In Part One of this comprehensive article on ways to improve your accounting business online, we covered the following topics:
- Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For The Accounting Profession In The Online Economy
- Improving Your Website Pages
- Improve Your Content
In this section, we continue exploring more ways to grow your accounting business online. Topics covered include:
- Improving Traffic Using WordPress
- How To Generate New Leads & Enquiries
- Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Traffic With Plugins & Themes
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
- WP Plugins Extend Your Web Site’s Features
- WordPress For Newbies – An Introduction To WordPress Themes
Ways To Improve Website Traffic With WordPress
Your web traffic is a vital part of your business growth. In this section we explore ways to help you improve your web traffic.
Optimizing Your Site For Search Engines (SEO) With WordPress
There are lots of ways WordPress can help to optimize your website for search engines:
- URLs – Set the permalinks to create search engine-optimized URLS for your posts.
- Post Tags – WordPress lets you specify the keywords that you want search engines to index your article pages for.
- Post Categories – Create search engine-friendly categories for archiving and organizing your content.
- Post Excerpts – Set the description for your posts that will appear in search results.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your content images for improved search results.
- Content Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that lets you easily link internal content
- Post Notification – Set up your site to automatically notify (ping) other search directories as soon as a new post is published on your website.
Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Generate More Web Traffic With WordPress Plugins
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, there are a number of plugins for WordPress that will improve your accounting website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more visitors to your business.
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
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(Use a plugin like Yoast SEO (previously known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your site’s search engine optimization)
Other WordPress plugins you can add to improve your accounting website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your business are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social sharing features. Here are a few plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – Set up a social network on your site.
- bbPress – Set up your own forum on your WordPress site.
- E-Newsletter – Use E-Newsletter to send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress site.
- Disqus – Disqus lets you power discussions and increases engagement on your website or blog.
- Floating Social – This plugin lets you add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online to your site.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing to their site using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
Generate More Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress
In this section, we’ll look at how to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries online.
Providing An Email Newsletter
Adding an email newsletter is an excellent way to retain and grow your readership. Adding newsletters] provides several benefits, like:
- Drives targeted traffic to your site
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides useful information and advice
- Provides a highly targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to provide special services or products to a select audience
- Increases user interaction
- Provides another way for subscribers to share your content
A proven strategy for enticing your visitors to become subscribers is to provide high value information and give users free gifts or bonus items in exchange for their personal details. This could be a handy guide, checklists for handling tax, access to tax calculators, coupons, access to courses, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
Contact forms make it easy and simple for prospective customers to get in touch with you. Visitors can report concerns, contact specific departments, ask for quotes, and more.
A contact form provides several benefits including:
- Reduces spam
- Automated response
- Gives you control over what gets sent to you
- You can keep your email address private
- They can be added to any page or post
- Looks professional
- Is convenient for visitors
One of the most popular WordPress contact form plugins is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin allows you to create and manage multiple contact forms into any page or post, customize your forms and the email contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, and Akismet spam filtering is supported.
Something to consider is to add sections to your contact form so prospects can choose which aspect of your business they are contacting your company about. This ensures that contact form requests reach the right person.
Add A Map
Adding a map to your website helps your visitors and customers find you.
Integrating maps, such as Google Maps, with your website also provides many benefits, such as:
- They improve local SEO
- Visitors can find your office more easily and plan their visits better
- Displays location of events
(Adding maps helps your visitors and customers find you)
Here are just some popular 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
WordPress Plugins For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increasing User Engagement And Driving More Web Traffic
Financial Plugins For WordPress
WordPress makes available a number of plugins you can add to your accounting or financial services site to immediately add a range of functional tools for your site visitors. Here are just some of these:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators)
This plugin provides a free collection of over 400 calculators. You can embed these into your posts, pages, or sidebars using shortcodes. It supports internationalization
Note: Most of them aren’t focused on accounting, but there are a few you can use for:
- Interest rate
- Rate of return
- Tax
- Credit
- And more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes)
This plugin gives you a widget that displays a number of different stock quotes per portfolio. You can show as many portfolios 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 sidebar, post or page with shortcodes.
This plugin provides several customizable features. You can choose from built-in themes or customize these yourself. It’s easy to customize it so it matches your site. You can also add custom stocks to individual categories.
Appearance customization features include colours, speed, text, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator WordPress Plugin)
This free calculator allows your visitors to calculate indicative repayments online. It’s great for car loans, property loans, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator – Loan Calculator)
This plugin also contains an application form that sends a message to a specified email address.
