In Part One of this article on ways to grow your accounting business web presence, we provided many practical tips and suggestions on the following areas:
- Online Challenges For Accountants
- Opportunities For Accountants In The Digital Economy
- Improving Your Web Pages
- Ways To Improve Your Web Content
In this section, we will continue exploring more ways to grow your accounting business online. Areas covered below include:
- Ways To Improve Traffic
- Tips For Generating Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress
- WordPress Plugins And Themes For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Creating Better User Engagement And Generating More Web Traffic
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
Your Accounting Website – How To Improve Your Business Online With WordPress Themes And Plugins
Your web traffic is vital to your online business growth. This section will help you improve your web traffic.
Optimizing Your Site For SEO Using WordPress
There are many ways that WordPress helps optimize your accounting or financial services website for search engines:
- URLs – configure the permalinks to create search engine-optimized URLS for your posts.
- Post Tags – Specify the keywords that you want search engines to index your article pages for.
- Post Categories – Create search engine-friendly categories for keeping your content organized and easy to find.
- Excerpts – Create the description for your posts that will appear in search results.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your content images for improved search engine results.
- Internal Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that lets you easily create internal links for faster indexing of your content
- Post Notification – WordPress can be set up to automatically notify other search directories whenever a new post is published on your website.
Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Increase Traffic Generation With Plugins
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, there are a number of plugins for WordPress that will improve your accounting or financial services website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.
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 sitemap plugin
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(A plugin like Yoast SEO can improve your site’s SEO)
Other things you can do to improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your business are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social features. Here are a few useful plugins that can help (many of the plugins described below are also free):
- BuddyPress – Run your own online social network on your site.
- bbPress – This plugin can be used to set up and run your own forum on your WordPress website.
- E-Newsletter – This plugin lets you send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard, without requiring third-party subscriptions.
- Disqus – use this plugin to power discussions and increases engagement on your website.
- Social Media Feather – Use this plugin to add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online on your posts and pages.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing features to their website using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
Tips For Generating More Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress
Let’s discuss now ways to improve your sales and generate leads and enquiries for your accounting or financial services business.
Providing A Newsletter
Providing an email newsletter is a great way to build a list of subscribers. It] provides several benefits including:
- Drives targeted traffic
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides updates
- Provides a targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to offer special products or services to a select audience
- Increases user engagement
- Provides you with another way for your content to be shared online with new potential customers
A proven way to entice your visitors to become subscribers is to provide users with information of high value and offer them free gifts or bonus items in exchange for their details. This can be a special report, checklists for handling tax, access to tax calculators, discount coupons, access to videos, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
Contact forms provide an easy and simple way for prospective customers to get in touch with you. Readers can send feedback, contact specific departments, ask for quotes, send suggestions for new services or products and more.
Contact forms provide several benefits and advantages including:
- Reduces spam
- Set up automated responses
- Giving you control over what is sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Different forms can be added to any page or post
- Looks professional
- Convenient for users
One of the most popular contact form plugins for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 – WordPress Plugin)
This free contact form plugin allows you to insert and manage multiple contact forms on your site, customize the form and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, and Akismet spam filtering is supported.
Another option to consider is adding sections to your contact form so prospects can choose the topic they are contacting your company about. This ensures that visitors’ requests reach the right person.
Add A Map
Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you.
A map is a great tool for several reasons:
- They increase local SEO
- Visitors can find your office more easily
- Display location of events
(Adding maps helps your visitors and clients find you)
Popular Google Maps 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 Increase Web Traffic Generation With Plugins & Themes
Accounting Plugins For WordPress
WordPress makes available a number of plugins you can add to your accounting or financial services site that will immediately make available a range of functional tools for site visitors. Here are just some of these:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators – WordPress Plugin)
This is a free collection of over 400 calculators. You can embed them into your pages, posts, or sidebars using shortcodes. Internationalization is supported.
Most of the calculators aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are quite a few you can use for:
- 401k
- Rate of return
- Leases
- Credit
- And many more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes)
With this plugin you get a widget that displays a number of different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many widgets as you like.
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker – WordPress Plugin)
With this plugin you can place custom stock tickers on any page, post, or sidebar with shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker offers loads of customizable features. Choose from built-in skins or customize these yourself to match your website. You can also add custom stocks to individual categories.
Appearance customization features include speed, text, colors, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin)
This free calculator allows your site visitors to calculate indicative repayments. It’s great for calculating repayments on car loans, property, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator – Loan Calculator)
The plugin also contains an application form that will send a notification message to the email address you specify.
Other features of this plugin include displaying 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)
WP-Invoice is ideal for WordPress site owners with clients to bill.
