In Part 1 of this article on ways to grow your accounting web presence, we provided practical tips and suggestions on the following topics:
- Online Challenges For Accountants
- Opportunities For Accountants In The Web Economy
- How To Improve Your Website Pages
- Tips On How To Improve The Content On Your Site
In this section, we explore more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Areas covered include:
- Improve Traffic
- Generate Leads & Enquiries With WordPress
- How To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation Using Plugins
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins That Can Help Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Visitors
Web traffic is an important part of your business growth. This section will help you improve your web traffic using WordPress.
Optimizing Your Website For Search Engines
There are lots of ways that WordPress helps optimize your website for search engines:
- Search Engine-Friendly URLs – configure the permalinks to use the title of the post.
- Post Tags – WordPress lets you specify the keywords that you want search engines to index your posts for.
- Post Categories – Create SEO-friendly categories for your posts and products.
- Excerpts – Create an excerpt that search engines will display in their search result pages.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your images for better search results.
- Internal Content Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that lets you easily create internal links for faster page indexing
- Pinging – Configure your site to automatically notify other search directories immediately upon publishing new content on your site.
WordPress Plugins For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Better User Engagement And Web Traffic Generation
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, there are also a number of WordPress plugins that will improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your site.
Here are some plugins you can use to improve your website’s search engine optimization:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin (for search engines)
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(Use a plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your website’s search engine optimization)
Other things you can do to improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your business are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social features. Here are some more WordPress plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – This free WordPress plugin can be used to set up a social network on your WordPress website, with member profiles, user groups, messaging, activity streams, and more.
- bbPress – bbPress allows you to set up a forum on your website.
- E-Newsletter – Use E-Newsletter to send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WP dashboard.
- Disqus – use this plugin to power discussions and helps to increase engagement on your site.
- Floating Social – Easily add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online to your site.
(You can add social sharing features to your site easily with free or inexpensive plugins)
Tips For Generating New Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress
In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your sales and generate leads and enquiries online.
Adding A Newsletter
Providing an email newsletter is a great way to build a list of subscribers. Adding email newsletters] 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 provide special products or services to a select audience
- Provides new opportunities for increasing engaging with your users
- Provides additional opportunities for your content to be shared around with others
One of the best ways to get visitors to subscribe to your newsletter is to provide them with valuable information and give them free gifts in exchange for their personal details. This could be a special report, tips for handling tax, access to tax calculators, coupons, access to subscriber-only content, contests, etc.
Provide A Contact Form
A contact form makes it easy and simple for readers to contact you. A contact form also allows visitors to raise problems, ask questions to specific departments, ask for a quote, give suggestions for improvements and more.
A contact form provides several benefits, like:
- Reducing spam
- Set up automated responses
- Gives you control over what is sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- They can be added to any page or post
- Looks professional
- Is convenient for users
One of the most popular contact form plugins for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin)
Contact form 7 is a free plugin that lets you insert multiple contact forms on your website, customize your forms and the email contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, and spam filtering is supported.
Another feature you may want to consider is to add sections to your contact form so visitors can select the department they want to contact. This ensures that visitors’ requests reach the right person.
Maps
Maps help your visitors and customers find you.
A map is a great tool for several reasons:
- A map increases local SEO
- Helps visitors find you easily
- Show location of events
(Adding a map helps your visitors and clients find you)
Below are just some of the more popular plugins that let you embed, customize and display Google maps on your site:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
WordPress Plugins And Themes That Can Help Improve Your Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Web Traffic
Financial Plugins For WordPress
WordPress makes available a number of plugins you can add to your accounting or financial services site that will immediately make available a range of practical tools for users. Here are just some of these plugins:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators)
This is a free collection of 400+ calculators. You can embed these into your posts, pages, or sidebars using shortcodes. Internationalization is supported.
Note: Most of them aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are a few you can use for:
- 401k
- Rate of return
- CD
- Equity
- And many more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin gives you a widget that shows a number of different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many portfolios as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker)
With this plugin you can add custom stock tickers to any sidebar, post or page using shortcodes.
This plugin comes with several customizable ticker. You can choose to use built-in skins or customize it yourself. It’s easy to customize it so it matches your website. You can also add custom stocks to individual categories.
