In Part 1 of this article on ways to build your accounting business web presence, we provided many practical tips and suggestions on the following areas:
- Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Accountants In The Online Economy
- Ways To Improve Your Website Pages
- Improving Your Content
In this section, we discuss more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Areas covered below include:
- Tips For Improving Web Traffic Using WordPress
- Generating More Leads & Enquiries
- WordPress Plugins For Improving SEO, Creating Better User Engagement And Traffic Generation
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, see the articles below:
- Using WP Plugins Enhance Your Blog’s Capabilities
- WP For Newbies – An Introduction To WordPress Themes
Ways To Improve Traffic
Web traffic is vital to your business growth. This section explores ways of improving your business online with WordPress.
Optimizing Your Website For Search Engines
There are many ways WordPress can help to improve SEO:
- Search Engine-Friendly URLs – configure the permalinks to create search engine-optimized URLS for your article pages (called posts).
- Post Tags – Specify the keywords that you want your posts to be indexed for in the search engines.
- Post Categories – Create SEO-friendly categories for archiving and organizing your content.
- Excerpts – WordPress lets you compose descriptions for your posts that visitors will see in the search engine results.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your images for improved search engine results.
- Content Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that lets you easily link your content to other posts and pages
- Post Notification – Set up your site to automatically notify other search directories whenever a new post is published on your site.
WordPress Plugins That Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors To Your Website
As well as the built-in features of WordPress, there are quite a number of plugins for WordPress that will improve your accounting or financial services website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your business.
Here are some plugins you can use to improve your SEO:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin (lists all of your pages for indexing by search engines)
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(A plugin like Yoast SEO (previously known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your website’s SEO)
Other ways to improve your site’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more visitors to your website are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social sharing features. Here are some fantastic WordPress plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – BuddyPress can be used to set up a social network on your site, with member profiles, activity streams, messaging, user groups, and more.
- bbPress – This plugin can be used to set up and manage your own forum on your website.
- E-Newsletter – Use E-Newsletter to send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard, without a third party subscription.
- Disqus – Power discussions and increases user engagement on your website or blog.
- Floating Social – Easily add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online on your website or blog.
(You can easily add social sharing buttons to your website using WordPress plugins)
Ways To Generate More Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress-Based Applications
Let’s take a look now at how to improve sales and generate new leads and enquiries online.
Provide A Newsletter
Providing an email newsletter is a great way to retain and grow your readership. It] provides several benefits and advantages including:
- Sends targeted traffic
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides updates
- Provides a highly targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to offer special services or products to a select audience
- Increases user engagement
- Provides additional ways for your content to be shared with others
An effective way to attract new subscribers to your newsletter is to provide them with content of high value and give them free gifts or bonus items in exchange for their details. This could be a time-saving guide, checklists for handling finances, access to financial calculators, coupons, access to courses, contests, etc.
Adding Contact Forms
A contact form provides an easy and simple way for prospective clients to get in touch with you. Users can provide feedback, ask questions to specific departments, ask for quotes, and more.
A contact form provides many benefits, like:
- Reduces spam
- Set up automated responses
- Giving you control over what gets sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Different forms can be added to any page or post
- Looks professional
- Is convenient for site visitors
One of the most popular contact form plugins for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you insert and manage multiple contact forms into any page on your site, customize the form and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
The plugin supports international languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.
Something to consider is to add sections to your contact form so visitors can select the department they want to contact. This helps you get the comment to the right person.
Provide A Map
Adding maps helps your visitors and clients find you.
A map is a great tool for several reasons:
- Maps improve local SEO
- Visitors can easily find you
- Displays location of events
(A map helps your visitors and clients find you)
Here are some of the more plugins that let you embed, customize and display Google maps on your WordPress site:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
Improving SEO, Improve User Engagement And Generate More Traffic Using WordPress Plugins
Accounting And Financial Services Plugins For WordPress
WordPress makes available a number of plugins you can add to your accounting site that will immediately add a range of practical tools for site visitors. Here are just some of these:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators WordPress Plugin)
This is a free collection of 400+ calculators. You can embed them into your posts, pages, or sidebars using shortcodes. Internationalization is supported.
Most of them aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are a few for:
- Interest rate
- Loans
- CD
- Debit
- And more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you add a widget that shows a number of different stock quotes per portfolio. You can show as many widgets as you like.
(Show Stock Quotes WP Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker – WordPress Plugin)
With this plugin you can add custom stock tickers to any sidebar, page or post using shortcodes.
