Writing a professional firm profile for your accounting firm website or social media pages can be a daunting task. Introducing yourself online can be difficult, as opposed to the familiar face-to-face interactions, where you can tailor your communication style to the needs of the moment. As a result, many firms struggle to work out their digital audience and often neglect this important aspect of their online marketing.
A strong firm profile is essential to your online presence and helps to attract and engage with clients and new prospects by presenting a personal and professional story about you, your team and your firm. This is a big demand for just a few paragraphs of text, but with some thought and creativity, you can use your online profile to grow your brand, increase leads, improve Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and ultimately increase the visibility of your business.
A few tips to consider when writing your online profile
- Know your audience. Think about who you want to attract to your business and tailor your messaging to impress those individuals or organisations.
- Tell a story. Each of us has a different professional history to share. Instead of a list of accomplishments, present your background and credentials as a story and in such a way as to interest, or even entertain, your website visitors. A good online profile should make you look like real human beings, not a machine.
- Show how unique you are. Everyone’s story is different from that of their competition or even their colleagues. Your profile should highlight what makes your skills and experience unique. If you specialise in a niche or have a unique educational or personal background, make sure it’s obvious in your profile.
- Put a face to the name. Including a professional photo of your staff can help build a relationship with your clients and makes your website more personable and impressionable. If a professional photographer doesn’t suit, below are some tips to do it yourself.
- Maintain your profile. After crafting the “perfect” profile and your career progresses, you will then need to ensure that it’s kept up to date by adding or removing details that might improve its effectiveness and relevance.
Quick headshot tips for a great staff portrait
Warm and inviting content can only get you so far; clients want to put a face with the trusted name. Staff profiles are a great way to introduce your team to your clients and adding photos can help strengthen your bond with clients. Hiring a professional photographer doesn’t suit everyone, so below are some tips that will help you take the best portrait pictures yourself. All you need is a smartphone with a decent camera and a little bit of knowledge.
- Location, location, location. Great photos are often taken outside in the mid-morning or early-evening natural light, if you have a nearby park or reserve this may be an ideal spot. If you would rather stay indoors, avoid busy wallpapers and stick to neutral coloured backgrounds. Consistent patterned or textured walls can work well too, such as brickwork or wooden panelling if you have this featured in your office space. If you want to photograph your team at their desks, be sure to declutter first. You don’t want your viewer distracted from the focal point.
- Lighting is important. Direct sunlight can make your subjects appear washed out, so try to plan your photos for a day with some cloud cover. If you’re staying inside, it’s best to use a couple of light sources. You can achieve this by using lamps with the shades removed on either side of the camera and position them so the light source is level with the focal point. If you only have one lamp, use a reflector on the other side (the silver side of a car windshield sun shade will work well to reflect the lamp’s light). It’s best to avoid the flash, so if your flash is triggered by low light you may need to increase your light source or disable the flash altogether.
- Strike a pose. Good posture is really important. Ideally standing (or if necessary, sitting) straight up with shoulders pushed back a little. Have the camera eye level with your subject; so they aren’t looking up or down at you. Position the camera directly in front of the subject and have them turn their head slightly to the side, this will make the subject appear slimmer and avoid that ‘mugshot’ look. Take multiple photos and have the team member review them with you before calling in the next person – this way you know you have a great photo that the subject is happy with. There is nothing worse than finishing the shoot to realize the subject had their eyes closed in all of them or they’re blurry.
Putting it together in Web Manager
Now that your content and photos are ready to go it’s time to get it set up through your Web Manager login. This can be done as a simple content page with your photos inserted alongside your content either using tables to lay out the content or using the image properties tools in the editor to align your headshots with each blurb.
For an easier to manage solution, our designers can create a stylish layout for you in our Staff Profiles system which you can easily place your information into and it automatically outputs a consistent format to match your website look and feel for each team member. No need for messy tables. With this set up you can choose to organise your staff by position or office location and apply eye-catching effects to help make your staff profiles stand out!
Visit our demonstration site for an example of a Firm Profile page layout.
