The simple answer to this question is yes, I do get clients from Google and other search engines. I estimate about 25% of my revenue this year has come from clients who found me on the internet.

I never thought things would happen this way. When I started my company almost 10 years ago, I had this idea that I wanted a website as a sort of digital brochure. I had real brochures, but I wanted people to be able to find out about me at any time, and not have to wait for me to get a brochure to them. But I didn’t think I even wanted clients who would find an expert via a search engine. Surely the wanted someone who was referred to them, rather than taking their chances on the internet?

In the early years, I had a website that I designed myself using Microsoft FrontPage. A few years later, I moved from my home office to a real office, and got a professionally designed website to go with it.  The site was made in Dreamweaver, and I maintained it myself after the designers were done, adding articles and photos on my own.

Four years ago I added a blog to my website, and that is when I really started building more visibility. My site went from a static site that rarely changed, to one that had something new on it every couple of days. That got attention from the search engines, and I slowly began building a readership base.

So how does this factor in with getting clients via Google?

An active website and blog has been the key to getting good rankings for search terms relevant to my specialty. There are certain keywords that I’ve targeted because I know potential clients search for them, and I rank at the top (or close to it) for several of them. So when potential clients are using the search engine to find a particular expertise, there I am. And all the blogging and other writing I’ve done (which is also featured on my site) demonstrates that I know what I’m talking about so they can feel confident contacting me.

You’ve probably heard about keywords before, and you might have even looked at marketing materials from companies that promise to get your website better search engine rankings for your desired keywords. For the most part, that stuff is hogwash.

Yes, there is value in working with someone who knows SEO (search engine optimization) so that your site is put together correctly to give you the best shot at search engine traffic. But after that, it’s all dependent on your content. That generates organic results with the search engines.

I’m not going to kid you. It takes a lot of time to get better rankings with search engines. Occasionally someone is able to rise to the top quickly, but for most accounting and finance professionals, it will take months to get noticed by the search engines and possibly a couple of years before you see some good rankings for keywords you like.

In the coming months, I’ll be talking about keywords and search engine rankings and how you can set yourself up for success. But the point to take away from this article is that it takes time to build a reputation with Google and the other search engines. However it can definitely pay off in a significant way via new clients.

The mistake many accountants, auditors, and finance professionals make is blogging religiously for 3 or 6 months, and then giving up because they don’t yet see tangible results. It’s a slow process and 3 or 6 months is not nearly enough time to get good results for most professionals. So if you’re thinking about getting into blogging, you’ve got to make a long term plan for yourself and stick with it.