In Part One of this comprehensive guide on ways to improve your accounting business presence online, we covered the following areas:
- Challenges Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Accounting Businesses In The Web Economy
- Improve Your Website Pages
- Tips For Improving The Content On Your Site
In this section, we explore more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Areas covered include:
- Ways Of Improving Traffic
- Ways To Generate New Leads & Enquiries With WordPress-Based Applications
- How To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation Using WordPress Plugins
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, see the articles below:
Tips For Accountants – WordPress Plugins & Themes For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increasing User Engagement And Driving More Visitors To Your Website
Web traffic is vital to your online business growth. This section discusses WordPress plugins that improve SEO, improve user engagement and drive more visitors.
Optimizing Your Site For Search Engines Using WordPress
There are lots of ways that WordPress helps improve your website’s SEO:
- Search Engine-Friendly URLs – WordPress lets you set the permalinks to use the title of the post.
- Post Tags – Choose the keywords that you want your articles to be indexed for in the search engines.
- Post Categories – Create categories for archiving and organizing your content.
- Post Excerpts – WordPress lets you compose descriptions for your posts that will show to search engine users.
- Images – title your images with keywords for improved search engine results.
- Content Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that allows you to easily link internal content
- Pinging – Set up your site to automatically notify (ping) other search directories immediately upon publishing new content on your site.
WordPress Plugins For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Traffic Generation
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, there are a number of plugins for WordPress that improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your website.
For example, you can use the plugins below to improve your site’s SEO:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress sitemap plugin
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(Use a plugin like Yoast SEO to improve your website’s search engine optimization)
Other things you can do to improve your accounting or financial services website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more visitors to your site are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social features. Here are some useful plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – This free plugin allows you to set up a social networking community on your site.
- bbPress – This free WordPress plugin can be used to set up a discussion 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 3rd party subscription.
- Disqus – use this WordPress plugin to power discussions and increases engagement on your site.
- Monarch – Easily add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online to your website.
(WordPress users can easily add social features to their site with free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
How To Generate New Leads & Enquiries
In this section we show you ways to improve sales and generate more leads and enquiries online.
Provide An Email Newsletter
Providing a newsletter is a great way to build a list of subscribers. Adding newsletters] provides several benefits including:
- Sends targeted traffic to your site
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides useful updates
- Provides a highly targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to provide special products or services to a select audience
- Provides regular opportunities for improving interaction
- Provides you with another way for your content to be shared online with others
An effective strategy for enticing visitors to subscribe is to provide users with information of high value and give them free gifts in exchange for their personal details. This could be a time-saving guide, tips for handling tax, access to tax calculators, discount coupons, membership access to videos, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
A contact form makes it easy and simple for prospective clients to get in touch. Contact forms also let readers report issues, ask questions to specific departments, request a quote, and more.
A contact form provides a number of benefits, like:
- Reduces spam
- Automated response
- Giving you control over what gets sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Different forms can be added to any post or page
- Improves the professional look of your website
- Convenient for site visitors
One of the most popular contact form plugins is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 – WordPress Plugin)
This free plugin is easy to install and set up and allows you to create and manage multiple contact forms, customize your forms and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, and Akismet spam filtering is also supported.
Something else to consider is to segment your contact form so users can select which department they want to contact. This will help you to get the comment to the right person.
Adding Maps
Maps help your visitors and clients find you.
Integrating maps, such as Google Maps, with your website also provides users with a number of benefits, such as:
- A map helps to increase local SEO
- Visitors can find your office easily and helps plan their trips better
- Displays location of events
(A map helps your visitors and customers find you)
Popular map plugins include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
How To Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Generate More Visitors With WordPress Plugins
Accounting WordPress Plugins
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your accounting or financial services website that will immediately make available a range of functional tools for site visitors. Here are some of these:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin provides a free collection of over 400 calculators that you can provide to users on your website. Internationalization is supported.
Note: Most of the calculators aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are a few for:
- Mortgage
- Rate of return
- CD
- Debit
- And many more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes)
With this plugin you get a widget that shows up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can show as many portfolios as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker Plugin For WordPress)
With this plugin you can add custom stock tickers to any page, post, or sidebar using shortcodes.