Appearance customization features include width, height, scroll speed, background color, opacity, number of stocks displayed at one time, font size, text color, font family, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin)
This free plugin allows your users to calculate indicative repayments. It’s great for auto loans, real estate, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator WP Plugin – Loan Calculators)
The Finance Calculator plugin also contains an application form that will send a message to the email address you specify.
It will display 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 – WordPress Plugin)
WP-Invoice lets you send itemized invoices to clients.
WP-Invoice lets you integrate billing into WordPress. You can send itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand functionality with free and premium add-ons, like business location, electronic signature, PDF creation, quoting, 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, 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, easily filtering and finding invoices, showing invoice receipts and invoice history, creating notification e-mail templates, viewing 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)
This is a complete business management system that includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, helpdesk with support ticketing system, client relationship management and many additional features.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin – Invoice)
All In One Business Management Application supports international languages, is fully customizable and provides powerful 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)
iBilling is a scalable business software that lets you manage and communicate with customers, 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 Plugin – Invoicing)
iBilling lets you get paid faster online by integrating with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting – WordPress Themes
To benefit the most from using WordPress, it’s best to choose a theme specifically for accounting. Here is a look at some of the best themes themes available for accounting. These themes allow you to have a professional accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro WP Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress is a turn-key theme for accountants and accounting firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, offers several page templates, a custom menu feature, a content composer (which improves on the standard WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resizing for images, and lots more.
You can expand this theme using premium add-ons.
Visit the theme website to learn more this WordPress theme:
Accountancy
(Accountancy – WordPress Theme)
This inexpensive theme has a variety of styles and layouts that helps give your accounting website a professional look and feel.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, and more. It’s lightweight, search engine friendly, loads fast, and fully responsive. 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 to learn more this theme:
Accounting
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can design your website any way you want. It also provides unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different header types, a custom administration panel, four color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is mobile-friendly. It looks clean and modern and loads fast.
Go here for more details:
Kathryn
(Kathryn)
This one is built for accountants. It has a slider, multiple layouts, multiple sidebars, many colors, is easy to use, SEO friendly, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). Although this theme can easily fit any profession you like, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy plugin and must be purchased separately from the Genesis Framework.
For more information, go here:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
This theme was developed to exude professionalism within the accounting industry. It features authoritative colors and layout elements designed specifically to make your accounting site look professional while not looking dull. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s fully responsive and includes pages for your services, contact section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials, and a blog.
More information:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate Theme)
WP Advocate is a free corporate theme developed specifically 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 and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s a clean and fast-loading theme.
Go here to learn more about this theme:
Divi
(Divi Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire theme collection. You can create a professional site using the page builder or beautiful and unique pre-made layouts. You can change your layout as much as you need.
Divi’s page builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing anyone to understand and redesign the structure of their page without touching code.
(Divi WordPress Theme – Page Builder)
It comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. These modules include audio player, blurb, code, email optin, image, login, person, shop, testimonial, video slider, fullwidth image, fullwidth portfolio, fullwidth post title, and more.. It is mobile-friendly and completely customizable. Prices start at $69 per year and includes access to over 80 beautifully-designed themes.
More info:
The Corporation
(The Corporation)
The Corporation Theme was specifically designed to create great-looking corporate sites.
This theme has a page-based home page design with a eye-catching slider. It also has a blog design and features that toggle on and off. It comes with six unique 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 all stunning themes.
More information:
Adviser
(Adviser WP Theme)
This premium theme was designed to help finance industry professionals build trust online through clean design. It’s perfect for businesses that provide services such as investing advice or tax advice. 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.
Visit this site to learn more about this theme:
Tax Help
(Tax Help – WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was specifically built for financial companies, tax and financial advisors, and businesses providing tax services. This theme is designed to showcase your services professionally to help establish your business 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.
For more details, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme For WordPress)
This premium WordPress theme was specifically developed for firms that provide financial services including tax help, consulting, insurance, corporate, finance, loans, accounting, and more. It includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin. It also has around 100 shortcodes that let you add charts and financial content. It also includes the custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page options, color management, animated elements, and lots 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 ways to improve SEO, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic with WordPress plugins useful.
Subscribe below to receive 101+ useful WordPress tips that will help you grow your business …
***
"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum
***