Does Your Website Stack Up? CPA Website Findings Revealed
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Welcome to the first annual edition of the CPA Website Audit where we take a closer look at the websites of the country’s top accounting firms. We hope that you find the information contained in this survey helpful and we welcome your comments and suggestions as to how we can improve this survey going forward.
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Does Your Website Stack Up? CPA Website Findings Revealed
- 1. #AAMKT 1 Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort Orlando, FL #AAMKT AAM Summit IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE Session M25. Does Your Website Stack Up? CPA Website Findings Revealed Tuesday, June 9, 2015 2:55pm – 4:10pm Jonathan Ebenstein & Bob Goricki
- 2. #AAMKT 2 The Past, Present and Future of the CPA Website
- 3. #AAMKT 3 Top Technology - 1995 Top Cell Phone Motorola Flare L Top Computer Power Macintosh 6200 Top Music Device Sony Discman D Series
- 4. #AAMKT 4 Top CPA Website - 1995
- 5. #AAMKT 5 Top Technology - 2050 Hoover boards! Flying Cars! Smart Phones!
- 6. #AAMKT 6 Websites In The Future www.skodaminotti.com
- 7. #AAMKT 7 Websites In The Future
- 9. #AAMKT 9#AAMKT Survey Objectives 9 Objectives: • Provide a benchmark for the use of various design and development elements of the top CPA firm websites • Understand and demonstrate the key metrics that relate to website traffic, website engagement and social media for CPA firms The results can be used to: • Measure a CPA firm’s existing site • Determine which upgrades need to be made in order to meet or exceed current industry standards
- 10. #AAMKT 10#AAMKT • Surveyed websites from Accounting Today’s Top 100 firms • Included 35 additional “Firms to Watch” • Gathered data January – March of 2015 • Conducted audit via – HubSpot’s Marketing Grader Screaming Frog Manual Site Review SemRush Survey Methodology 10
- 11. #AAMKT 11#AAMKT • Traffic Rank • Indexed Pages • Linking Domains • MozRank • Social Media Facebook Fans Twitter Followers LinkedIn Followers Metrics Terminology 11
- 12. #AAMKT 12#AAMKT Traffic Rank - Alexa.com • Traffic estimates are based on data from a global traffic panel of millions of Internet users • The rank is calculated using a proprietary methodology Combines a site's number of unique visitors with the number of page views over the past 3 months Metric Definitions 12
- 13. #AAMKT 13#AAMKT Metric Definitions Indexed Pages – Google.com • Number of pages in Google’s index • To determine the number of pages in Google’s index for a given site, use the expression “site:[YOURSITE].com” in the Google search box 13
- 14. #AAMKT 14#AAMKT Metric Definitions Linking Domains – MOZ.com • A measure of the number of outside domains linking to a particular site • Use the Moz Open Site Explorer at https://moz.com/researchtools/ose to determine the number of linking domain to your site 14
- 15. #AAMKT 15#AAMKT Metric Definitions MozRank – MOZ.com • MozRank represents a link popularity score • Reflects the importance of any given web page on the Internet. Pages earn MozRank by the number and quality of other pages that link to them • The higher the quality of the incoming links, the higher the MozRank • MozRank is an algorithmic scale, similar to the Richter scale, between 0 and 10. Thus, it's much easier to improve from a MozRank of 3 to 4 than it is to improve from 8 to 9 • Learn more at https://moz.com/learn/seo/mozrank
- 17. #AAMKT 17 Survey Results: Median Metrics Firm Revenue Traffic Rank Indexed Pages Linking Domains MOZ Rank Over $500 million (10 firms) 140,000 121,800 2,235 6.3 $100 - $500 (21 firms) 892,685 3,970 395 5.9 $50 - $99 (35 firms) 1,776,000 880 150 5.3 Under $50 (66 firms) 3,592,000 790 85 5.2 * Revenue shown in millions
- 18. #AAMKT 18#AAMKT Survey: Site Traffic Influencers 18
- 19. #AAMKT 19 Impact of Indexed Pages AverageTrafficRank(inmillions) Number of Indexed Pages 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Under 500 501-999 1,000-5,000 Over 5,000
- 20. #AAMKT 20 Impact of Linking Domains AverageTrafficRank(inmillions) Number of Inbound Links 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Under 50 51-100 101-500 Over 501
- 21. #AAMKT 21 Impact of MOZ Rank (Link Quality) AverageTrafficRank(inmillions) MOZRank (Link Quality) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Under 5 5-5.4 5.5-5.9 Over 6
