It's not as simple as you probably presume to create unique content for your accounting Website. Most CPA's do not compose their own copy. Many prefer to purchase website "templates" with copy already built-in.

There is a downside to this scheme. Don't get me wrong. If you want to get a website published this is without question the best tactic. In order to bring in new customers faster and to get the search engines to index your domain as early as possible getting the website up quickly should be your first priority. Using a template can get your site up in days or even hours and set-up is usually free. A custom site usually takes months and costs thousands of dollars.

The downside to this strategy is that you are presenting what the search engines call "duplicate content". It's unlikely that you're the only CPA using that content provider, and all these other CPA Websites have essentially the same content on their websites as you have on yours. These pages will not usually be indexed well in the search engines. As a rule the search engines don't like to index the same information twice, so each page will only get indexed once. All these pages count... they'll get crawled and your website will get credit for them, but they won't appear on the search engine's results pages.Fortunately there's a easy fix for this problem.

If you customize your important pages once the site has been posted you can get around this problem.

Customize your "index" page first and foremost. The "index" page, also known as the the "home" or "welcome" page, is the most important page on your site. As a rule it has the most inherent authority, and it almost always gets indexed first. By rewriting it you are creating "unique content", and that's what the search engines are looking for.

Once that's done selectively rewrite other pages. As a rule the more pages you re-write, the better. You'll get more pages with better rankings, and your overall site will accumulate authority faster. Assign an order of importance to the pages with the pages you consider most important at the top of the list, then rewrite the pages on your site one at a time in that order.

There are some important rules of thumb to keep in mind that will maximize your appeal both to search engines and prospects.

Using Meta Tags

Before you begin writing create a keyword rich page title for your page. Make your page title 5-7 words, and make sure you include the city and state you're marketing to. For example:

Los Angeles, CA Accounting and Business Planning

Put this in the "Page Title" Meta Tag for the page (if you don't know what a Meta tag is or how to change it your web host may need to help you with this).

Now create a keyword rich, headline-style introduction to the page for the search engines to display when your page comes up. For example:

Your Los Angeles, CA Accounting and Business Planning Solution. Free initial consultation for Business Owners.

Put this in the "Page Description" Meta Tag for the page (again, your web host may need to help you with this).Some accounting and CPA website design firms do not allow you to modify the Meta Tags on individual pages. They'll try to convince you to use a "global setting". This means all the Meta Tags on every page are one and the same. This is fine at the start, and a global setting is handy to have, but in the long run it's disastrous to rely on it. As you customize your site content you MUST change the tags on each page. If your website provider doesn't allow you to change the Meta data on individual pages it's time to get a new website.

Now... rewrite your page copy.

Make Your Copy Search Engine Friendly

The search engines want a "concise summary" of the information: Too long and the search engines will penalize you because they'll think you're either babbling on or getting too technical; Too short and they'll assume you're summary isn't detailed enough. Make your page 400-600 words.

Use your keywords in your text. Try to use your page title keywords (in the example above that would be"Hoboken ", "NJ", "Accounting", and the keyphrase "Business Planning"). Optimally you want a 1% "keyword density". If your page is 450 words use each keyword 4 or 5 times. Don't overuse your keywords. This is considered a type of spam and could result in your page being de-indexed.

People Friendly Copy

Don't write too smart. Accountants tend to prefer copy that's slick. They like to make their copy look super-intellegent and professional. This is a mistake, unless you're looking to get other accountant's to hire you. The average business owner is an open collar guy, and as a rule that's what he's looking for. Write your copy to appeal to your prospects; not to yourself. Making youre visitors feel stupid will just frustrate them or make them angry. Don't waste their time with the details. Prospects don't care about the details. Your prospect wants to know what's in it for him. He or she really doesn't care how you're going to do it or how clever you are for figuring it out. Concentrate on this. How will your service make the readers life better? Write conversationally. Good copy reads casually. People friendly copy is just that... friendly.

By taking these simple steps your website will benefit enormously. You'll get a full-featured CPA website posted quickly and inexpensively, and you'll get the benefit of custom content and Meta data as you add it.

Brian O'Connell is the CEO and founder of CPA Site Solutions, one of the country's leading edge web design companies oriented solely to CPA websites. His company currently provides websites for more than 4000 CPA and accounting firms.