I’m always excited at the end of the month, that’s because I get to delve into our clients’ marketing performance data to spot trends and report back. There’s always some spark of insight into what’s happening in the accounting sector and how SMEs are engaging with accountants’ marketing activity.
We can provide this level of insight because we track all our clients’ marketing data in one instance of Google Analytics. This gives us an aggregated view of our clients’ marketing performance across all the different channels, from first touch right through to website conversions.
This month, I decided to take a look back at last year’s performance and see how behaviour has changed during the pandemic.
What stood out is the exponential growth of the number of visitors to our clients’ sites from search engines. Traffic coming to our accountancy firm websites through search engines has ballooned, accelerating even more so in the latter part of 2020. So much so that comparing January this year to January 2020 the volume of what we call organic search traffic has increased by 130%.
The volume of traffic from other channels such as social media (up by 13%) and paid media (up by 32%) has also seen an increase, but not to the extent of search.
As a result, our clients’ lead generation activity has also shot up with 65% of conversions coming from search engine traffic. That’s resulted in website contact form conversions increasing by 70%, year-on-year.
It’s a proud moment for us to be able to say we’ve helped a significant number of SMEs not just find accountants online, but connect them with the right accountant, too.
It’s also a fantastic result for our clients, who have been able to generate new business and revenue from their marketing investment with us.
“PracticeWeb redesigned our website after some impressive market research and by working closely with us, to really understand us, our clients and our market. Our ROI is off the scale.
We have already commissioned a further website and SEO service and continue to work closely on niches we have discovered along the journey.”
Simon Thandi, Director
Thandi Nicholls
What’s driving this change?
Ok, so we’re all tired of hearing how the pandemic has changed behaviour but this change is permanent.
Across the board, our behaviour has increasingly trended towards digital-first. New habits have been formed, new experiences have been discovered and smart businesses have evolved their model to meet these new demands.
A study by Kantar Worldwide found that our internet browsing increased by 70% last year.
Last year, online was also the default channel for communicating to the outside world. In the absence of trade shows, networking events and face-to-face meetings, it also became the default decision making and buying channel, too.
Equally, the way in which we’ve all had to work has accelerated the need for digital adoption and a shift to remote working that will be with us even after offices reopen.
At PracticeWeb, for example, we’ve reduced deskspace in the office and installed new facilities for podcasting and video production.
With many of these new-formed habits here to stay, it’s now about accepting that, embracing it and evolving your business operations to match the new expectation for digital by default.
Looking to get found in search?
Better ranking in search engines means more clicks, which means more leads. Our results-focused SEO service delivers serious return on investment.
How can you take advantage?
Your prospects are turning to search engines to help them answer key questions about their business.
Your challenge is to make sure you’re visible when they search for something you can help them with. That means creating a search engine marketing strategy around the problems you solve and the services you offer.
You can get started with this by downloading our beginners guide to SEO for accountants.
Or alternatively, for support with marketing strategy and execution get in touch via hello@practiceweb.co.uk or call us on 0117 915 0420.
