PPC for Accountants: Get New Quality Clients Profitably (Free Calculator)

During a conversation with the main partner of a 50-employee accounting firm, we discussed three main problems stopping their business from growing:

1. Lack of differentiation in services means it is difficult to stand out. 
2. Constantly compete with local accounting firms or large corporations. 
3. Relying heavily on referrals or word of mouth for new leads.

To solve these problems, the accounting firm needed to invest in marketing to attract valuable clients. Pay Per Click (PPC) is one of the best ways to do this because it helps:

1. Find potential clients who are seeking an accountancy firm today.
2. Generates a predictable flow of new clients.
3. Ensures affordability if you use the right strategies (read below). 

Using our PPC strategies with 200+ businesses, we’ve generated 1000s of new customers for our clients. Read this article to learn how to find new and valuable clients through PPC, and book a call if you’d like an honest digital marketing agency to run your PPC campaign for you.

How much profit can PPC make your accounting firm?

It’s very likely one of your competitors is growing rapidly due to a well-executed PPC strategy. 

But every accountancy firm is different. Your firm will have different positioning, brand awareness, service offering, and costs compared to a local competitor. That is why you need a suitable strategy for your accounting firm. 

Therefore, before you read our winning strategy, it is essential that, with our interactive calculator, you should first determine if PPC will be a profitable method to acquire new clients. 

But first, read these three definitions to understand how the calculator works!

How PPC Works

When you run a PPC campaign, you will pay to appear on a search engine every time a potential client searches a specific keyword (which we will define later). Every time a potential client clicks on your ad, you will pay money to the ad platform. This is called the Cost Per Click (CPC). For the accounting industry, CPCs typically range from $1.5 to $5

Cost Per Click (CPC) Cost per click is the amount of money you pay to an advertising platform, like Google, to have a user click on your ad.

Of the people who click on your ad, some will convert into becoming a client. This is your Conversion Rate (CVR). For the accounting industry, CVR typically range from 2% to 5%

Conversion Rate (CVR) Conversion rate is the percentage of users that convert into becoming a customer after clicking your ad.

We can use this to determine the cost of acquiring a single client. Typically, this is called the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). For the accounting industry, CACs typically range from $0.3 to $2.5.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) This is the cost of acquiring a single customer or client.  Customer Acquisition Cost = Cost Per Click / Conversion Rate CAC = CPC / CVR

Interactive PPC Profit Calculator 

Use this interactive calculator to determine how much profit you will receive from each client acquired through PPC.

We’ve built this calculator using typical CPC and CVR across the accounting industry. All you need to do is enter the revenue a single client generates for you. The calculator then subtracts the marketing costs from the revenue to give you a profit per client. Hence, by using this calculator, you can develop an understanding of the potential profits PPC could generate for your business. 

It is important to note that PPC is not 100% predictable, so we have created three unique cases representing how well your PPC campaign could perform. 

Overview of our PPC Strategy

There are three steps to running a profitable PPC strategy.

1. Set up PPC campaigns correctly to target the right audience and keywords.
2. Design high-converting landing pages. These are the pages that your potential clients will visit. 
3. Optimise your ads and landing pages to get the maximum profit. 

Without experience, a lot can go wrong. Doing even one of the steps incorrectly can result in losing money for every single client you acquire. 

That’s because choosing the wrong keywords can result in you paying a massive $200 per click, not a mere $20. It can result in your page converting at a lowly 2%, not an optimised 20%. It’s the difference between you paying $100 for every new client or an unprofitable  $10,000. 

Ensuring each step of your PPC campaign is executed flawlessly is crucial to avoid financial loss and to foster profitable growth for your business. At NUOPTIMA, we specialize in crafting PPC strategies that are not only cost-effective but also profitable. The remainder of this article will outline strategies for a successful PPC campaign, but if you’re seeking personalized expertise and proven results, explore our accounting software marketing agency services. Let us help you turn clicks into clients with precision and profitability.

Should you run ads on paid search or paid social?

There are two ways to advertise your accountancy services online:

1. Paid Search (Google Ads, Bing Ads)
2. Paid Social (Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat)

What’s the difference? Paid Search is when your ad appears on a search engine, like Google, after you’ve searched a term. This is a very powerful advertising method because you can choose what keywords your accountancy firm appears for. 

We know which keywords potential clients use when looking for an accounting firm. So, we can specifically choose to show your business at the top of Google for those keywords. But because of this amazing feature, your competitors will try a similar strategy and make it expensive. You’ll need to optimise all parts of your PPC strategy to ensure costs don’t spiral upwards!

On the other hand, if you use Paid Social, you appear ‘in-feed’. When someone is scrolling on a platform like Facebook or Instagram, ads appear. These ads interrupt the scrolling process. The person scrolling has not said they’re interested in accountancy services, but you’re hoping your ad will attract a lead. The disadvantage of this technique is your ad is also shown to people who don’t need your services. On the other hand, this advertising method is cheaper. 

