The website for your tax advisory firm: the pages clients and applicants look for

What clients look for on the website

Nobody picks a tax adviser on a whim. Anyone opening a café, taking over a medical practice or ending the relationship with their current firm reads several websites and looks for answers to a few very specific questions. The website has to answer them within seconds, otherwise the prospect calls the next firm.

• Do you look after people like me? Industry, legal form, size: sole traders, GmbH, associations, landlords, freelancers.
• What exactly do you take on? Bookkeeping, payroll, annual accounts, tax returns, advice on start-up or succession.
• How does working together work? Receipts digitally or in a folder, portal or email, meetings in person or by video.
• How do I get a first meeting and what does it cost?
• Who are the people behind it? Tax advisers, bookkeepers, payroll specialists, a contact person.

Pay attention to the words used in your country. In Austria, the people you work for are usually called Klient:innen, both in professional law and in everyday language, and people search for “Lohnverrechnung” (payroll) and “Arbeitnehmerveranlagung” (employee tax assessment). In Germany they are Mandant:innen, and people search for “Lohnbuchhaltung” and “Einkommensteuererklärung” (income tax return). A website written for Graz that uses German terms feels generic and is found less often in local searches.

Service pages by target group instead of a long list

The most common weakness of firm websites is a single “Services” page with twenty keywords from “bookkeeping” to “reorganisations”. Clients do not think in service catalogues but in terms of their own situation. So structure your site by target group and give each group its own page that answers its questions.

Each page starts with a sentence that speaks directly to the target group (“Starting a business in or around Linz?”), explains the process in a few steps, lists the documents you need and ends with a clear next step. What a founders page with fixed-price packages looks like is shown in the guide Tax advice for founders. Describe focus areas factually and verifiably, as § 57a StBerG requires of all advertising in Germany. Only use “specialist” or “expert” where you can prove knowledge and experience; in Germany, § 9(3) BOStB (the professional code of the Federal Chamber of Tax Advisers) expressly requires this. More in the guides Advertising for tax advisers in Austria and in Germany.

Digital collaboration and the client portal

For many business owners, digital collaboration has become a selection criterion. So don't just write “We work digitally”, describe how it actually works. A page of its own or a clear section on collaboration answers questions that would otherwise take up time in the initial meeting.

Put the portal login where it is easy to see in the header so existing clients don't have to search for it. Name the software you use if it helps prospects, for example because they already work with a particular till system or accounting program. And be honest: anyone who prefers to bring receipts in a folder should read that this is still possible, if that is the case with you.

The initial meeting: the most important click

Every page of the website should lead to one goal: the first conversation. Make it easy. The phone number and a button sit at the top of every page, tappable on a smartphone. A short form asks only for what you need to prepare: legal form, industry, approximate turnover or number of employees, the matter at hand. Offering online booking saves call-backs; more on this in the article Online appointment booking for firms.

Important for the form: don't ask for tax assessments or payslips at first contact. A note that documents only follow via the portal after the meeting protects the data and looks professional. Tips on structuring the contact page are in the article The contact page of a firm.

Showing your team and your firm

Tax advice is a matter of trust, and trust has faces. Show not only the partners but also the people clients deal with day to day: the payroll specialist, the bookkeeper, the trainee tax adviser (Berufsanwärter:in in Austria) or the tax clerk (Steuerfachangestellte:r in Germany). Each person gets a photo, role, focus areas and languages. Professional titles must be correct: “Steuerberater:in” only after public appointment by the KSW or the Steuerberaterkammer; in Germany, certificates and association titles must be kept visually separate from the name and professional title (§ 9(2) BOStB).

Real photos from the firm clearly beat stock images. Obtain written consent from everyone pictured and settle what happens to the photo when someone leaves. The article The team page of a firm shows how a good team page is structured.

The careers page: an answer to the skills shortage

Many firms could take on more clients if they had the staff. Applicants, like clients, look online first, and they compare closely. A careers page that only says “We are looking for reinforcements” loses out to the firm next door that discloses working hours, salary and development.

Publish job ads as pages of their own, not as PDFs. Then you can share the links on LinkedIn, on job boards and at chamber or university events, and the ads get found themselves. Remove filled positions promptly: a page full of old ads looks as if nobody stays.

Legal notice, data protection and professional law

As a regulated profession, tax advisers have more mandatory information to give than an ordinary business. In Austria, under § 5 ECG (E-Commerce Act) you name, among other things, the Kammer der Steuerberater:innen und Wirtschaftsprüfer:innen (KSW, the chamber of tax advisers and auditors), the professional title awarded in Austria and the WTBG 2017 as the applicable professional rules, plus the disclosure under § 25 MedienG (Media Act).

In Germany, § 5 DDG (Digital Services Act) requires the competent Steuerberaterkammer, the professional title with the state that awarded it and the professional rules (StBerG, DVStB, BOStB, StBVV), plus details of your professional indemnity insurance under the DL-InfoV (Service Information Regulation).

All the details with sample text are in the guides Legal notice for tax advisers in Austria and Legal notice for tax advisers in Germany. The privacy policy needs separate sections for the contact form, portal and applications. Cookie-free analytics also spare you a cookie banner for tracking.

Common mistakes on tax advisory websites

One last point: most visitors arrive on a smartphone, often straight from Google search or the Google profile. Test your website regularly on a phone, from loading the page to submitting the form. How to get found deliberately is covered in the articles SEO for tax advisers and Winning clients as a tax adviser. The content every firm website needs is summarised in Content of a firm website.