In Part 1 of this article on ways to improve your accounting web presence, we covered the following areas:
- Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Accountants In The Digital Economy
- Essential Web Pages
- Improving The Content On Your Site
In this section, we discuss more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Topics covered include:
- Improve Traffic Using WordPress
- How To Generate More Leads & Enquiries
- Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation Using WordPress Plugins & Themes
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
Grow Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins That Can Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Traffic To Your Site Generation
Web traffic is an integral part of your online business growth. This section will help you improve your web traffic.
Optimize Your Site For SEO
There are many ways WordPress can help to improve SEO:
- Search Engine-Friendly URLs – configure the permalinks to use the title of the posts as the URL of your pages.
- Post Tags – WordPress lets you select the keywords that you want search engines to index your articles for.
- Categories – Add categories for your posts and products.
- Post Excerpts – WordPress lets you compose descriptions for your posts that search engines will show.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your images for improved search results.
- Internal Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that lets you easily create internal links for faster page indexing
- Pinging – WordPress can be configured to automatically notify (ping) other search directories immediately upon publishing new content on your website.
Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors To Your Website With Plugins
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, the WP community makes available dozens of plugins that will improve your website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your site.
For example, you can install the plugins below to improve your website’s SEO:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin (for search engines)
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(A plugin like Yoast SEO can improve your SEO)
Other things you can do to improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more web traffic to your site are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social sharing features. Here are a few plugins that can help (many of the plugins described below are also free):
- BuddyPress – Set up your own online social network on WordPress.
- bbPress – bbPress can be used to set up your own community forum on your WordPress site.
- E-Newsletter – E-Newsletter allows you to send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress site.
- Disqus – Power discussions and increases user engagement on your site.
- Floating Social – This WordPress plugin lets you add social sharing features on your website or blog.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing buttons to their site using free or inexpensive plugins)
Ways To Generate Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress-Based Applications
Let’s discuss now how to improve your sales and generate leads and enquiries online.
Add An Email Newsletter
Providing a newsletter is a great way to build a subscriber list. Adding email newsletters] provides many benefits including:
- Drives targeted traffic
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides useful updates
- 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 increasing engaging with users
- Provides you with another way for your content to be shared with other prospective clients
A proven way to attract subscribers is to provide high value content and give users additional bonuses for free in exchange for their details. This could be a guide, tips for handling finances, access to financial calculators, coupons, membership access to videos, contests, etc.
Add A Contact Form
Contact forms provide an easy and simple way for readers to contact you. Contact forms also allow users to report issues, ask questions to specific departments, ask for quotes, and more.
Contact forms provide a number of benefits including:
- Reducing spam
- Automated response
- Giving 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
- Convenient for users
One of the most popular WordPress contact form plugins is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 WP Plugin)
This plugin allows you to create 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.
Another feature to consider is to segment your contact form so visitors can select the topic they want to discuss. This ensures that visitors get the comment to the right person.
Map Integration
Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you.
Inserting maps, such as Google Maps, into your website also provides a number of benefits, such as:
- A map increases local SEO
- Visitors can find your office more easily
- Shows location of events
(Adding maps to your website helps your visitors and clients find you)
Popular Google Maps plugins include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
WordPress Plugins For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Better User Engagement And Driving More Traffic
Accounting – WordPress Plugins
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your site that will immediately make available a range of functional tools for your 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. You can embed them into your posts, pages, or sidebars using shortcodes. The plugin supports internationalization
Note: Most of the calculators aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are quite a few you can use for:
- 401k
- Rate of return
- Leases
- Credit
- And lots more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin)
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 want.
(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 custom stock tickers on any sidebar, post or page using shortcodes.
This plugin provides several customizable features. Choose from built-in skins or customize it yourself to match your website. You can also add custom stocks to specific categories.
Customize the appearance by changing colours, size, speed, text, and symbols, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress)
This free plugin allows your users to calculate indicative repayments online. This is a useful financial tool for calculating auto loans, real estate, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator – Loan Calculator)
This plugin also contains an application form that sends a message to a specified email address.
It will show payment protection, calculate 12 to 60 months loans and create a form that can be placed in any page or post.
