Getting your accounting practice online is an important stage toward growth on a planet in which commerce is becoming progressively wide ranging – even international. The business world is now wide open, and you could be bringing in clients from around the planet. But there is a hard-to-swallow truth here: A lot of Accountants are finding that simply getting a superior isn’t enough by itself. To be really successful in your online strategy, you must respond to your leads right away and in a respectful manner.

Service firms run into five dangers when first going online. Crafting a solid online presence requires a number of different tactics: social networking (like Twitter and Facebook), drawing attention to your site via article marketing and other tactics.

But what if you haven’t planned ahead for the increase in communication? What if you don’t know how to check your blog comments?

Take the following paragraphs into account as you craft a plan to meet the needs of your customers and deliver outstanding results as you expand into cyberspace.

Got a Comment on Your Blog? You MUST Respond!

You definitely want to maintain a blog. It helps keep your clients informed of your business and of important changes in the industry. But don't just “set it and forget it.” If someone gives you feedback in the form of a blog comment, you have to comment on that comment. It’s polite to answer someone who’s taken the time to read what you’ve written: addressing questions and concerns at this level not only shows professionalism but also helps to prevent escalation.

Assigning someone from your organization to respond to blog comments (even if that person is you) is good web etiquette – remember, communication flows both ways.

Make Answering Your Emails a Priority

We all know how easy it is to let the email flow through your inbox while you’re trying to keep up with billable work. But the danger is that if you don’t respond to email within a day or two at the most, your clients will feel neglected – which perhaps the worst impression to give them. You want them to feel attended to, not unimportant or dismissed. Try setting up an auto-response with your email client so that clients always get a swift reply. Then answer in person as soon as you can. If you don’t know the answer yet, be honest, and tell them you’ll follow up as soon as you’re better informed.

Keep on Top of Your Forums

An online forum is a website devoted to a particular topic that folks post questions and answers to. It doesn’t need as much attention as a blog – but it's still critically important.

A fair number of companies start forums on their site to get conversations going, draw attention to their business, and give their clients more ways to reach them. Although this is less common on CPA website designs, it’s still a tactic that some use. If you decide to start a forum, it’s absolutely critical that you monitor it regularly (check in every hour or so) and respond to all worthy posts – especially if they’re negative. In short, if you can’t devote a chunk of staff time to moderate your forum, you definitely should not create one.

Twitter Is Your New Best Friend

The age of Twitter is here. Even if you can’t stand this social networking microblogging phenomenon, your clients might be deeply involved in it. Folks are now using Twitter as a way to reach companies – and, alarmingly, lodge complaints against them. (They also say nice things, too.) Assume that folks ARE reading these comments and make sure you respond to them. It’s certainly important for the person who leaves the message – but it’s even more crucial for anyone “watching” your conversation to see that you haven’t ignored your naysayers and supporters. It doesn’t matter whether the tweet is negative or positive – both kinds deserve a response. Being actively involved with your customers in this way can be the difference between success and failure in a competitive market.

"Online” Shouldn’t Mean “Unimportant"

The object of both email and snail-mail is the same, after all. But we can’t deny it: nobody sends letters today. Email has taken the place of them – and whereas email is used casually in our personal lives, in the world of business, it should be treated with as much care as one treats a letter.

Make time for you and others on your staff to pay attention to all forms of communication now reaching you on the web. The better you manage your reputation in the digital space, the more your company will thrive.

We LOVE you so.. how about liking us on Facebook?..

Powered By Facebook Like Post Plugin

Visit http://quicksitemaker.co.uk for top notch web design Glasgow