A business owner looking for an accountant is not comparing qualifications, because they assume everyone on the list has them. They are looking for fit: someone who already works with businesses like theirs, who will take a specific job off their plate, and who will be easy to work with when a deadline is close.
Many accounting websites answer a different question. They list services in the language of the profession, show a stock photo of a handshake and end with a contact form. The visitor leaves without knowing whether this firm takes clients like them. Here is what I would put on the site instead, page by page.
What does a new client want to know first?
Three things, and they should be answerable from the first screen of the homepage.
- Who you work with. Freelancers and the self employed, small companies, online shops, restaurants, landlords, a particular trade. Naming your typical client does more than any adjective. A café owner who sees "cafés and restaurants" in the first line keeps reading.
- What you take off their plate. Not "bookkeeping, payroll, tax compliance", but the outcome in the owner's words: the monthly books done without them chasing receipts, payroll run on time, the year end handled, someone to call before they sign a lease.
- How to start. One clear next step: book a short first call, or send a few details through a form. Not three buttons that all do the same thing.
If the first screen says "Professional accounting services you can trust", it says nothing a competitor could not also say. Replace it with a sentence only your firm could write.
Should you have a page for each type of client?
Usually, yes. In my view it is the change that does the most for an accounting site.
A page for each client type lets you speak to that reader directly: what a freelancer usually needs in the first year, what changes when a sole trader becomes a company, what an online shop needs that a café does not. Each page answers the questions that client actually asks, in their words, and ends with the same invitation to talk.
These pages also do quiet work in search. Someone who types "bookkeeper for online shops" or "accountant for freelancers near me" is far closer to hiring than someone who types "accountant". A page written for exactly that person has a reason to appear for it. Show up in local search covers the local side, including the Google Business Profile that sits next to your site in the results.
Keep it honest. Two or three client types you really serve beat ten pages for clients you have never had.
Should you show your fees?
Accountants disagree about this one, and there is no single right answer.
Some firms work with monthly packages for typical clients, and showing what each package includes, and roughly what drives the price up, saves everyone a call. Others quote every job, because two small companies can be very different amounts of work. Both are reasonable. What does not work is silence: a visitor who finds no hint at all about how you charge often assumes the worst and moves on.
A middle path that suits many firms is to explain what the fee depends on: the number of transactions each month, payroll, how organised the paperwork arrives, whether there is VAT or sales tax to file, and how much advice the client expects between deadlines. That tells the visitor how to think about the cost without a number that ages badly. Should you show prices on your website? goes into the trade offs.
Who will the client actually work with?
People hire a person, not a logo. Even a two person firm benefits from a short page that says who does what.
- A real photo of each person who talks to clients, not a stock image.
- What each person handles, in plain words.
- The languages you work in. For many clients, being able to discuss their taxes in their first language is the deciding factor.
- How you prefer to be contacted, and how quickly a client can expect an answer during the busy season and outside it.
That last point matters more than it looks. Accountants have a season when replies slow down. Saying so on the site, with a realistic answer time, sets an expectation you can keep instead of one you will break.
How should clients send you documents?
Not by attaching them to your contact form.
Accountants deal with ID documents, bank statements, payroll data and tax records. A general website form sends its messages through email systems that were not designed for that, and copies end up in places nobody intended. Many accounting packages, and dedicated tools, include a client portal or a secure upload, and your website should point to it clearly: a "Client login" or "Send documents" link in the header, with a sentence on what goes where.
The public contact form then has one job: a first message from someone who is not a client yet. Ask only for a name, a way to reply and a short description, and say on the form not to attach documents. If messages from the form ever fail to arrive, contact form emails not arriving explains the usual causes.
What your data protection obligations are, and which tool meets them, is a question for your professional body and your data protection adviser, not for a web designer. My part is to make sure the site sends people to the right place and does not quietly collect what it should not.
Does a booking calendar make sense?
For the first conversation, often yes. For the work itself, no.
A short introductory call booked from the site removes the back and forth of "when are you free". Keep it short, ask two or three questions in the booking form so you know who is coming, and block the weeks around your busiest deadlines so new enquiries do not land in the middle of them. Online booking on your website explains why booking a conversation, rather than a job, is the better fit for work that needs a quote.
What builds trust on an accounting site?
Proof that is specific and checkable.
- Professional registrations, named in full and linked to the body's public register where one exists, so a visitor can confirm them in one click.
- Reviews from real clients, ideally on your Google Business Profile, where the visitor already trusts the source. Ask clients after a job is done and things went well, not in the middle of the season. Reviews and testimonials on your website covers how to show them without looking staged.
- An email address on your own domain. A firm that asks for bank statements from a free mail address makes people hesitate. Should your business email be on your own domain? explains the setup.
- A physical address and a real phone number, if you have an office clients can visit.
What does not build trust: a wall of logos for software you use, a counter of "years of experience" with no names attached, or a blog that stopped two years ago.
Do you need a blog?
Only if someone in the firm wants to write and will keep at it. A few clear answer pages do more: what a new freelancer needs to set up, what to bring to the first meeting, what changes when you hire your first employee. Pages like these get sent around, get found in search, and do not go stale the way a dated news post does. Keep them general and point readers to a conversation for their own case, rather than giving advice that depends on details you have not seen.
What drives the cost of an accounting website?
The number of client type pages, how many languages the site needs, whether booking and a portal link are wired in, and how much of the writing you supply. A small firm site with a homepage, three client pages, a team page and a contact page is a modest project. What each project type costs is on the pricing page, and what is included in a site build is on the websites page.
The short version
- Say on the first screen who you work with, what you take off their plate and how to start.
- Give each main client type its own page, in their words.
- Explain how you charge, even if you quote every job.
- Show the real people and the languages you work in.
- Send documents through a portal, never through the contact form.
- Let people book a first call, and block your busiest weeks.
- Use proof a visitor can check: registrations, Google reviews, your own email domain.
If your firm's site still opens with a handshake photo and a list of services, send me your site and you will get a fixed price and a launch date the same working day.