This plugin comes with several customizable ticker. Choose from built-in skins or customize it yourself. It’s easy to customize it so it matches your site. You can also add custom stocks to specific categories.
Appearance customization features include height, width, background color, number of stocks displayed at one time, font family, text color, font size, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin)
This free calculator allows your visitors to calculate indicative repayments. This is a great tool for auto loans, property, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin – Loan Calculators)
The Finance Calculator plugin also contains an application form that will send a notification message to a specified email address.
Other features of this plugin include displaying payment protection, calculating 12 to 60 months loans and creating a form that can be placed in any page or post.
For more details, go here}:
WP-Invoice
(WP-Invoice Plugin)
WP-Invoice lets you send itemized invoices to clients.
WP-Invoice integrates billing into WordPress. You can send out itemized invoices. It also 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, single-page 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 several others.
You can add custom payments and charges, create pre-defined line items and discounts, quickly view invoice status and progression, easily filter and find invoices, show invoice receipts and invoice history, create notification email templates, access reports (collected vs uncollected invoices, 10 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, helpdesk with support ticket system, client relationship management and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application – Client Invoice)
The plugin 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 Plugin)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage client data and invoicing, track your company’s cash flow and net worth, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software WordPress Plugin – Invoice)
It integrates with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting WordPress Themes
To get the most benefit out of growing your business online with WordPress, it’s best to choose a theme specifically suited for accounting businesses. Below is a list of some of the best themes themes available for accounting. With the themes listed below you can own a professional-looking accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro Theme For WordPress)
This is a turn-key theme for accountants and accounting firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, has several page templates, custom menu features, a content composer (which improves on the standard WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resizing for images, and a whole lot more.
You can easily customize Accounting Pro using premium add-ons.
Visit the theme site to learn more about this WordPress theme:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme)
This one offers a variety of styles and layouts that helps give your accounting site a professional look and feel.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, and more. It’s lightweight, search optimized, loads fast, and fully responsive. Accountancy provides the features you need without bloating your theme. Free updates and 1 year of support is included with the price.
More information:
Accounting
(Accounting)
Accounting includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can design your site any way you want. The theme also has unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom admin panel, four color schemes, a custom slider, 3 blog types, and is fully responsive. Accountancy looks clean and modern and loads fast.
To learn more about about using this theme, go here:
Kathryn
(Kathryn)
This premium theme for WordPress was created specifically for accounting services. It comes with multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, a variety of color options, is easy to use, SEO friendly, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). Although it can easily fit any profession, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy slider plugin and is a separate purchase from the Genesis Framework.
More info:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This premium theme was built to enhance professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., is 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 mobile-friendly and includes pages for your services, contact details section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials, and a blog.
More information:
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 adding staff profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is clean-looking and fast-loading.
To learn more about this theme, go here:
Divi
(Divi Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection of WordPress themes. Divi lets you create a unique, 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 elements into visual building blocks, allowing anyone to understand and easily redesign the structure of their pages without editing code.
(Divi – Page Builder)
It comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. These include bar counter, blog, contact form, countdown timer, image, login, post title, slider, testimonial, text, fullwidth header, fullwidth portfolio, fullwidth slider, and more.. Divi is fully responsive and completely customizable. Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to 80+ stunning themes.
For more information, go here:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was specifically designed to make corporate sites look great.
The Corporation has a sleek page-based home page design with a prominent slider. It also has a blog design and features that toggle on and off. It has 6 color schemes. It also has multiple page templates that include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Themes start at $69 per year and includes access to all sleek business themes.
More info:
Adviser
(Adviser)
The Adviser Theme was designed to help those in the financial industry to build trust through clean web design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services such as investments or tax help. The Adviser theme 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 information:
Tax Help
(Tax Help)
Tax Help Theme was specifically built for financial companies, tax and financial advisors, and those that offer tax services. This theme is designed to showcase your services in a professional way to help build your professional reputation. It provides a range of blog styles, uses the drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and many custom shortcodes.
Go here for more information:
Finance Business
(Finance Business WP Theme)
Finance Business was built specifically for firms that provide financial services including consulting, tax help, corporate, finance, insurance, accounting, loans, and more. The theme includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin. It also has around one hundred shortcodes that let you add charts and financial content. It also includes a custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page options, color management features, animated elements, and lots more.
Go here for more info:
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 guide has helped you learn WordPress plugins that improve SEO, increase user engagement and increase traffic generation.
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