In Part One of this comprehensive article on ways to improve your accounting business online, we provided in-depth information on the following areas:
- Challenges Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Accountants
- Improve Your Website Pages
- How To Improve The Content On Your Site
In this section, we explore more ways to grow your accounting business online. Areas covered include:
- Ways Of Improving Web Traffic Using WordPress
- How To Generate Leads & Enquiries
- Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With Plugins
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
- Using WordPress Plugins – The Easy Way To Enhance Your Site’s Functionality
- WP For Newbies – An Overview Of Themes
Grow Your Accounting Website – Improving SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins
Your web traffic is an integral part of your business growth. In this section we explore ways to help you improve your web traffic using WordPress.
Optimizing Your Site For Search Engines (SEO)
There are loads of ways that WordPress helps optimize your accounting or financial services website for search engines:
- SEO-Friendly – WordPress lets you set the permalinks to create search engine-optimized URLS for your article pages.
- Tags – WordPress lets you specify the keywords that you want search engines to index your posts for.
- Post Categories – Create categories for keeping your content organized and easy to find.
- Post Excerpts – Set descriptions for your posts that will display to search engine users.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your content images for better search results.
- Content Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that allows you to easily create internal links for better indexing of your web pages
- Post Notification – WordPress can be set up to automatically notify (ping) other search directories the moment a new post is published on your website.
WordPress Plugins For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Traffic Generation
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, there are various WordPress plugins that improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.
For example, here are some plugins you can use to improve your site’s search engine optimization:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(Use a plugin like Yoast SEO to improve your website’s SEO)
Other ways to improve your site’s SEO, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social sharing. Here are a few more useful WordPress plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – This free plugin allows you to set up your own social network on your website.
- bbPress – Set up an online discussion forum on your WordPress site.
- E-Newsletter – Send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WP dashboard, without third-party subscriptions.
- Disqus – Disqus lets you power discussions and increases user engagement on your site.
- Social Media Feather – Add social sharing features and buttons to your website.
(WordPress users can easily add social features to their site using WordPress plugins)
Generating New Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress-Based Tools
Let’s take a look now at how to improve sales and generate new leads and enquiries.
Add A Newsletter
Providing an email newsletter is an excellent way to build a subscriber list. It provides a number of benefits and advantages, like:
- Drives targeted traffic to your website
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides useful information and advice
- Provides you with a targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to provide special services or products to a select audience
- Provides new opportunities for improving engagement with users
- Provides you with additional ways for your content to be shared online with other prospective customers
A proven strategy for getting visitors to subscribe is to provide them with high value information and give them something for free in exchange for their personal details. This could be a time-saving guide, checklists for handling tax, access to tax calculators, coupons, access to courses, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
A contact form provides an easy and simple way for prospective customers to get in touch with you. A contact form also lets visitors send feedback, ask questions to specific departments, ask for a quote, and more.
A contact form provides a number of benefits and advantages, like:
- Reducing spam
- Automated response
- Gives you control over what gets sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Can be added to any post or page
- Looks professional
- Convenience for visitors
A very popular contact form plugin for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin)
This free plugin allows you to insert and manage multiple contact forms, customize the forms and the email contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, and spam filtering is supported.
Another feature to consider is to segment your contact form so users can choose which topic they are contacting your company about. This ensures that contact form requests reach the right person.
Add Maps
Maps help your visitors and customers find you.
Adding maps (e.g. Google Maps) to your site also provides users with many benefits, such as:
- A map increases local SEO
- Helps visitors find you easily
- Shows location of events
(Adding maps to your site helps your visitors and clients find you)
Popular Google Maps plugins for WordPress include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
WordPress Plugins & Themes For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Driving More Visitors
Financial Plugins For WordPress
WordPress makes available a number of plugins you can add to your accounting website to immediately add a range of functional tools for visitors. Here are some of the plugins you can choose from:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators – WordPress Plugin)
This is a free collection of 400+ calculators that you can display on your website and embed into your pages, posts, or sidebars using shortcodes. Internationalization is supported.
Note: Most of them aren’t focused on accounting, but there are quite a few for:
- Mortgage
- Rate of return
- CD
- Debit
- And more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin lets you add a widget that displays a number of different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many portfolios as you like.