- 22. #AAMKT 22 Site Traffic Indicators - Comparison AverageTrafficRank(inmillions) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bottom Ranked Firm Top Ranked Firm Indexed Pages Linked Domains MozRank All Indicators
- 24. #AAMKT 24 Survey Results: Social Media Median Metrics Firm Revenue Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Over $500 million (10 firms) 854 986 8,444 $100 - $500 (21 firms) 636 709 4,915 $50 - $99 (35 firms) 374 480 1,925 Under $50 (66 firms) 181 211 959 * Revenue shown in millions
- 25. #AAMKT 25 Impact of Facebook Fans on Traffic Rank AverageTrafficRank(inmillions) Number of Facebook Fans (Excluding Big 4) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Under 100 101-500 501-1,000 Over 1,000
- 26. #AAMKT 26 Impact of Twitter Followers on Traffic Rank AverageTrafficRank(inmillions) Number of Twitter Followers (Excluding Big 4) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Under 100 101-500 501-1,000 Over 1,000
- 27. #AAMKT 27 Impact of LinkedIn Followers on Traffic Rank AverageTrafficRank(inmillions) Number of LinkedIn Followers (Excluding Big 4) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Under 1,000 1,000 - 5000 5,001 - 10,000 Over 10,000
- 28. #AAMKT 28 Impact of Social Media Comparison AverageTrafficRank(inmillions) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Under 100 Under 1,000 101 – 500 1,001 - 5,000 501 – 1,000 5001 - 10,000 Over 1,000 Over 10,000
- 30. #AAMKT 30 Yes - 45.5% No - 54.5% Is the Website Mobile Friendly? (Mobile Version or Responsive Design) Does the Website Implement Responsive Design? Yes - 33.6% No - 66.4% Survey Results: Mobile Friendliness
- 31. #AAMKT 31 “Mobilegeddon” • Google algorithm update • Changes implemented on April 21, 2015 • Individual pages, not entire websites • Affects only search rankings on mobile devices • Once site is made mobile friendly, it can be re-indexed to remove penalty • Mobile friendly formats: Mobile design Responsive design Mobile Friendliness
- 32. #AAMKT 32 Mobile Traffic Trends 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Desktop Mobile Number of Global Users (Millions) Smart Insights - Statistics on mobile usage and adoption to inform your mobile marketing strategy
- 33. #AAMKT 33#AAMKT What to do if you’re not mobile friendly: • Quick Fix: Mobile Design Pros: − Specific mobile friendly user experience − Easier to “add-on” to an existing website − Generally less costly Cons: − Does not cover every page on your website − Need to make separate updates to mobile/non-mobile site Mobile Version Design 33
- 34. #AAMKT 34#AAMKT What to do if you’re not mobile friendly: • Long-Term Solution: Responsive Design Pros: − Google preferred method − Only one version of the website to update − User can view all site content in a mobile-friendly format Cons − Requires changes in code to the entire site − Often more complicated/costly Responsive Design 34
- 35. #AAMKT 35#AAMKT Is your website mobile friendly? 35 Is your website responsive design?
- 37. #AAMKT 37#AAMKT Yes - 65.2% No - 34.8% Does the website have a blog? Survey Results: Blogging Is the blog active? Active - 42% Not Active - 58% 37
- 38. #AAMKT 38#AAMKT Does your website have a blog? 38 Is it active?
- 39. #AAMKT 39 Effectiveness of Blogging IndexedTraffic/Visitors Monthly Blog Posts Impact of Monthly Blog Posts on Inbound Traffic for B2B Companies 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 0 to 1 2 to 3 4 to 5 6 to 10 11+ (Source: HubSpot)
- 40. #AAMKT 40 Effectiveness of Blogging Monthly Blog Posts Impact of Monthly Blog Posts on B2B Inbound Leads 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 0 to 1 2 to 3 4 to 5 6 to 10 11+ (Source: HubSpot) IndexedLeads
- 41. #AAMKT 41 Effectiveness of Blogging Blog Status Impact of Blogging on CPA Websites 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 No Blog Inactive Blog Active Blog AverageTrafficRank(inmillions)
- 42. #AAMKT 42 Effectiveness of Blogging (Source: InsideView) (Source: Skoda Minotti Research)
- 43. #AAMKT 43#AAMKT • Brainstorming Session Include your content creators Think like your clients What questions are your clients asking? If they are asking you, others are likely searching Google for the same answers • Plan out content in advance • Target keywords/topics Best Practices – Content Calendar 43
- 44. #AAMKT 44 Google Keyword Planner - https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner Best Practices – Keyword Research