We’ve mostly seen accountants generate more profit on Paid Search, but there are some cases when Paid Social can work very well.

Hence, it’s not completely black and white which way of advertising will work best for your business. It depends on the following:

1. What exact accountancy service are you selling?
2. Who are your target clients?
3. Where do your clients spend their time online?
4. How much money do you make per client?

We’re going to discuss Paid Search in this article as it is the most profitable PPC strategy when starting off. Also, sometimes a hybrid strategy using Paid Social can improve effectiveness — if this is something you’d like to discuss, you can book a call.

Running PPC paid search ads  

The most common Paid Search ads are keyword based. When a keyword is searched, ads appear at the top of Google. 

For example, here’s a generic keyword ‘Accountant London’. Notice how the PPC ads appear first, then the organic results (from SEO) appear second.

By paying for this ad, you can appear above SEO results (which takes longer to achieve). But, there are some pros and cons to this.

Pros of PPC:

1. You can get in front of your potential clients quickly.
2. You can win valuable clients.
3. You can test which keywords bring in qualified accounting leads.

Cons of PPC: 

1. It can be expensive if you don’t set it up right.
2. Most people scroll straight past your ads. They prefer to look at SEO/organic results (however, we can help you counter this by running a hybrid strategy so you appear for both).

Up till now, you’ve learnt and understood: 

• How PPC works
• If PPC will generate profitable clients
• What paid search is
• The pros and cons of a PPC strategy

However, we mentioned that PPC could sometimes be expensive if you go for the wrong keyword. How do you know which keywords will make you money? Let’s explore this further. 

Which PPC keywords should you target to get new clients?

Most inexperienced PPC managers will make the mistake of choosing the wrong keywords. That mistake alone can be the difference between swimming in 10 new clients or drowning in $1000s of debt. 

Here’s what wrong keywords look like:

Firstly, the wrong keywords are based exactly on the service you offer. Initially, it may seem perfect, but it can have an adverse impact.

Let’s take the example of the keyword, ‘bookkeeping services’. There are many competitors bidding for the exact keyword. This means the CPC is higher than is profitable for you to pay for, and results in you losing money. Remember, PPC operates on an auction-based bidding model. That means the more competitors that want to appear for the keyword, the more you pay.

Secondly, the wrong keywords have low intent. 

For example, ‘what is bookkeeping?’. The person Googling that keyword is not ready for an accountant to carry out a service. They’re in education mode. Typically, these keywords have a very low CPC because no one wants that traffic. 

But what do the right keywords look like? 

Firstly, the right keywords that have a high intent to purchase services and receive a quote. For example, these could include branded, product, pain point, or location-based keywords, such as ‘accountant Blue Mountains‘.

Secondly, the right keywords have reasonable CPCs, which make sense for your accountancy services. You can look back at our interactive calculator to figure that out.

We’re going to show you all the types of keywords that can result in a lot of profit for your accounting firm.

Type of keyword	Examples of keyword	Pros	Cons
Branded	HW Fisher PWC Accounting RSM	Cost-effective strategy to win new clients when your competitors may not be the best servicer.	The competition usually bids on their own branded keyword to protect against it.
Service	Bookkeeping for small businesses Tax preparation services Financial planning for freelancers	High intent keywords for purchase or solving pain point and can be very profitable.	Service-level keywords are usually competitive, and services need bespoke landing pages.
Location	Brooklyn Accountant  Accountant near me  Bookkeeping in West London	High intent and very cost-effective.  The big competitors usually avoid these keywords.	You’ll be competing with local providers.  You’ll need to be locally present or have easy ‘contact us’ information.
Pain point	How to file taxes for small businesses? How to organise financial records for tax season? How to choose the right accountant for your business?	It is possible to capture this lead before they go to competitors.  You’ll be able to close this client without competition.	Slightly lower buying intent as the user is in education mode.  Will need a well-designed landing page.

Excellent PPC ad creative and copywriting examples 

Your ads appear next to your competitors, so you have to find a way to stand out. That is why at NUOPTIMA, we first analyse the competitive landscape before bidding on a keyword for a client. Our tailored approach in accounting software PPC services ensures that your ads not only gain visibility but also capture the attention of your target audience effectively.

Here are some examples of accountancy-related ads and what we think of them.

Ad 1: Bark appearing for ‘Bookkeepers in Manchester’

Keyword: ‘Bookkeepers in Manchester’

Verdict: ⅘

Good areas: Great headline. It targets potential clients looking locally. The CTA stands out, especially with the enticing ‘Free Quote.’

Bad areas: It would be good to mention the location in the keyword. A certain number of 5-star reviews would help improve this PPC ad. 

Ad 2: The Accountancy appearing for ‘Accountants for Small Businesses’

Keyword: ‘Accountants for Small Businesses’

Verdict: ⅘ 

Good areas: Highlights unique features, including ‘Low Cost,’ ‘Unlimited support,’ and ‘dedicated accountant.’ The link extensions direct potential clients to the right page to generate more qualified leads. 