For more details, go here}:
WP-Invoice
(WP-Invoice Plugin)
WP-Invoice lets WordPress blog owners send itemized invoices to their clients.
This plugin integrates billing into WordPress. You can send clients itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand plugin functionality with free and premium add-ons, like business location, electronic signature, PDF creation, quote creation, single-page checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into your WordPress user management database to keep track of your clients and their information, and integrates with PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, 2Checkout, PayPal Payments Pro, and several others.
The plugin gives you the ability to add custom payments and charges, insert pre-defined line items and discounts, view invoice status and progression, easily filter and find invoices, show invoice receipts and invoice history, create email notification templates, view reports (collected vs uncollected invoices, 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 is a complete business management system that includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with ticketing system, client relationship management and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin For WordPress – Invoice)
The plugin supports multiple languages, is fully customizable and provides additional tools like 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, track your company’s net worth and cash flow, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software – WordPress Plugin – Invoice)
It integrates with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Financial Themes For WordPress
To benefit the most from using WordPress to grow your business online, 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 have a professional-looking accounting website within minutes and save hundreds to thousands of dollars on the cost of web design.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme is a turn-key theme developed for accountants and accounting firms. It’s responsive, has a drag-and-drop page-builder, offers several page templates, a custom menu feature, a content composer (gives you an improved WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resized images, and lots more.
Accounting Pro can be customized by installing premium add-ons.
Visit this website to learn more about using this theme:
Accountancy
(Accountancy)
This premium WordPress theme comes in a variety of styles and layouts that helps make your accounting site look and feel professional.
This fully responsive (mobile-friendly) theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, it’s lightweight, search optimized, and fast loading. Accountancy Theme provides the flexibility you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. Free updates and one year of support is included in your purchase.
Go here for more info:
Accounting
(Accounting – WordPress Theme)
This one includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can design your site any way you want. The theme also provides unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different header types, a custom admin panel, four color schemes, a custom slider, three different blog types, and is responsive. It is a clean-looking, modern and fast-to-load theme.
To learn more about about using this WordPress theme, go here:
Kathryn
(Kathryn Theme For WordPress)
This premium WordPress theme was created for accounting services. The theme provides multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, flexible rotator, call to action boxes, author boxes for single or multiple bloggers, many color choices, is easy to use, search engine friendly, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). Although this theme can easily fit any profession you want it to, 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 information:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
This one was developed with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., is specifically designed 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 services, contact section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials section, and a blog.
More info:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate)
This is a corporate theme built for professional service providers such as accountants and attorneys. Use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. It includes a custom post type for staff profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s a clean and fast-loading theme.
For more details, go here:
Divi
(Divi Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme for WordPress is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection of WordPress themes. You can create a professional website using the page builder or beautiful and unique 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 easily edit the structure of their pages without touching a single line of code.
(Divi – WordPress Theme – 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. It is responsive and fully customizable. Elegant Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to 80+ themes.
More information:
The Corporation
(The Corporation – WordPress Theme)
The Corporation WordPress Theme was specifically developed to make corporate sites look great.
This theme has a page-based home page design with a nice slider. It also has a blog design and features that toggle on and off. It has six color schemes. It also has 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 full access to all stunning themes.
More information:
Adviser
(Adviser WordPress Theme)
Adviser was built to help finance professionals build trust through clean web design. It’s perfect for businesses that provide services such as investing or tax advice. The theme includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications. It also includes a lease calculator. It includes widgets and multiple shortcodes, and includes the drag-and-drop visual composer.
More information:
Tax Help
(Tax Help Theme)
Tax Help was designed specifically for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and firms that provide tax assistance. This theme is designed to show 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 additional custom shortcodes.
To learn more about using this WordPress theme, visit the theme site:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme)
This one was developed specifically for businesses that provide financial services such as tax help, consulting, corporate, finance, insurance, accounting, loans, and more. This 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, animations, 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 article has helped you learn ways of improving your website with WordPress plugins and themes.
Subscribe below to receive 101+ useful WordPress tips that will help you grow your business …
***
"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com
***