Clear positioning
Within a few seconds, a visitor should know who you help and what you do. "Accountants for tradies and small business in Ipswich" beats "your trusted financial partner" every time. Say who you are for, name the outcome, and drop the generic slogans. This single clarity decision drives most of the rest of the site - it is the foundation of our web design for accountants and finance firms.
Service pages that match how clients search
Give every distinct service its own page - tax returns, BAS and bookkeeping, SMSF, business advisory, company setup, lending. One "Services" page cannot rank for all of those different searches, and it forces the visitor to hunt. A page per service also gives you somewhere specific to send Google Business Profile links and internal links.
Location and service-area signals
Local firms win local searches. Make your city and service area clear in page titles, headings and copy, add the right schema, and keep your Google Business Profile consistent with the site. Avoid stuffing a long suburb list into the footer - it looks spammy and does little.
Trust markers and proof
Finance clients look for reasons to trust you: CPA/CA or tax-agent registrations shown accurately, professional memberships, genuine reviews, and clear, honest service descriptions. Display credentials plainly - never overstated. If you have client results you can share without breaching confidentiality, use them carefully.
Team or principal profile
People hire people, especially for something as personal as their finances. A real photo and a short, human bio of the principal and key staff does more for conversion than a page of corporate copy. Faces make a firm feel accountable and approachable.
Simple enquiry paths
Make the next step obvious and low-friction: a clear phone number, a short enquiry form, and a booking option if you use one. Ask only for what you need to triage the lead. Where sensitive documents are involved, handle them securely rather than asking clients to email financial details around.
Mobile-first performance
Many prospects compare two or three firms on a phone before they call. If your site is slow or awkward on mobile, you lose before you are in the running. A fast, mobile-first build is non-negotiable - the fundamentals are covered in small business website must-haves.
SEO foundations
The structure above is most of good SEO, but confirm the technical basics are in place: clean URLs, correct headings, schema, an XML sitemap, fast Core Web Vitals and no crawl or index issues. See technical SEO for the full list. These foundations let the content you have actually rank.
Brand consistency
Your logo, colours and type should hold together across the website, your email signature, proposals and any print. Inconsistency reads as carelessness to a detail-oriented client. If the brand itself is tired, a logo refinement or brand identity project alongside the website is often worth it.
FAQ
Usually a homepage, an about/team page, a page per service, a contact page and legal pages - plus a small set of helpful articles. The number of service pages is what varies most between firms.
Yes, if you want local clients to find you. Most people search "accountant" plus their suburb or need. Clear service pages, schema and Google Business Profile work put you in those results.
Yes, with care - mapping old URLs to new ones, preserving content and setting up redirects. See our website redesign approach.
Want this checklist applied to your firm?
Send us your current site or your plans, and we will point out the highest-impact fixes and a clear path forward.