This plugin integrates billing into WordPress. You can send clients itemized invoices. It even allows you to set up recurring billing. WP-Invoice can be expanded through both free and premium add-ons, like business location, electronic signature, PDF creation, quote creation, checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into WP’s user management database to keep track of clients and their information, and integrates with payment processors like PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, and others.
WP-Invoice features include adding custom payments and charges, inserting pre-defined line items and discounts, viewing invoice status and progression, easily filtering and finding invoices, seeing invoice receipts and invoice history, creating email notification templates, accessing reports (collected vs uncollected invoices, 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)
This complete business management system includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, helpdesk with ticket management system, client relationship management and many more features.
(All In One Business Management Application WP Plugin – Invoice)
The plugin supports international languages, is fully customizable and provides powerful tools like document management, to do app, and more.
For more details, go here}:
iBilling – Accounting And Billing Software
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software – WordPress Plugin)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage customers and invoicing, tracks your company’s net worth and cash flow, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software WordPress Plugin – Client Invoicing)
It integrates with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting And Financial Services WordPress Themes
To get the best features and professional look for your website, it’s best to choose a theme specifically for accounting. Here is a look at some of the best WordPress themes available for accounting businesses. With these themes you can own a professional accounting website within minutes and save hundreds to thousands of dollars on the cost of website design.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro Theme For WordPress)
Accounting Pro is an inexpensive turn-key theme built for accountants and accounting firms. It’s responsive, has a drag-and-drop page-builder, offers several page templates, custom menu features, 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.
More info:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme For WordPress)
This theme comes with a variety of styles and layouts to help make your accounting website look and feel professional.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, and more. It’s lightweight, search engine optimized, loads fast, and fully responsive. It provides what your business needs without bloating your theme. Your purchase price includes free updates and one year of support.
More information:
Accounting
(Accounting – WordPress Theme)
This one includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your website any way you want. The theme also provides unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom admin panel, four color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is mobile-friendly. Accountancy looks clean and modern and loads fast.
More information:
Kathryn
(Kathryn – WordPress Theme)
Kathryn is a child theme for the Genesis Framework that’s designed specifically for accounting businesses. Kathryn allows you to use WordPress as a true content management system and provides multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, many color options, is easy to use, search optimized, and is fully responsive. Although this theme can easily fit any profession, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy plugin and is a separate purchase from the Genesis Framework.
More information:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was created to exude professionalism within the accounting industry. It features an authoritative color scheme and elements specifically designed to help make your accounting website look professional without looking dull. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s fully responsive and includes pages for your services, contact section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials, and a blog.
For more details about this theme, visit the theme website:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate Theme)
This is a corporate theme built specifically for professional service providers such as accountants and attorneys. Use the bundled images or upload your own. WP Advocate includes a custom post type for employee profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is a clean and fast-loading theme.
Go here to learn more about using this theme:
Divi
(Divi – WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection of WordPress themes. You can create a unique, professional site using the page builder or pre-made layouts. You can modify your layout as much as you need.
Divi’s page builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing anyone to understand and easily redesign the structure of their page without editing a single line of code.
(Divi WP Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
Divi comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. These include audio player, blog, contact form, email optin, image, login, person, slider, tabs, toggle, fullwidth header, fullwidth map, fullwidth slider, and more.. It is mobile-friendly and completely customizable. Elegant Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to all sleek business themes.
More information:
The Corporation
(The Corporation)
This premium theme for WordPress was designed specifically to create good-looking corporate websites.
It has a sleek and professional page-based home page design with a eye-catching slider. It also has a blog design. It comes with 6 color schemes. It also has multiple page templates which include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to 80+ sleek business themes.
Visit the theme website to learn more about using this theme:
Adviser
(Adviser WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was developed to help finance industry professionals build trust online through clean design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services like investing or tax advice. It includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications. It also includes a built-in lease calculator. It includes widgets and multiple shortcodes, and includes the drag-and-drop visual composer.
Visit this website to learn more about using this theme:
Tax Help
(Tax Help WordPress Theme)
This theme was designed for financial organizations, tax and finance advisors, and firms providing tax assistance. This theme is designed to show your services professionally and help establish your business reputation. It provides different blog styles, uses the drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and additional custom shortcodes.
To learn more about this WordPress theme, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme For WordPress)
This one was developed specifically for firms that provide any type of financial service such as consulting, tax help, corporate, finance, insurance, loans, accounting, and more. This theme includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around one hundred shortcodes that includes charts and financial content, the custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page settings, color management features, animated elements, and lots more.
To learn more about using this theme, visit this website:
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
We hope that you have found this comprehensive guide on how to improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more visitors using plugins helpful.
Subscribe below to receive 101+ useful WordPress tips that will help you grow your business …
***
"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group
***