A bookkeeper’s new client arrives at a bad moment: the VAT return is due on Friday and the receipts are in a bag, the first employee starts Monday and nobody knows how payroll works, or the accountant has just charged a year-end fee that doubled because the books were a mess. They search “bookkeeper near me”, “VAT returns Dublin” or “payroll for small business Ireland” and check whether you work with businesses like theirs, what it costs a month, what software you use, whether you come to the premises or work from the file they send, and whether you deal with Revenue on their behalf. Websites for bookkeepers in Dublin have to speak to someone holding a bag of receipts, without making them feel judged for it.
Start with the bag
The page should say, early and plainly, that the backlog is normal and that you will sort it. A line about catch-up work and how you charge for it, separately from the monthly fee, lets the person with the bag ring you instead of putting it off another month. Say what the first meeting involves and what to bring, and say that you have seen worse, because you have.
Say what you take off their desk
Written in the client’s words, not the textbook’s. The VAT return every two months, filed through ROS. Payroll each week or month, with payslips to staff and the submission to Revenue each pay run. Relevant Contracts Tax for the construction clients who need it. The bank reconciled so the balance means something. Invoices sent and chased. Suppliers paid on time. The year-end file handed to the accountant clean, so their fee is for accounts and tax rather than for tidying. And the things you do not do, audits and tax planning, with a line on how you work alongside the client’s accountant. Many bookkeepers work closely with two or three accountants, and we have written about their side at websites for accountants.
Packages beat an hourly mystery
Small business owners want to know the monthly figure before they ring. Three packages, by the size of the business or by what is included, each with a plain list of what is in it and what triggers the next one up, answer the question and make the first call about fit rather than price. You can state the figures or say “from” and leave the number to the conversation; either beats “contact us for a quote” to someone who already feels behind. Catch-up and once-off work priced separately, as above.
Software, receipts and how work reaches you
Say which software you work in, Xero, QuickBooks, Sage or whichever you have settled on, and whether you will move a client across. Say how receipts get to you: photographed in an app, dropped in a shared folder, or collected in a box once a month from the shop. The client wants to know how much of their time this will take, and the honest answer, usually “ten minutes a week once we are set up”, is the best line on the page.
Found by trade, found anywhere
Electricians search “bookkeeper for electricians”, cafe owners search “bookkeeping for cafes”, and if your clients cluster in a trade, a page for that trade brings more of them. Bookkeeping also travels: a client in Athlone can send the same file as one in Artane, and if you work remotely, the page should say so and the Google listing should show your service area rather than a home address you do not want visitors at.
Bookkeepers watch costs, their own included, and some will wonder whether to build the page themselves. We have written an honest comparison in Wix vs Squarespace vs hiring someone and a plain account of how much a website costs in Ireland. Read both before you decide; a bookkeeper will appreciate the numbers.
What we need from you
Your services written as you describe them to a client, your packages and how you charge for catch-up work, the software you use, how you take receipts, whether you visit premises or work remotely and where, your qualifications or professional body if you want them shown, a photograph of you, and ten minutes. Most bookkeeper sites are live within a few days.
Plan and price
A bookkeeper who wants to be found, explain the packages and take the enquiry is right on Essentials at €499 to set up and €50 a month. Complete at €1,499 and €100 a month adds a page per trade served, added monthly, a first call booked into a calendar and email on your own domain. The comparison is on the pricing page. Outside Dublin, our first chat is a phone or video call and everything after is the same.