In Part 1 of this comprehensive article on ways to improve your accounting business web presence, we covered the following areas:
- Online Challenges For The Accounting Profession
- Opportunities For The Accounting Profession In The Online Economy
- Improve Your Website Pages
- Improving The Content On Your Site
In this section, we explore more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Topics covered include:
- Improving Web Traffic Using WordPress
- Generating Leads & Enquiries With WordPress-Based Applications
- Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With Plugins And Themes
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
Improve Traffic With WordPress
Your web traffic is a vital part of your online business growth. This section will help you improve your web traffic using WordPress.
Optimizing Your Website For Search Engines
There are lots of ways WordPress can help to optimize your accounting or financial services website for search engines:
- SEO-Friendly – configure the permalinks to create search engine-optimized web addresses for your article pages.
- Tags – WordPress lets you select the keywords that you want search engines to index your article pages (posts) for.
- Post Categories – Create search engine-friendly categories for archiving and organizing your content.
- Post Excerpts – Create descriptions for your posts that search engines will display in their search result pages.
- Images – title your images with keywords for better search engine results.
- Internal Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that allows you to easily create internal links for faster indexing of pages
- Post Notification – WordPress can be set up to automatically notify other sites and directories immediately upon publishing new content on your site.
WordPress Plugins That Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Improve User Engagement And Generate More Traffic
As well as the built-in features of WordPress, there are a number of plugins for WordPress that improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more visitors to your website.
For example, you can install the plugins below to improve your website’s SEO:
- Yoast SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress sitemap plugin (lists all of your posts and pages for indexing by search engines)
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(A plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your SEO)
Other WordPress plugins you can add to improve your accounting site’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your business are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social sharing. Here are some more plugins that can help (many of the plugins described below can be downloaded at no cost):
- BuddyPress – Use this free WordPress plugin to set up an online social networking community on your WordPress website, with member profiles, user groups, messaging, activity streams, and more.
- bbPress – Set up an online community forum on WordPress.
- E-Newsletter – Use E-Newsletter to send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WP site.
- Disqus – This WordPress plugin lets you power discussions and increases engagement on your website.
- Floating Social – Easily add powerful social sharing features 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 With WordPress-Based Tools
Let’s take a look now at how to improve your sales and generate new leads and enquiries online.
Adding A Newsletter
Adding a newsletter is a great way to build a list of subscribers. Adding newsletters] 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
- Keeps readers updated
- Provides a highly targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to provide special products or services to a select audience
- Provides regular opportunities for engaging with your users
- Provides you with additional ways for your content to be shared with others
One of the things you can do to get visitors to subscribe is to provide users with high value information and give them an additional item of value for free in exchange for their details. This can be a guide, checklists for handling finances, access to tax calculators, discount coupons, membership access to videos, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
A contact form makes it easy and simple for readers to get in touch. Visitors can provide feedback, contact specific departments, request a quote, send suggestions for new services or products and more.
A contact form provides many benefits and advantages including:
- Reducing spam
- Set up automated responses
- Gives 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
- More convenient for visitors
A popular WordPress contact form plugin is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin)
This plugin is easy to install and set up and lets you create and manage multiple contact forms into any post or page, customize your form and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, and Akismet spam filtering is supported.
Something else to consider is adding sections to your contact form so prospective customers can choose the aspect of your business they are contacting your company about. This helps you get the comment to the right person.
Map
Maps help your visitors and clients find you.
A map is a useful tool for several reasons:
- A map improves local SEO
- Visitors can easily find you
- Shows location of events
(Adding maps to your website helps your visitors and clients find you)
Popular map plugins include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
WordPress Plugins That Improve Your SEO, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation
Accounting And Financial Services WordPress Plugins
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your accounting or financial services website that will immediately add a range of functional tools for site visitors. Here are just some of these:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators WordPress Plugin)
This plugin provides a free collection of 400+ calculators. You can embed these into your pages, posts, or sidebars using shortcodes. It also supports internationalization
Most of them aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are quite a few for:
- 401k
- Loans
- Leases
- Credit
- And many more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes)
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 want.
(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.