- 45. #AAMKT 45 Keyword Tool - http://keywordtool.io/ Find Google’s search suggestions for your keywords Best Practices – Keyword Research
- 46. #AAMKT 46#AAMKT Best Practices – Optimized Posts • Page Title • Headline • Links • Alt Text 46
- 47. #AAMKT 4747 #AAMKT Best Practices – Social Sharing • Start with your employees Make it easy – send email with text they can copy and paste Encourage sharing on LinkedIn • Make it easy for visitors Sharing widgets on blog Blog signup option (RSS) 47
- 49. #AAMKT 49#AAMKT Yes - 72.7% No - 27.3% Does the website promote an e-newsletter? Survey Results: E-Newsletter 49
- 50. #AAMKT 5050 #AAMKT • Mobile friendly According to 2014 Q4 report by MovableInk: − 66% of all email in the US is now opened/read on smartphones or tablets − Only 34% is viewed on a desktop Mobile friendly e-mail layout is a must E-newsletter Best Practices – Layout 50 Not Mobile Friendly Mobile Friendly
- 51. #AAMKT 5151 #AAMKT E-newsletter Best Practices – Layout 51 Images vs Text • Can users understand your message/ call-to-action without images? 51 • Gmail now automatically downloads images in email but many email clients (i.e., Outlook) do not
- 52. #AAMKT 52#AAMKT Does your website promote your e-newsletter? 52
- 54. #AAMKT 5454 #AAMKT Premium Content Introduction 54 • Content available in exchange for visitor contact information E-books Whitepapers Surveys Checklists Webinars Etc. • Allows trackable ROI on online marketing efforts • Leads must be followed up on to be effective
- 55. #AAMKT 55#AAMKT Yes - 15.2% No - 84.8% Does the site promote premium content? Survey Results: Premium Content 55 Premium Content - Download Today!
- 56. #AAMKT 5656 #AAMKT Premium Content Best Practices - Topics • Niche services • Industry expertise • Frequently asked questions from clients • Trending topics • Skoda Minotti Examples: “Thought Leadership on Key Issues in Business” “What to Expect From Your First Employee Benefit Plan Audit” “What to Consider When Designing an Executive Compensation Program” 56
- 57. #AAMKT 5757 #AAMKT Premium Content Best Practices – Promotion • Website Utilize call to action buttons On homepage In related content • Email Find leads already in your database Identify cross-sell opportunities 57
- 58. #AAMKT 5858 #AAMKT Premium Content Best Practices – Promotion • Social Media Promote through employee social media Promote through your firm’s channels Promote through advertising 58
- 59. #AAMKT 5959 #AAMKT Premium Content Best Practices – Promotion • Paid Search Targeted ads, keywords and landing pages Text or Display 59
- 60. #AAMKT 6060 #AAMKT Premium Content Best Practices – Follow Up • Automated Lead Nurturing Email immediately after download Add to future communications Timed follow ups • Manual Have a system Assign a point person Accountability/tracking 60
- 61. #AAMKT 61#AAMKT Does your site promote premium content? 61
- 63. #AAMKT 63#AAMKT Yes - 68.2% No - 31.8% Does the site promote live/online events? Survey Results: Events 63
- 64. #AAMKT 64#AAMKT Does the site incorporate audio/video? Survey Results: Audio/Video 64 Yes - 56.1% No - 43.9% For example: Podcasts Video Testimonials Videos Video case studies Presentations
- 65. #AAMKT 65#AAMKT Survey Results: Analytics Yes - 97% No - 3% 65 Does the site utilize analytics tracking?
- 66. #AAMKT 66#AAMKT Survey Results: Marketing Automation Yes - 46.2% No - 53.8% Does the site utilize marketing automation software? Leading Automation Software: 66
- 67. #AAMKT 67#AAMKT Survey Results: Forms Yes - 85.6% No - 14.4% Does the site utilize contact forms? 67
- 68. #AAMKT 68#AAMKT Summing It Up • Social Media 68
- 69. #AAMKT 69#AAMKT Summing It Up • Social Media • Responsive Design 69
- 70. #AAMKT 70#AAMKT Summing It Up • Social Media • Responsive Design • Blogging 70
- 71. #AAMKT 71#AAMKT Summing It Up • Social Media • Responsive Design • Blogging • E-Newsletter 71
- 72. #AAMKT 72#AAMKT Summing It Up • Social Media • Responsive Design • Blogging • E-Newsletter • Premium Content 72
- 73. #AAMKT 73#AAMKT Thank You Jonathan Ebenstein Managing Director/Partner Phone - (440) 449-6800 x7231 Email - jebenstein@skodaminotti.com Bob Goricki Senior Online Marketing Manager Phone - (440) 449-6800 x7234 Email - bgoricki@skodaminotti.com 73 Request a free copy of the survey: http://marketing.skodaminotti.com/survey
- 75. #AAMKT 75 © 2015 American Institute of CPAs. All rights reserved. Thank You