Blogs are not expensive to build and maintain. Most likely, you can add a blog format, like WordPress, to your firm’s existing website for no additional cost. If you do not administer your own website, just ask your web administrator to set one up for you. If you don’t have a website, you can start up a WordPress blog on Godaddy.com for about $10/month.

“C’mon, man”, you might be thinking, “is it really that cheap and simple”?

One real cost of blogging is the “TIME COST” of researching and writing helpful and original articles for your blog. This is where you must put in the time.

But you need clients so you should have a little bit of extra time anyway, right? And what the heck else are you so busy with from May to December as a tax pro who is growing a tax practice (or soon wants to go off on their own)?

When I was hungry for clients, I tried to write an article or two every week during the off season. During tax season, it was harder to find time to write, of course

When you blog to build your tax practice, it might take a while before you see an increase of clients

When you blog, it is helpful to realize that it often takes quite a bit of time for the main search engines, such as Google, to index your pages and to give your pages a decent search rank. Let me warn you right now that, even if you blog for several months, you still might only receive a trickle of traffic at first. Unfortunately, there is no instant gratification here.

The universe itself (and Google), will naturally weed out the weak. It’s the way of the world. There are thousands of crummy, low-grade blog posts created each day from writers that are just looking for quick traffic and to make a quick buck. Since they don’t often find much success with that approach, they quickly give up. Instead, to succeed, you must be the one who puts forth a solid effort over time.

Just as with any worthwhile endeavor, it’s going to take a while before you reach a point of high rewards. That’s just how things work.

But keep at it, I tell ya. Search engines and the internet community in general rewards persistence.

How long? I would say, depending on how competitive your topics are and how often your write, it could take from 6 to 24 months for your content to generate links and to rank well.

You must be willing to persevere and write an article (or two) each week for a year or so before your organic traffic finally takes off and gets you somewhere.

The good news is that if you are patient with the process, your traffic is almost certain to explode after a certain amount of time and effort. Also, once you are “on the map”, you will receive an endless supply of clients for a very long time to come. You will be turning most inquiries away, left and right, and thus you will be able to handpick the clients that will be the most profitable and the easiest to work with.

I know this with such conviction I because I went through it already. Now I am in a position to where I am fortunate enough to have “too many” clients and “too many” client leads. I don’t mean to brag, sorry, I am very humbled and blessed to be in this situation and I am excited to share with you the reasons (insert namaste emoji).

Write with quality

Blogging to grow your tax practice is just about as long-term rewarding as it can get, but you must actually write content that is helpful to your readers. You can’t trick the system. Don’t just poop forth with a bunch of words thinking about the self-serving end goal. You must honestly take the time to help your reader with every post.

What I like to do is take a note (I use my phone’s notepad) whenever a client, friend, family member or acquaintance asks me a question about taxes. These notes are from where I choose the topics to write about. Picture yourself answering this person’s question when you are writing. Right now, as I write this, I am picturing myself trying to convey what I know about blogging and growing a new tax practice to “a friend” who wants to go solo and become a successful tax preparer.

I may not be the best writer (or video producer), but I care about the content in which I create and I want to do a good job for the reader who consumes it. That’s you. I care. Awwww.

Now it’s awkward.

Anyway, speaking of writing skills, don’t worry if you do not think that you are meant to be an author. Be assured that, as you write, you will get better as you practice and produce content.

Blog about local tax issues

Writing mundane and over-used articles such as “7 ways to increase your itemized deductions” are not going to cut it.

I personally live in Hawaii, and I here is where I founded my firm. In years past I blogged about things like Hawaii General Excise Tax, state renter’s credits, Hawaii tax withholding on real estate sales (HARPTA), and other such local tax issues. This brought my firm’s local website a copious number of natural sales conversions. My articles were decent and helpful enough and they see a lot of local traffic. These articles have driven a wildfire of new clients to my business. I very much recommend finding something local like this to write about if you can. It will separate your work from typical articles and garner trust from your readers.

Why blogging to grow your tax practice works so well

The primary reason that blogging works so well, assuming you are writing reasonable decent and helpful content, is that other websites will link to your articles. This will empower your firm’s website toward the top of the search results, giving you “organic” (and free) clicks. So instead of paying search engines by the click, you will enjoy natural clicks.

Lots of them.

Also, there will be plenty of potential clients reading your articles, especially the ones that are having a problem or could use the help of a professional. Many of these will seek out your help (and hire you) instead of resolving their own issues.

Importantly, readers will already feel like they know you. Do you feel like you know me already?

Oops, I made it awkward again.

Finally, be sure to allow comments and to ask your readers for them. This gets them engaged, but more importantly it builds their trust in you. Some will not hire you and some will, but either way, many will recommend their friends to you. Getting referrals are another great way to grow your practice and to find great clients, of course.

So there is your “kick in the pants” to get some of your best thoughts, answers, and comments on the web in the name of your tax practice. If you feel like you received value out of this article, please share it with others and leave a comment. If you started blogging or have received growth in your tax practice from blogging, please let me know as well if you don’t mind. Thanks for reading.