Bad areas: Doesn’t use the keyword ‘small businesses’ and lacks a strong CTA.

Ad 3: Audit Centre appearing for ‘Forensic Accounting Services’

Keyword: ‘Forensic Accounting Services’

Verdict: ¾ 

Good areas: Headline is compelling with ‘Fast & Free’ service by ‘Specialists.’ The description uses some good phrases such as ‘free quotes’ and ‘Compare & save.’

Bad areas: The CTA could have been clearer, such as in the second heading. Would prefer to see some strong social proof too.

Ad 4: The Accountancy appearing for ‘Accounting for Freelancers’

Keyword: ‘Accounting for Freelancers’

Verdict: 5/5 

Good areas: Great headline, with a strong variation of the keyword. Clearly states USPs, such as ‘Fixed Fee’ and ‘Unlimited’ support. The reviews are excellent social proof, and there is a strong CTA.

Bad areas: The ad could improve slightly by adding a couple more features and benefits of their services. 

How to create a high-converting landing page for accounting PPC?

A high-converting landing page is one of the biggest factors in PPC success. Without it, you’ll be paying for traffic that doesn’t convert into clients. That’s a huge waste of cash! 

We recommend you have a conversion rate expert build out your landing page. Our winning landing page framework is reserved for our clients, but we’ll reveal the most important sections you need.  

Hero Block

The first section of the landing page is called the ‘Hero Block’. You can see the whole section as soon as you open the web page. You need to have three things in this section:

1. Great headline. For example, ‘Best Chartered Accountants in New York
2. Social proof. For example, 5.8/5 stars, 4,000+ reviews
3. Call to action. For example, ‘Book Free Consultation’

Your hero block needs to simply call out exactly what you offer, who it is for, and why you are a low-risk solution. 

Service Block

High up the page, probably in the 2nd or 3rd block, you will need to explain your services and/or products. You should explain its features and benefits. For example, if you provide tax preparation support, you would have features and benefits as follows:

Features:

• Experts in tax laws and regulations 
• Personalised attention to each client’s unique tax situation 
• Tax preparation for individuals and businesses 

Benefits:

• Maximise tax deductions and credits
• Avoid costly mistakes and penalties 
• Save time and reduce stress during tax season

Call to Action Block

Every PPC landing page needs a highly compelling call to action block. It is solely designed to get the user to fill in a form or book a call. 

We highly suggest including several call-to-action blocks throughout your landing page, such as at the top of your page, one in the middle of your page, and one at the end. You’ll be surprised how much it can increase your conversion rates and reduce your customer acquisition costs!

We include 6+ other high-converting blocks in our landing pages. Reach out to learn what they are and how to implement them. 

Engage an agency to run your PPC ads

There are lots of aspects to running a profitable PPC campaign for your accountancy business. You can attempt it yourself, or you can engage us, NUOPTIMA. We’ve worked with 200+ businesses and run thousands of PPC campaigns profitably. While PPC is a great way to get immediate visibility, pairing it with a strong SEO strategy can yield long-term benefits. Discover how our accounting software SEO agency services can enhance your online presence and complement your PPC efforts for sustained growth.

A bit about us

We’re an honest growth agency, and our goal is to drive profit for your business. 

We don’t work with everyone. In fact, we actively refuse 50% of all businesses that try to work with us. That’s purely based on if we think we can make your campaign a success. We only grow as an agency if we can get you results and you refer us to your friends and family. 

Before you choose a PPC agency, reach out to our team. We’ll objectively tell you what we think, and if it’s good, we’ll propose a fair price alongside a set of growth expectations and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Once you start to work with us, you’ll be in regular contact with our team. You’ll be provided with extensive data tracking and will communicate with us on regular calls.

Our PPC capabilities:

• We can service budgets from $100+ ad spend per day.
• Management costs start from $1,000 per month, depending on ad spend, platform, and requirements.
• Work on all ad platforms: Google, Facebook, Tiktok, Snapchat, and Reddit.
• We’ve worked with local service providers to public companies.
• We’ve worked across B2C and B2B, having driven brands to 7 figures in sales, and exceeded B2B SQL quotas.

Next steps:

• Firstly, you should visit our PPC services page here.
• Then, you should read through some case studies here.
• And when you’re ready, send us a message or book a call here.

FAQ

What is PPC in accounting?

Pay Per Click, or PPC, is an advertising model that many accountants may benefit from. When you run a PPC campaign, your ad will appear on a search engine when a potential client searches a specific keyword. However, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. 

Why do companies use PPC?

PPC can generate instantaneous results and position above your competition. It’s a great way to intercept your ideal accountancy clients when they are ready to engage in your services.

What is the downside to PPC?

It’s important to choose the right marketing method for your business. While PPC creates quicker results, your business may benefit from a more long-term SEO approach. Book a call with our team and we’ll help you determine the best approach for you.