and Business Planning Solution. Free initial consultation for Business Owners.
Put this in the "Page Description" Meta Tag for the page (again, your web host may need to help you with this).
Some accounting design providers don't help you modify the Meta Tags on individual pages. They'll try to convince you to use a "global setting". This means all the Meta Tags on every page are identical. This is fine at the start, and a global setting is handy to have, but in the long run it's disastrous to rely on it. As you customize your site content you MUST change the tags on each page. If your website provider doesn't allow you to change the Meta data on individual pages it's time to get a new website.
Now... rewrite your page copy.
Most people find it easiest to just use the existing copy as a guideline. This is fine. Just make sure you "spin" it enough that the search engines don't catch on. There are no exact guidelines to offer, but the industry standard among SEO's says you should have variation in at least 30% of the sentences. Some people claim that figure should be closer to 70%.
Search Engine Friendly Copy
The search engines want a "concise summary" of the information: Too long and the search engines will penalize you because they'll think you're either babbling on or getting too technical; Too short and they'll assume you're summary isn't detailed enough. Make your page 400-600 words.
Use your keywords in your text. Try to use your page title keywords (in the example above that would be"Hoboken ", "NJ", "Accounting", and the keyphrase "Business Planning"). Optimally you want a 1% "keyword density". If your page is 450 words use each keyword 4 or 5 times. Don't overuse your keywords. This is considered a type of spam and could result in your page being de-indexed.
People Friendly Copy
Don't write too smart. Accountants tend to prefer copy that's slick. They like to make their copy look super-intellegent and professional. This is a mistake, unless you're looking to get other accountant's to hire you. The average business owner is an open collar guy, and as a rule that's what he's looking for. Write your copy to appeal to your prospects; not to yourself. Making youre visitors feel stupid will just frustrate them or make them angry. Don't waste their time with the details. Prospects don't care about the details. All they care about is what the benefit is to them. Concentrate on this. How will your service make the readers life better? Write conversationally. Good copy reads casually. People friendly copy is just that... friendly.
By taking these simple steps your website will benefit enormously. You'll get a full-featured CPA website posted quickly and inexpensively, and you'll get the benefit of custom content and Meta data as you add it.
