The Accounting Library -- A Great Resource for Accounting VARs!
If you’re an accounting software VAR and you don’t know about The Accounting Library Online Edition, then it’s high time you did! As a long-time marketing person for business accounting software VARs all over the U.S., I can honestly say that The Accounting Library is one of the better all-round marketing investments you can make. And at a modest $300 per year, it’s not a large investment, either. (Read all the way to the end and I’ll tell you how you can even save 10% off that cost.)
What makes The Accounting Libary so special?
For starters, The Accounting Library provides unbiased information and selection criteria for companies interested in purchasing accounting and ERP software. The value proposition for accounting software VARs like yours is clear. You can be included in one of the Internet’s better, more capable accounting software selection tools and receive highly qualified leads in the process!
The fact is more and more companies are coming to The Accounting Library to perform their primary research. The online numbers bear it out. At last count, over 1,000 visitors come to the website each month, with about 80% staying to click through the website. Even more impressive is the website's number of new visitors, which are growing at a healthy 50% year over year! And thanks to a new pay-per-click ad campaign The Accounting Library is about to kick off in January, the visitor growth rate will probably jump yet again. Translation for an accounting software VAR like yours? Qualified leads equals more highly motivated buyers.
In case you don’t already know, here’s how The Accounting Library works. It helps companies in need of accounting software define their functional requirements by having them fill out a very thorough survey. The website’s evaluation engine matches the list of customer-provided criteria against a similar list the website has for almost every off-the-shelf software product on the market today. The company receives the best suggested matches and can review them to make sure they truly meet their defined needs.
The Accounting Library also provides the company with a list of VARs representing the suggested software brands in close geographically proximity. If you’re a Dallas-based VAR representing a suggested software application and the company is in North Texas, then your contact information, including a detailed description of your firm, is provided to the company for further review. The company is then able to decide which software, and VARs, it wishes to pursue further. This means that leads coming from The Accounting Library are already highly qualified before you’re ever contacted. Benefit to you? Far fewer tire-kickers or bored controllers to disrupt your day!
Sure, there are other websites out there that purport to do the same thing – help companies find accounting software and send leads to VARs. But, the costs of these websites on a per lead basis are high compared to The Accounting Library’s annual $300 cost. Worse, their effectiveness has lessened in recent years because many companies are either price checking or getting too overwhelmed by the sheer number of VARs responding to the lead. Frankly, these lead gen websites also don’t do a very good job matching a company’s functionality requirements to VARs in a logical and detailed manner, which can lead to embarrassing mismatches and lots of wasted time on everybody’s part. If you factor in the value of a qualified lead versus a shot-in-the-dark lead, then the cost of The Accounting Library looks much more attractive.
Another reason you should strongly consider signing up for The Accounting Library is to improve your firm website’s SEO rankings. SEO, which stands for search engine optimization, describes the activities you perform on your website to make it more visible on search engines like Google and Yahoo. Say a company wants business software and enters several search terms. If you’ve optimized your website for terms like “accounting software Texas” or “pharmaceutical inventory management software,” then the chances of you being seen by a company entering in similar keywords is much greater.
The Accounting Library acts much like a VAR directory, which is to say a listing of VARs with their contact information and corresponding URLs pointing back to their websites. How can this help your SEO rankings? Simple. By having a link on a highly trafficked website like The Accounting Library, the value of the linkback is greater. That’s because search engine algorithms weigh highly trafficked website linkbacks more heavily than ones from more obscure, less trafficked websites.
Consider for a moment the link that many accounting software VARs have set up on the now famous Duck Tape Marketing website. True, it’s a great way to show up on certain key word searches and drive visitors to your website. But does the DTM website have anything to do with accounting or ERP software? Are companies researching DTM looking for the perfect accounting software to run their GL and manage their inventory? Heck no! DTM is a marketing consulting company for small businesses and has absolutely nothing to do with accounting and ERP software. If you’re spending money on a link with DTM, which has nothing to do with your industry, why wouldn’t you also consider spending some with a website that fits your industry like pair of fine Italian leather driving gloves?
For an accounting or ERP software VAR like yourself, a linkback from a well-trafficked website that is highly correlated to your own industry is GOLDEN! Plus traffic on The Accounting Library is set to jump considerably once the pay-per-click campaign starts in January. That’s why I maintain that the potentially generous SEO boost available from a link to The Accounting Library is easily worth the $300 registration fee. Factor in that some software developers (Sage, for instance) will actually pay over half the cost from a co-op program and suddenly the decision to join becomes a no-brainer!
In the final analysis, I decided that The Accounting Library was a good fit for one of the VARs I consult with on a regular basis. We just started less than a month ago but I’ve seen where our contact information now comes up on Google searches. Do I think that we’ll get leads from The Accounting Library? Definitely. Over time, with the SEO improvements I’ve made for my VAR customer and The Accounting Library’s website traffic increasing exponentially, it’s going to become a perfect storm of positive, in-bound lead generation.
If you’re an accounting software VAR and you haven’t joined yet, you better jump on the boat before that marketing storm leaves you in its wake!
Discount Opportunity on The Accounting Library:
At the beginning, I mentioned a way to save 10% off the cost of The Accounting Library if you read through to the end. If you sign up by December 31, 2010, The Accounting Library will apply a 10% discount to your first year’s fee. But only if you send an email to cchewning@accountinglibrary.com and mention The Sage Closer discount! Do that before December 31 and you will receive $30 off the registration price. If you like, share this with any other VARs you might know so they can take advantage of this one-time discount, too!
6 Responses to “The Accounting Library – A Perfect Marketing Storm for Accounting Software VARs!” Leave a reply ›
I've never been a huge believer that it's a great idea for me to invest in a service that essentially provides my company name along with (pick a number -- 1, 2,3 or more) competitors to those searching the web.
Am I wrong here in believing that I'd then be chasing the weakest form of client? Essentially I'd be dealing with predominately companies searching based on price.
Notice that I said predominately because I'm sure there are some companies that will find you online that in turn become valued long term clients.
There are other sites that have been around offering similar services. I get their lead updates daily and almost invariably use these "leads" as nothing more than a morning laugh.
"Nigerian companies looking for software"
"Budget range $100 to $20,000" (Two guesses which number the prospects thinking of)
"Using Great Plains Dynamics but seeking a General Ledger replacement - not open to switching from GP"
"Consultant looking for a client" (My all time favorite because 95% of these are pleas for some free consulting help)
"Company located in XXX where physical geography of the consultant is unimportant" (It's only unimportant until the consultant tries to sell or bill them for anything - then watch how the story changes!)
I see far too many Sage VARS "investing" in marketing programs that they seem to rely on to do all the work for them (listings, paid links) when in fact there's no better marketing than keeping clients happy.
Great post Dave. Although I understand some of Wayne's perceptions, in this case I would have to disagree. For $300 (or less) a VAR would have to literally sell NOTHING in order to lose on this opportunity (investment). In fact, to your SEO points Dave, they could actually do this and still may realize a return - increased online exposure.
I may have missed it, but it's important to also note that Charles and his resources made a large 2009 investment upgrading the site and it's content. He prepared his company to receive an increased membership and return a value for these resluts. I personally spoke with Charles about this and feel comfortable that he has vision, and now the necessary tools, that's worth an investment.
All the best to you!
The accounting library online edition given above is really interested and looks more beneficial than other ones. I am not comparing it with anyone, just sharing the experience of using Construction Accounting Software.
Really a good post, accounting library contains vary main information on construction accounting software. The price of the product also looks genuine if it solves all accounting problems.