Tell us a little about your site.
Jim: We're a directory site. BookkeepingHelp.com is an Internet Directory of Accounting, Tax and Bookkeeping professionals throughout the U.S. and Canada. We are not "hard-sell" and will offer an honest assessment of what can be expected, assist in creating a concise and compelling ad, and offer tips to improve prospect response.

Do you get mostly "bookkeeping" inquiries?
Jim: http://www.BookkeepingHelp.com receives more "tax" inquiries than inquiries for "bookkeeping", and we receive more unique visitors than the ProAdvisor site. We receive around 500,000 unique visitors annually - approximately 25% greater than the ProAdvisor site. This traffic, combined with Intuit having over 5 times as many listings, means a much higher "visitor to listing" ratio for BookkeepingHelp.com members. It explains in part why many tax pros have reported landing numerous new clients from our Directory.

That's interesting; I thought "bookkeeping" would be the more common Internet search. So, what are your top search terms?
Jim: It surprises many to learn that "bookkeeping" is not the most searched word (within a phrase) that brings visitors to our site. "Tax" is the most searched word and during tax season, over 5 times as many search phrases contain "tax" as "bookkeeping". Other top search terms include: CPA, Accounting, QuickBooks and Payroll. Many BookkeepingHelp.com members do little or no bookkeeping, but receive regular inquiries for Tax Preparation, IRS Representation, QuickBooks and other software support.

Why and when did you decide to start this company?
Jim: In 1999, while seeking help with our own personal accounting and tax, we were unable to find a reliable source when searching the Internet. Google was not yet dominant and searching was clunky and often produced inadequate results. Our frustration with the lack of good information was the inspiration to develop BookkeepingHelp.com, which was launched in August 2001. Our goal was a user-friendly site that would appeal to both visitors seeking information and the small business accounting professional seeking Internet visibility. As a subscription-only service, our site doesn't rely on "Sponsored" ads that can be distracting.

So, who are your typical members? Are they mostly bookkeepers, or are there more tax pros?
Jim: Our site lists professionals who provide Accounting, Tax, Bookkeeping and Accounting Software support. Membership is diverse - CPAs, Enrolled Agents, Bookkeepers, Financial Planners, QuickBooks ProAdvisors and other Small Business Accounting Professionals. A large number of members are sole-practitioners and most are firms with fewer than 10 employees. Since August 2001, over 3,500 professionals have joined BookkeepingHelp.com - many who are still members today. We're proud to display over 7 years of active member testimonials on our site.

Do you know what type of potential client visits your site? Is it mostly individuals or businesses?
Jim: Small Business owners and individuals comprise the majority of traffic to our site. Annually, we receive over 500,000 unique visitors and maintain a very high "visitor-to-member ratio". Some sites boast far more "listings", but receive less traffic, resulting in an unfavorably low visitor-to-listing ratio. In the past 3 years, over 1 million visitors have "bookmarked" or saved or pages in their favorites, providing another excellent source of potential traffic.

Can you offer tax pros a helpful tip to help them increase their referrals?
Jim: We are always curious to know why some members do spectacularly well, and others who report little activity. We're especially interested in learning how there is such a wide variance. It usually comes down to two factors - location and availability. Of those two, availability is the most important. There have been numerous examples where two listings in the same location will report vastly different results. The successful member is easily reachable - they usually answer their own phone and are quick to return calls, while the other is impossible to reach or slow to reply. Today, searchers are impatient and will often not even leave a voicemail when they have several choices. Recently, one of our Orange County CA members told me that she received a call from BookkeepingHelp.com. According to her prospect, she was the 4th person he called, but the first who actually answered her phone - she got the job. Folks who screen their calls always report less activity.
Thanks for the great information, Jim! You can contact Jim Berry at www.BookkeepingHelp.com or by calling toll free: 1-800-284-4662.

(The Tax Marketer has recieved NO fees, compensation, or consideration for publishing this interview, but we have had numerous members tell us that they've had good experiences with the site. We encourage you to do your own research and find out what works best for you and your practice).

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Hello everyone! You can now sign up for The Tax Marketer, a free marketing newsletter for financial professionals. The first edition will have information on AdWords marketing, online networking, and business card marketing.

It's a great resource for enrolled agents, CPAs, CFPs, financial advisors, and unenrolled preparers. I hope you'll sign up and check it out-- it's free!
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In other news, my company is launching a tax newsletter called The Tax Marketer. . We purchased the domain and joined Constant Contact, which is an email marketing service.
 
We have a nice group of tax industry e-mail contacts and the newsletter was a natural progression. It took us about two days to get the website up and running, and we've spent quite a few days getting the first newsletter ready. 

We've been thinking about doing a newsletter for over a year, and it was time. Anyone that that owns a small business, including a tax practice, should really consider doing it-- newsletters are a great way to keep in contact with your customers, and it allows you to share information with them that is timely and useful.

The newsletter is free, and you can sign up at: http://www.taxmarketer.com/
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Have you used Adwords to promote your tax practce? Is there a ratio or a number of clients you recieved from this?

Yes, I've used Adwords very successfully. The big increases I have seen were in web hits to my websites. In one case, my website went from 100 hits a month to 1,000.

One of the EAs I interviewed for my tax marketing book uses a ton of Adwords, too. His computer will actually make a little "bing" noise when someone finds his website and clicks on it.

If I remember correctly, he gets about 40 unique web hits per day because of Adwords, and he estimates that about 10 of those people call. His practice grew from zero clients to about 1,000 clients in less than 6 years. I feel that's pretty impressive. A lot of that is referrals, too, now that he is established. But he does everything-- payroll, bookkeeping, tax returns, corporate returns-- you name it.

He has about 5 staff that do the ancilliary stuff. You have to decide what type of work you really want to do first, and then target your ads to the clients you want to reach.
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This week, the popular column Dear Abby discusses Enrolled Agents.

You can see the full article here.

It's  always nice to see enrolled agents mentioned favorably in the news and print magazines. The IRS has done a poor job explaining the value of the EA designation, and I appreciate that Dear Abby attempts to explain what we do to the general public.
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