Custom Stock ticker comes with loads of customizable ticker. You can choose from built-in themes or customize these yourself. It’s easy to customize it so it matches your website. You can also create custom stocks for specific categories.
Appearance customizations include colors, size, symbols, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator)
This free plugin allows users to calculate indicative repayments. This is a useful tool for calculating repayments on automotive loans, property loans, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator WP Plugin – Loan Calculators)
This 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 a form 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 lets you integrate 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, quoting, single-page checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into your WP user management database to keep track of your clients and their information, and integrates with payment processors like PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, 2Checkout, PayPal Payments Pro, and several 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, showing invoice receipts and invoice history, creating notification email 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, helpdesk with ticket system, client relationship management and many added features.
(All In One Business Management Application WordPress Plugin – Invoice)
All In One Business Management Application 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)
iBilling is a scalable business software that lets you manage and communicate with clients, track your company’s cash flow and net worth, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software – WordPress Plugin – Client Invoice)
It allows you to get paid faster by integrating with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
WordPress Themes For Accounting Services
To benefit the most from using WordPress, we recommend choosing a theme specifically for accounting businesses. Here is a look at some of the best WordPress themes available for accounting. These themes allow you to own a professional-looking accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress is an inexpensive turn-key theme designed 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 (gives you an improved WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resized images, and lots more.
You can easily customize Accounting Pro with premium add-ons.
More info:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme)
This premium theme comes in a variety of styles and layouts to help make your accounting site look and feel professional.
This fully responsive theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, it’s lightweight, SEO friendly, and fast loading. Accountancy provides what you need without bloating your theme. Your purchase price includes free updates and 1 year of support.
For more information, go here:
Accounting
(Accounting)
This theme includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your site any way you want. The theme also has unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different header types, a custom administration panel, four color schemes, a custom slider, 3 blog types, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). It looks clean and modern and loads fast.
More information:
Kathryn
(Kathryn Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme was designed for accountants. Kathryn provides a slider, multiple layouts, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, many colors, is easy to use, search engine friendly, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). Although it could easily suit any profession, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy plugin and must be purchased separately from the Genesis Framework.
Go here to learn more about this WordPress theme:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
Accounting WordPress Theme was designed to exude professionalism within the accounting industry. It features an authoritative color scheme and elements specifically designed to give your accounting website a professional look without looking dull. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s responsive (mobile-friendly) and includes pages for your services, contact details section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials section, and a blog.
Visit this website to learn more about this WordPress theme:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate WordPress Theme)
WP Advocate is a free corporate theme developed for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. You can use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. WP Advocate includes a custom post type adding staff profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s clean-looking and fast-loading.
For more information, go here:
Divi
(Divi Theme For WordPress)
This premium WordPress theme is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ collection. You can create a professional website using the page builder or beautiful and unique pre-made layouts. You can change your layout as much as you need.
The builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing anyone to understand and easily change the structure of their pages without touching any code.
(Divi Theme For WordPress – Flexible Page Builder)
It has 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. Modules include audio player, blurb, contact form, email optin, image, login, post title, pricing table, testimonial, text, fullwidth image, fullwidth portfolio, fullwidth post title, and more.. It is fully responsive and completely customizable. Elegant Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to all professional themes.
To learn more about using this WordPress theme, go here:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was specifically created to create good-looking corporate websites.
The Corporation has a sleek page-based home page design with a prominent slider, blog design, 6 unique color schemes, 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+ stunning themes.
For more details, go here:
Adviser
(Adviser)
This one was developed to help finance professionals build trust through clean design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services like investment advice or tax help. It includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications. It also includes a built-in 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 developed for financial companies, tax and financial advisors, and those offering tax assistance. The theme is designed to show your services in a professional way and help grow 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.
More information:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme For WordPress)
This premium WordPress theme was designed for organizations that provide financial services such as consulting, tax help, insurance, finance, corporate, loans, accounting, and more. This theme includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around one hundred shortcodes that let you add charts and financial content, custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page settings, color management, animations, and lots more.
To learn more about this WordPress 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
Hopefully, this guide has helped you learn how to improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more visitors using WordPress plugins.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
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