It will display payment protection, calculate 12 to 60 months loans and create forms 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.
This plugin integrates billing into WordPress. You can send out itemized invoices. It even allows you to set up recurring billing. WP-Invoice can be expanded through both free and premium add-ons that let you manage business, accept electronic signatures from clients, create PDF versions of invoices, provide quotes, create checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into your WP user management database to keep track of clients and their information, and integrates with payment processors like PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, 2Checkout, PayPal Payments Pro, and others.
Plugin features include adding custom payments and charges, creating pre-defined line items and discounts, viewing invoice status and progression, filtering and finding invoices, seeing invoice receipts and invoice history, creating notification e-mail templates, viewing 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 solution includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with knowledgebase and ticketing management system, client relationship management and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application – Client Invoice)
All In One Business Management Application supports international languages, is fully customizable and provides powerful tools like document management, notice board, and more.
For more details, go here}:
iBilling – Accounting And Billing Software
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software Plugin For WordPress)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage clients and invoicing, tracks your company’s cash flow and net worth, send single-click payment reminders and payment confirmations, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software – WordPress Plugin – Client Invoice)
iBilling allows you to get paid faster by integrating with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting – WordPress Themes
To get the best features and professional look for your website, we recommend choosing a theme specifically for accounting businesses. Here is a list of some of the best WordPress themes available for accountancy businesses. These themes allow you to own a professional-looking accounting website within minutes and save hundreds to thousands of dollars on the cost of website design.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro WP Theme)
This premium WordPress theme is an inexpensive turn-key theme for accountants and accountancy 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, performs auto resizing for images, and lots more.
You can expand this theme through premium add-ons.
For more information, go here:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme)
This one comes in a variety of styles and layouts that helps give your accounting website a professional look and feel.
This fully responsive theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, it’s lightweight, search optimized, and fast loading. It provides what you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. Your purchase price includes free updates and 1 year of support.
For more details, go here:
Accounting
(Accounting)
This premium theme for WordPress includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your site any way you want. It also provides unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different header types, a custom administration panel, different color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). It looks clean and modern and loads fast.
To learn more about this WordPress theme, go here:
Kathryn
(Kathryn – WordPress Theme)
This one is a child theme for the Genesis Framework that’s developed specifically for accountants. Kathryn comes with a slider, multiple layouts, multiple sidebars, flexible rotator, a variety of color choices, is easy to use, search engine optimized, and is mobile-friendly. Although this theme 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 for more information:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
Accounting WordPress Theme was created to exude professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., is designed specifically to help give your accounting site a professional look without looking dull. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s fully responsive (mobile-friendly) and includes pages for your accounting services, contact details section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials, and a blog.
More information:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate WordPress Theme)
This is a free corporate theme specifically designed for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. You can use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. WP Advocate also includes a custom post type adding employee profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s clean and loads fast.
Go here for more details:
Divi
(Divi – WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ collection. Divi lets you 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 redesign the structure of their page without editing any code.
(Divi – Page Builder)
It comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. Modules include audio player, blurb, circle counter, divider, filterable portfolio, number counter, post title, slider, social media follow, toggle, fullwidth image, fullwidth map, fullwidth post title, and more.. It is fully responsive and completely customizable. Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to over 80 sleek business themes.
Go here for more info:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme from Elegant Themes was designed specifically to make corporate sites look good.
It has a sleek page-based home page design with a nice slider. It also has a blog design and features that toggle on and off. It has 6 different color schemes. It also has multiple page templates which include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Themes start at $69 per year and includes access to 80+ themes.
Go here for more details:
Adviser
(Adviser)
This theme was specifically developed to help finance professionals build trust with a clean business design. It’s ideal for those that provide services such as investment advice or tax help. 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.
To learn more about this theme, go here:
Tax Help
(Tax Help WordPress Theme)
This one was built for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and businesses offering tax services. It’s designed to showcase your services in a professional way and help establish your professional 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 Theme For WordPress)
Finance Business was designed for organizations that provide financial services such as tax help, consulting, insurance, finance, corporate, accounting, loans, and more. This theme includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around one hundred shortcodes that let you add charts and financial content, a custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page options, color management, animated elements, and a whole lot more.
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
We hope that you have found this guide on how to improve SEO, increase user engagement and generate more traffic using WordPress plugins and themes useful.
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