In Part 1 of this guide on ways to improve your accounting business web presence, we provided in-depth information on the following areas:
- Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Accountants In The Web Economy
- Your Website Pages
- Tips For Improving Your Content
In this section, we discuss more ways to grow your accounting business online. Topics covered below include:
- Improve Web Traffic With WordPress
- Generating New Leads & Enquiries With WordPress
- WordPress Plugins That Can Help To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Web Traffic
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
Improve Website Traffic With WordPress
Web traffic is a vital part of your business growth. This section discusses WordPress plugins for improving SEO, increasing user engagement and generating more visitors to your accounting website.
Optimize Your Website For SEO
There are lots of ways WordPress can help to optimize your accounting website for search engines:
- SEO-Friendly – configure the permalinks to create search engine-optimized web addresses for your content posts.
- Tags – Specify the keywords that you want your article pages (posts) to be indexed by in the search engines.
- Categories – Create SEO-friendly categories for your posts and products.
- Excerpts – Create an excerpt that will show to search engine users.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your images for improved search results.
- Content Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that lets you easily create internal links for better indexing of your content
- Pinging – WordPress can be set up to automatically notify other search directories the moment a new post is published on your website.
WordPress Plugins For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Better User Engagement And Web Traffic Generation
As well as the built-in features of WordPress, there are also a number of plugins that will improve your accounting website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more visitors to your website.
For example, here are some plugins you can use to improve your site’s search engine optimization:
- Yoast SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin
(A plugin like Yoast SEO (previously known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your site’s SEO)
Other ways to improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your business are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social sharing. Here are a few more WordPress plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – Run your own social networking community on your WordPress site, with member profiles, messaging, user groups, activity streams, and more.
- bbPress – This plugin lets you run your own community forum on WordPress.
- E-Newsletter – Send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard, without requiring 3rd-party subscriptions.
- Disqus – Power discussions and helps to increase engagement on your website or blog.
- Floating Social – This WordPress plugin lets you add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online on your website or blog.
(You can add social sharing buttons to your website easily with free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
Tips For Generating New Leads & Enquiries
Let’s discuss now ways to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries.
Provide An Email Newsletter
Adding an email newsletter is an excellent way to build a subscriber list. Adding a newsletter provides a number of benefits and advantages including:
- Sends targeted traffic
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides updates
- Provides a targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to offer special services or products to a select audience
- Provides regular opportunities for user interaction
- Provides an additional way for subscribers to share your content
An effective way to get your visitors to subscribe is to provide them with high value content and give them free gifts in exchange for their personal details. This could be a guide, checklists for handling tax, access to tax calculators, coupons, access to courses, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
A contact form makes it easy and simple for readers to get in touch. Visitors can report issues, contact specific departments, ask for a quote, and more.
Contact forms provide a number of benefits, like:
- Reducing spam
- Automated response
- Giving you control over what is sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Can be added to any page or post
- Improves the professional look of your site
- Convenience for users
One of the most popular contact form plugins for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin For WordPress)
Contact Form 7 is easy to install and set up and allows you to add multiple contact forms, customize the forms and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, and Akismet spam filtering is supported.
Something to consider is to add sections to your contact form so prospective customers can choose the topic they are contacting you about. This ensures that contact form requests reach the right person.
Adding Maps
Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you.
Integrating maps (e.g. Google Maps), with your WordPress site also provides visitors with a number of benefits, such as:
- Maps help to increase local SEO
- Visitors can easily find you
- Shows location of events
(Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you)
Popular map plugins include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
How To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Web Traffic Using WordPress Plugins And Themes
Accounting WordPress Plugins
WordPress provides a number of plugins you can add to your accounting site to immediately add a range of functional tools for visitors. Here are just some of these plugins:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators WordPress Plugin)
This is a free collection of over 400 calculators that you can provide to users on your website and embed into your pages, posts, or sidebars using shortcodes. It supports internationalization
Note: Most of the calculators aren’t focused on accounting, but there are a few you can use for:
- 401k
- Loans
- CD
- Equity
- And lots more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin)
This plugin installs a widget that shows up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many portfolios as you like.
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker WP Plugin)
This plugin lets you place custom stock tickers on any sidebar, page or post using shortcodes.
The plugin provides loads of customizable ticker. You can choose from built-in skins or customize it yourself to match your site. You can also create custom stocks for specific categories.
Appearance customizations include size, symbols, colors, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress)
This free calculator lets your users calculate indicative repayments. This is a useful tool for vehicle loans, property loans, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin – Loan Calculator)
Finance Calculator also contains an application form that will send a notification message to a specified email address.
Other features of this plugin include showing payment protection, calculating 12 to 60 months loans and creating forms that can be placed in any page or post.
For more details, go here}:
WP-Invoice
(WP-Invoice Plugin)
WP-Invoice is ideal for WordPress users with clients to bill.
