Just ten years ago, people were asking whether your company had a website. And in the area of accounting and auditing, the answer was often “no.” Larger firms usually had websites, but smaller firms were just venturing into the area.

Accountants are often naturally skeptical, so there was some reluctance to establish a website. Did the firm need one? Wasn’t their company brochure enough? Would clients even care if they had a website or not.

Finally everyone seemed to agree that a website is a basic business tool that any viable firm must have.  And just about every company has a website, some much better then others.

And now we’re onto the next must-have tool…. a blog.  The word blog comes from the larger word “weblog,” which is what the earliest blogs were called. Blogs started out mostly as online journals where the authors wrote about their lives and what they were observing in the world around them.

Very quickly, however, people started to realize the power that blogs had to create visibility for business owners and executives. There are still plenty of non-believers who look at blogging as a nice pastime (or a waste of time all together), rather than recognizing it as a vital part of a firm’s online strategy.

Why is blogging so important to an accounting firm? There are 3 key features of blogs that make them so valuable to your accounting or auditing practice.

1. Frequently updated content – Traditional websites are generally static, with the same pages and same content showing up month after month. Blogging allows a firm to have a website that is constantly updated, and the promise of new content keeps readers coming back. Frequently updated sites tend to rank better in search engines like Google, as search engines reward consistently updated content. Better search engine positioning means more visibility for your firm’s site, and most likely, more opportunities to bring in new clients.

2. Ease of use – Modern blogging software makes it easy for just about anyone to update a blog. You don’t have to have a staff of programmers available around the clock to help you update your site. Write, click, and your new content is published for the world to see. You can have multiple people contribute to the blog, and things can be changed or moved around very easily. You don’t have to be technical to be able to maintain a blog.

3. Interaction with readers – Blogs allow readers to leave comments (unless the author has turned off that option), and those comments can lead to interesting discussions. What accounting firm cares about discussions with readers? The one that wants to engage and participate in meaningful conversations… not only for the sake of the discussion but also because good discussions draw in more readers, creating greater visibility for the blog. Greater visibility is the whole point of marketing efforts in general, and hopefully if you get the right visibility you’re also going to get new clients.

The internet isn’t just a place for your firm to have a website that acts like a brochure. The web is now an interactive place that demands new conversations.

Your firm can showcase its expertise and become a trusted resource for readers. This can lead to mentions in major media, recommendations from other professionals, and continuous opportunities to promote your firm.

And the best part for accounting and auditing firms is that the field is virtually wide open for you. There are so few good, consistent bloggers in the area of accounting and finance. Now is the time to establish your firm as one of the online thought leaders in your area of  expertise.

Professional writing for accountants and auditors used to be limited to publishing a book (if you were lucky) or going through the agonizing process of contributing an article for a trade journal. Now anyone can publish good material without any connections to the publishing industry. Why not take advantage of that?

Take a look at our list of Blogs We Like. There aren’t very many there. Sure, our list is new, and there are likely 15 or 20 blogs that we don’t know about yet, but will eventually make the list. But for now… that’s it when it comes to accounting and finance bloggers who are posting regularly (2 or 3 days a week).

There are probably another 25-50 blogs by accounting professionals that are updated once or twice a month. I don’t consider them competition for anyone serious about blogging. They simply can’t get any traction by posting once a month. Who is really going to visit their site often when most visits will result in no new material found???

Now is the time to jump on the blogging bandwagon. You have plenty of time to establish yourself in your niche. You can get the hang of blogging and start developing a following before someone else in your niche comes along and decides they want to be a blogger too. Wouldn’t it be more fun to be a leader, rather than a follower?