The plugin comes with loads of customizable ticker. You can choose from built-in themes or customize these yourself to match the look and feel of your website. You can also add custom stocks to individual categories.
Appearance customizations include height, width, scroll speed, background color, opacity, number of stocks displayed simultaneously, text color, font size, font family, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin)
This free calculator lets your site visitors calculate indicative repayments. This is a great financial tool for calculating repayments on car loans, property, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator WordPress Plugin – 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 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 Plugin For WordPress)
WP-Invoice lets WordPress blog owners send itemized invoices to their clients.
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 that let you manage business, accept electronic signatures, create PDF versions of your invoices, provide quotes, create single-page checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into WP’s user management database to keep track of your clients and their information, and integrates with payment processors like PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, and many others.
The plugin gives you the ability to add custom payments and charges, insert 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 e-mail templates, access 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)
This complete business management solution includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with ticket management system, CRM and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application – WordPress Plugin – Client Invoice)
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 – WordPress Plugin)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage customers and invoices, track your company’s net worth and cash flow, send single-click payment reminders and payment confirmations, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software WordPress Plugin – Client Invoice)
It integrates with several 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. Below is a list of some of the best themes themes available for accounting. These themes allow you to have a professional-looking accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro WordPress Theme)
Accounting Pro is an inexpensive turn-key theme designed 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 expanded by installing premium add-ons.
More info:
Accountancy
(Accountancy)
This one comes with a variety of built-in styles and layouts that helps make your accounting site look and feel professional.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, and more. It’s lightweight, search optimized, fast loading, and fully responsive. Accountancy provides the flexibility you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. Your purchase includes free updates and 1 year of support.
To learn more about this theme, go here:
Accounting
(Accounting WP Theme)
This premium theme includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your site any way you want. It also has unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom administration panel, different color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is fully responsive. It is a clean-looking, modern and fast-to-load theme.
Go here for more details:
Kathryn
(Kathryn WP Theme)
This one is a premium WordPress child theme for the Genesis Framework that’s designed specifically for accounting businesses. The theme provides multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, many colors, is easy to use, search engine 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 WordPress slider plugin and is a separate purchase from the Genesis Framework.
For more information, go here:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WP Theme)
This one was developed to exude professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., was specifically designed to help give your accounting business site a professional look 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 accounting services, contact section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials, and a blog.
Go here for more information:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate – WordPress Theme)
This is a free corporate theme built for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. Use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. It also includes a custom post type adding employee profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s a clean-looking and fast-loading theme.
Go here for more info:
Divi
(Divi Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme for WordPress is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection. You can create any style of professional website you want using the page builder or beautiful pre-made layouts. You can modify your layout to your heart’s content.
Divi’s page builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and redesign the structure of their pages without touching code.
(Divi Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
Divi has 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. This includes modules such as multiple layouts, a slider, you can place pricing tables, testimonials, call-to-action, and lots more. It is mobile-friendly and completely customizable. Themes start at $69 per year and includes full access to all beautifully-designed themes.
Go here for more details:
The Corporation
(The Corporation)
This premium WordPress theme was specifically created to make corporate websites look good.
It has a sleek page-based home page design with a eye-catching slider, blog design, 6 unique color schemes, 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 80+ professional themes.
More info:
Adviser
(Adviser – WordPress Theme)
This one was specifically developed to help finance industry professionals build trust with a clean business design. It’s perfect for businesses that provide services such as 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.
Go here for more details about this theme:
Tax Help
(Tax Help WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was designed for financial organizations, tax and financial advisors, and businesses providing tax assistance. The theme is designed to show your services professionally and help grow your professional reputation. It has a range of blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and many custom shortcodes.
For more details about using this theme, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme for WordPress was specifically developed for organizations 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 includes charts and financial content, custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page options, color management, animated elements, and a lot more.
To learn more about about this theme, 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
We hope that you have found this guide on ways to improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more visitors with plugins useful.
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