When accountancy blogs go bad

As a financial copywriting agency, we are often asked to come up with blog or email newsletter suggestions for clients (many of which are accountancy firms). Obviously the blog section of AccountingWeb is quite a treasure trove for discovering which issues would be of interest to the readers of our clients’ blogs and newsletters.

While there is quite an array of subjects being discussed within the blog section of AccountingWeb, it is also quite noticeable that there is an array of blog-writing styles.

It could be argued that this site is for commenting on your profession, so anything that is submitted is not going to win any literary prizes. Therefore, what does it matter if there are a few typos or grammatical errors?

Well, it could matter a lot.

Your blog is your shop window and a sloppy, badly written blog that is poorly laid out on the web page (whether that’s on your site or another site) can negatively affect your firm's profile.

Too much text

Several blogs that I came across were literally blocks of text. These did not even contain paragraphs, let alone sub headings.

If a reader is faced with reams of text, then they are likely to click off your blog before they have even read the first sentence.

Breaking up text with bullet points, sub-headings, diagrams and graphics makes your post more digestible and it also enables readers to scan through to check that it is content worth reading.

And forget what your English teacher told you. When it comes to writing for the web, limit your paragraphs to two or three sentences at the most.

You might be the Dalai Lama of accountancy, but if you haven’t produced your blog in an easy-to-read manner, then unfortunately your insightful aphorisms are not going to reach your intended audience.

Mind your language

Again, chatting on a professional forum suggests that everyone uses the same jargon and understands the various acronyms. But do you adapt your writing style for your client blogs and newsletters?

It’s easy when you’ve been working in the industry for a number of years to forget that not everyone in the wider world knows their FRS from their SAO.

Even very new entrants to the accounting world may not be overly familiar with the language used so it makes sense to spell out acronyms and fully explain any jargon that cannot be avoided.

If you can gain a reputation for explaining difficult concepts to clients, then you’ll find that your blogs are being read and shared on a regular basis.

Don’t be put off

But when all is said and done, a well written and beautifully formatted blog will do a great job of promoting your business. Not only will it promote you as a thought leader, it will help to bring in new clients.

Writing a regular blog, which refreshes your website with new content, helps to improve your site’s search engine optimisation.

And according to Search Engine Journal, customers who find you through a generic search are more likely to use your business (14.6%) than those who found you as a result of a direct mail or a print advertising campaign (1.7%).

For more information

To find out more about starting your own blog, see this useful article from Accounting & Business: http://abuk.accaglobal.com/issues/2015-AB-Nov-UK/basics-blogging.html