This plugin integrates billing into WordPress. You can send itemized invoices. It even allows you to set up recurring billing. It can be expanded through both free and premium add-ons that let you manage business, accept electronic signatures from clients, create PDF versions of your invoices, create quotes, create checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into WP’s user management database to keep track of your clients and their information, and integrates with PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, and others.
Plugin features include adding custom payments and charges, adding pre-defined line items and discounts, quickly viewing invoice status and progression, easily filtering and finding invoices, showing invoice receipts and invoice history, creating e-mail notification templates, displaying reports (collected vs uncollected invoices, most valuable clients and top grossing line items), and more..
For more details, go here}:
All In One Business Management Application
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin)
This complete business management system includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with knowledgebase and support ticketing system, CRM and many more features.
(All In One Business Management Application – WordPress Plugin – Invoicing)
All In One Business Management Application supports multiple languages, is fully customizable and provides additional tools such as document management, to do app, and more.
For more details, go here}:
iBilling – Accounting And Billing Software
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software WP Plugin)
iBilling is a scalable business software that lets you manage customer data and invoices, track your company’s net worth and cash flow, send single-click payment reminders and payment confirmations, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software Plugin – Client Invoice)
It lets you get paid faster by integrating with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting And Financial Services – WordPress Themes
To benefit the most from using WordPress, we recommend choosing a theme specifically for accounting. Here is a list of some of the best accountancy themes available. These themes allow you to own a professional accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro WP Theme)
This is a turn-key theme for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, has several page templates, custom menus, a content composer (gives you an improved WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resized images, and lots more.
Accounting Pro can be customized using premium add-ons.
For more details, go here:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme)
Accountancy offers a variety of styles and layouts that helps make your accounting website look and feel professional.
This mobile-friendly theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, it’s lightweight, search engine optimized, and loads fast. Accountancy Theme provides what you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. Your purchase includes free updates and one year of support.
More info:
Accounting
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
Accounting Theme includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can design your site any way you want. The theme also has unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom administration panel, four color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). Accountancy looks clean and modern and loads fast.
More information:
Kathryn
(Kathryn Theme)
This one is a premium child theme for the Genesis Framework that’s created specifically for accountants. It has multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, author boxes for single or multiple bloggers, many color options, is easy to use, search optimized, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). Although this theme could easily suit any profession, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy WordPress responsive slider plugin and must be purchased separately from the Genesis Framework.
Visit the theme website to learn more about this theme:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
Accounting WordPress Theme was developed with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. It features authoritative colors and elements designed specifically to help give your accounting business website a professional look. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s responsive and includes pages for your accounting services, contact form section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials section, and a blog.
To learn more about this WordPress theme, go here:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate – WordPress Theme)
WP Advocate is a corporate theme specifically designed for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. You can use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. It also includes a custom post type for employee profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s a clean-looking and fast-loading theme.
For more details, go here:
Divi
(Divi Theme)
This premium theme is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ collection. Divi lets you create a professional site using the page builder or beautiful and unique pre-made layouts. You can change your layout to your heart’s content.
Divi’s page builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and easily redesign the structure of their web pages without touching code.
(Divi Theme – Page Builder)
It has 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. These modules include multiple layouts, a slider, you can place pricing tables, testimonials, call-to-action, and lots more. It is responsive and fully customizable. Elegant Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to over 80 beautifully-designed themes.
To learn more about this theme, go here:
The Corporation
(The Corporation)
The Corporation from Elegant Themes was specifically created to create great-looking corporate sites.
It has a sleek and professional page-based home page design with a eye-catching slider, blog design, six different color schemes, multiple page templates that include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Elegant Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to over 80 themes.
More information:
Adviser
(Adviser Theme)
The Adviser Theme was built specifically to help finance professionals build trust online with a clean business design. It’s perfect for businesses that provide services such as investing or tax advice. Adviser includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications. It also includes a lease calculator. It includes multiple shortcodes and widgets, and includes the drag-and-drop visual composer.
More info:
Tax Help
(Tax Help WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was specifically designed for financial companies, tax and financial advisors, and those that provide tax assistance. It’s designed to showcase your services professionally to help build your business reputation. It has different blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and additional custom shortcodes.
More info:
Finance Business
(Finance Business WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was specifically built for businesses that provide financial services including tax help, consulting, corporate, finance, insurance, accounting, loans, and more. This theme includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around 100 shortcodes that let you add charts and financial content, a custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page settings, color management features, animated elements, and a lot more.
More information:
Avada
(Avada Finance WordPress Theme)
Avada is a fully responsive and versatile multipurpose theme that lets you easily build, configure, and run any kind of website you want without touching code, including a website for an accounting or finance-related organization.
To learn more about the Avada theme for WordPress, go here: Avada
Hopefully, this comprehensive guide has helped you learn ways of improving search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more visitors to your website with plugins and themes.
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