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8 CPA Prac. Mgmt. F. 11 (2012)
REO vs. SEO: Optimize Websites for Referrals and Warm Lead Conversion

handle is hein.journals/cpamanf8 and id is 293 raw text is: DECEMBER 2012 REO vs. SEO: Optimize Websites for Referrals and Warm Lead Conversion By Wendy Nemitz very time I talk to a partner for the first time at a CPA firm, I hear the same comments, We dont get new clients from our website. They all come through referrals from other satisfied clients. Our busi- ness growth is mainly word-of-mouth. I can agree with the basis of their argument. Rela- tionships are extremely important in professional ser- vice marketing and sales. Our recent informal survey of CPA clients overwhelmingly confirmed that personal recommendations rate highly when selecting a provider. About 87.5 percent of respondents said they get person- al recommendations. How- ever, the next biggest way Good SEO combi that clients, prospects, and referral sources frequently will support a s research CPA firms is the frequently in sea most revealing about the firms, but also pr power of online marketing. information that il After receiving a person- referral sources, cli al recommendation, pros- pects do not typically call the firm. They look up the firm website. Almost half of survey respondents (43.8 percent) either went directly to the referred firm website (31.3 percent) or did a cold search (12.5 percent). Combine the basic information of a CPA firm website with other marketing touches (e.g., upcoming speaking engagements, quality sales materials, and information tailored to the prospect's industry), and CPA firms can increase their chances that a prospect will gain a posi- tive impression and also make that phone call. Referral engine optimization Ingenuity Marketing Group coined the term referral engine optimization (REO) in 2007 to refer to the methods that professionals can use to optimize their websites for referral opportunities. It now requires more encounters with a CPA firm for a prospect to buy its services-and the sales cycle is much longer-so on- line marketing supports not only a prospect's first im- pression, but also the good feeling referral sources have about recommending the firm. Before outlining ways to achieve REO, the following is a cautionary tale about why a strong online reputa- tion is important: A law firm recently noted that select representative matters and cases should be regularly added to its website to ward off the potential for anti- referrals. It happened that a big player in an upcom- ing business transaction visited the law firm's website and raised doubt about the firm's manpower and skills to handle the transaction. This information was shared with the law firm's client, which got back to the firm and elevated the importance of the firm updating its website. No one wanted to ned with good REO ite that shows up irch results for CPA ovides the kind of mpresses prospects, ents, and candidates. lose business over a poor Web presence. Optimizing a website for referrals doesn't require an entire site overhaul-unless the site still uses frames or another outdated structure that can't be easily updated internally. Fresh content is one of the biggest ways that websites can rank higher among their competition according to Google, so firms that can't update their content easily and frequently are losing out on both search engine optimization (SEO) and REO. The following guidance will assist you in gaining good search results and a positive first impres- sion with prospects and referral sources. Build REO with SEO SEO is still important. Your site will rank higher on search engine results if you have regularly updated con- tent, but also if you have included strong key phrases in your content, page titles, and descriptions. For ex- ample, find a CPA may be a phrase for SEO, but it can also be used in your content to easily guide people to your bios page. If the key phrase is used frequently to search for CPA firms, but few CPA firms are trying to rank for it, it is usually a good key phrase. Good SEO combined with great REO will sup- port a site that shows up frequently in search results for CPA firms, but also provides the kind of infor- CPA PRACTICE MANAGEMENT FORUM

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