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin lets you place a custom stock ticker on any post, page or sidebar with shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker provides several customizable ticker. You can choose from built-in skins or customize these yourself to match your site. You can also create custom stocks for individual categories.
Customize the appearance by changing speed, symbols, colours, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress)
This free calculator allows users to calculate indicative repayments online. It’s great for auto loans, property loans, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator – Loan Calculators)
This plugin also contains an application form that will send a 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 For WordPress)
WP-Invoice lets you send itemized invoices to clients.
WP-Invoice lets you integrate billing into WordPress. You can send itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand plugin functionality with free and premium add-ons, like business location, electronic signature, PDF creation, quoting, checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into the WP user management database to keep track of clients and their information, and integrates with PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, and others.
WP-Invoice lets you add custom payments and charges, create pre-defined line items and discounts, view invoice status and progression, filter and find invoices, see invoice receipts and invoice history, create e-mail notification templates, view 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 – WordPress Plugin)
This complete business management solution includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with knowledgebase and ticket system, client relationship management and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application WP Plugin – Client Invoicing)
All In One Business Management Application supports multiple languages, is fully customizable and provides additional tools such as document management, notice board, and more.
For more details, go here}:
iBilling – Accounting And Billing Software
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software)
iBilling is a scalable business software that lets you manage and communicate with clients, tracks 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 – Invoicing)
It integrates with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
WordPress Financial Themes
To get the best features and professional look for your website, it’s best to choose a theme specifically suited for accounting businesses. Below is a list of some of the best accountancy themes available. With these themes you can own a professional accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme is an inexpensive turn-key theme developed for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, has several page templates, a custom menu feature, a content composer (which improves on the standard WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resizing for images, and lots more.
Accounting Pro can be customized using premium add-ons.
Visit this site to learn more about this WordPress theme:
Accountancy
(Accountancy WordPress Theme)
This premium theme comes with a variety of styles and layouts to make your accounting website look and feel professional.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, and more. It’s lightweight, SEO friendly, fast loading, and is responsive. Accountancy provides what you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. Free updates and 1 year of support is included in the cost of purchase.
Go here for more information:
Accounting
(Accounting Theme)
Accounting Theme includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your site any way you want. It also has unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom administration panel, four color schemes, a custom slider, three different blog types, and is fully responsive. It is a clean-looking, modern and fast-to-load theme.
For more details, go here:
Kathryn
(Kathryn)
This premium WordPress theme was built for accounting services. It offers multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, many color choices, is easy to use, inexpensive, search engine friendly, 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 responsive slider plugin and is a separate purchase from the Genesis Framework.
Go here for more info:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This premium theme was built with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., was designed specifically to make your accounting site look professional without looking dull. 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.
For more information, go here:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate Theme For WordPress)
WP Advocate is a corporate theme built for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. You can use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. It includes a custom post type adding employee profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s a clean and fast-loading theme.
Go here for more information:
Divi
(Divi Theme)
This premium theme is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection. You can create a unique, professional site using the page builder or beautiful pre-made layouts. You can change your layout as much as you need.
Divi’s page builder transforms elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and change the structure of their pages without editing a single line of code.
(Divi WordPress Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
Divi comes with 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. Divi is responsive and fully customizable. Themes start at $69 per year and includes access to over 80 themes.
Go here to learn more about this WordPress theme:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme)
This theme from Elegant Themes was designed specifically to create great-looking corporate websites.
This theme has a page-based home page design with a prominent, flashy slider, blog design, 6 unique unique color schemes, multiple page templates which 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.
Go here for more information:
Adviser
(Adviser Theme For WordPress)
This premium WordPress theme was specifically developed to help finance professionals build trust through clean web design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services like investment advice or tax help. Adviser 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.
Go here to learn more about using this theme:
Tax Help
(Tax Help WP Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was built specifically for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and firms that provide tax assistance. It’s designed to show your services in a professional way to help grow your business reputation. It has a range of blog styles, uses the drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and additional custom shortcodes.
For more details, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business)
This one was built specifically for firms that provide financial services such as tax help, consulting, insurance, finance, corporate, loans, accounting, and more. The theme includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around 100 shortcodes that let you add charts and financial content, the custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page settings, color management, animated elements, and a lot more.
For more details, go here:
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 WordPress plugins that can help improve SEO, improve user engagement and generate more visitors to your site.
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