Most people look online to find out about a CPA, enrolled agent, bookkeeper, or tax professional before deciding whom to contact. More importantly, according to a survey by BrightLocal, 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses in 2020, up from 81% in 2019. This happens whether they were referred by a colleague, family member, or friend. Our data from thousands of professionals indicates that our best performing tax and accounting professionals have at least ten 5-star reviews – but many have over a hundred on multiple review profile sites.

How CountingWorks PRO helps you build reviews

Our strategy is simple: We concentrate on attracting reviews on TaxBuzz.com, CountingWorks.com, and Google My Business first. Since we own API connections to many of these review sites, we can syndicate the reviews on your website and other social media sites. Over time, you will see that all three review profiles move up the page on the search results. This will drive more opportunities for your practice to be shown in a positive light. The quantity and quality of reviews will help you build trust and convert more inquiries to clients. It is this combination that our automated platform helps build and maintain for you. These review signals are used by Google to determine who is more popular in a local area which affects your search rankings. For our VIP clients, we then look at your competitors and local search results to see what other review profiles – like Yelp and Facebook – we want to build up with positive feedback. Having multiple third-party marketplaces ranking well with your reviews will help protect the first page of your search results from negative feedback. This is what we call the diversity of review sites. About 50% of your prospects will read the reviews found on Google, but according to Moz, it is vital to get reviews on multiple sites, as this is considered a positive ranking signal for the local search algorithm. Keep in mind that people spend their time on numerous platforms — Facebook, for example. One thing we warn against is those that try to game the system and buy thin reviews. Both Google and humans can read right through a fake review. Your client's stories about their interaction with your practice do more to sell your practice than any marketing copy. Additionally, we always coach our clients to respond to reviews. It is another psychological hint to your prospects that you are responsive and care about their opinion. Client testimonial reviews are incredibly important to the success of your practice. They boost search engine rankings and attract new clients, so you must have them on your website. We can't emphasize the importance enough. Get those reviews up online ASAP! All we need is your go-ahead, and our autopilot software attracts these reviews for you.

If you have questions about building third-party reviews or growing your tax and accounting practice, we’re here to help! Contact us today at 1-800-442-2477 x3 or set up some time to speak with one of our digital marketing experts. Schedule a free demo of CountingWorks PRO here.