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Services Listings and Descriptions (for Tax & Accounting Professionals)

Video Transcript

00:00:00:09 – 00:00:27:05

Welcome to the GetNetSet Website Building Video series for tax and accounting professionals, where we cover all the essentials of creating a site that helps you grow your business. Today we’re going to talk about adding service listings and descriptions to your site. These listings and descriptions can add more value to your website than almost any other site component or feature.

00:00:28:00 – 00:01:08:00

To understand why, it is important to see your site from a visitors point of view. The single biggest question on the minds of many people browsing tax and accounting service websites is simply, “Does this person or firm provide the kinds of help I need right now?” Highly visible, detailed, and easily understandable explanations of what you do, speak directly to this question. Thus, clear and informative listings and descriptions of your services play a critical role in converting site visits into new clients.

00:01:08:13 – 00:01:36:11

In short, this is one aspect of your site that you definitely want to get right. So let’s start by looking at how you might introduce site visitors to your service offerings right on your home page. Here we have a GetNetSet demo site, and the first thing to notice is that it includes multiple links to another page that has in-depth information on the firm’s services.

00:01:37:10 – 00:02:22:06

There’s a services menu heading right here and another button prominently displayed in the center of the page. If I scroll down, you can also see where you might include additional links or information about your services at the bottom of the home page. But let’s focus next on the main body of the page where for this demo version, we have just placed a bit of very basic content. Content areas like this one are one of the many aspects of a GetNetSet tax or accounting website that you can customize so that your site speaks directly to the needs and interests of your target clientele.

00:02:23:01 – 00:03:16:06

On that note, please also see our video demonstrating a variety of ideas for website customization. In any case, while you want to keep your home page content brief, especially for the benefit of mobile device users, it is a great idea to at least introduce your services in this area of the page. As a few examples, your home page content might include sentences like, “It has been my privilege and pleasure to help people in the Yellow Ridge area for over 20 years with their tax preparation, tax planning and estate planning needs” or “We offer a full suite of bookkeeping and accounting services for small and medium sized businesses throughout northern Arizona”

00:03:17:08 – 00:03:52:02

or “As an enrolled agent, I have dedicated my career to representing individuals and businesses in their negotiations with the IRS.” You will notice that two of these examples mention a specific city or region. To learn more about how clearly identifying the geographic area you serve can help increase the number of potential clients who find your site, please see our video series on Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.

00:03:52:08 – 00:04:19:12

Now to make your services stand out even more on your home page, you could include a bulleted list like this, showing, for example, tax preparation, tax planning, and accounting services. You might also make each item in the list an active link, which would take the visitor to the section of your full services page where you describe that particular service in detail.

00:04:21:04 – 00:04:49:08

Returning now to the services heading on the main navigation menu, if I click on the heading, it brings me over to the firm’s Complete Services page. Now, in this case, we have a page designed for a very large firm that provides a wide variety of tax and accounting services for businesses and individuals. Your listings may be quite a bit shorter, and that is absolutely fine.

00:04:49:12 – 00:05:19:01

The length of the list is unimportant. What matters is that the list accurately reflects what you do. If I now click on one of these service categories, such as IRS Representation, I can jump down to a description of that service. The description could be very brief, like this two sentence version, which is typical of the basic content that GetNetSet can provide as a starting point.

00:05:20:02 – 00:05:50:09

Ultimately, however, you will want to create your own service descriptions, which could be a little more in-depth, like this example here or significantly more detailed like this longer description. We’ll break this example down in a moment. But first, to help you decide which approach would be best for you and your clientele, let’s talk about goals when writing these descriptions.

00:05:51:10 – 00:06:30:11

When you describe the services you offer, keep the classic questions of who, what, when, where, why and how all in mind. Who would benefit most from this service? For example, do you primarily help individuals or businesses? And is there a particular demographic you specialize in serving, like immigrants or professional women? What does the service entail and what pain points do your clients experience that prompt them to seek out this service?

00:06:32:10 – 00:07:05:11

When might someone need this service? Perhaps during specific circumstances, like receiving an IRS letter or during a particular time of year like year end inventory. Then where do you provide this service? Do you serve a particular region, city, or state, or do you work with clients nationwide? Next, why would someone need this service, and why are you the right person or firm to provide it?

00:07:06:14 – 00:07:41:03

This second question nicely brings us to how does this service address one or more of the pain points you have identified? As a general rule, the more specific the service or target clientele, the more specific your description should be. The goal here isn’t any particular word count, but rather to explain the service as clearly as possible. Whether that requires three sentences or three paragraphs will depend on the nature of the service,

00:07:42:00 – 00:08:11:04

how much the general public knows about that service, and many other factors. Just remember that words alone do not add value to your site, but clarity and specificity absolutely do. So let’s return now to our longer description of IRS representation services and see how the GetNetSet team put all these ideas into action when creating this example.

00:08:11:13 – 00:08:39:10

First off, who would benefit from the service and when might they need it? When someone receives an audit notice or just an official request for more information about their tax return, they may well feel a lot of fear and anxiety. These facts also shed light on the question of what pain points a potential client might be experiencing. Here

00:08:39:10 – 00:09:08:13

in the second paragraph, the enrolled agent answers the “where” question, so readers in the Yellow Ridge area know they have found a professional within that region. This section of the description also gives some essential details about what the service is and what problems it addresses or prevents. Next, the third paragraph gives more information about why someone might need this service.

00:09:09:07 – 00:09:48:11

Notice that the description also expresses empathy for those who have IRS difficulties, building trust. This approach also helps to answer the question of why someone should turn to you or your firm for the help they need. Lastly, the description speaks directly to how this service addresses potential client pain points. Specifically, an enrolled agent can safeguard a taxpayer’s rights and help them reach a point where they can let go of the fear and worry that prompted them to seek help in the first place.

00:09:49:06 – 00:10:24:09

In the end, to use the popular marketing phrase, you want to sell the benefit of your service. In this case, the primary benefit is that the taxpayer can step back and let go while you or your team work on their behalf to bring the situation to the best possible conclusion. So that’s just a brief look at how you can add service listings and descriptions to your site, why you need them, and how to write them to create the greatest chance of conversion.

00:10:25:03 – 00:10:56:00

Remember, make your service listings and descriptions easy to find from any page on your website. Specific descriptions will help you attract the types of clients you most want and are best equipped to serve. And finally, it’s important to understand client pain points and sell the benefit of each service. For example, does the service reduce stress or help the client save money?

00:10:56:14 – 00:11:15:07

If you would like to learn more about service descriptions, and other customizable aspects of GetNetSet websites, our team would be happy to speak with you. Otherwise, we hope you have found this video helpful. Thank you for watching and we will see you in the next one.