In Part 1 of this step-by-step article on ways to build your accounting web presence, we provided in-depth information on the following areas:
- Online Challenges For Accountants
- Opportunities For Professional Accountants
- Your Web Pages
- Tips For Improving Your Web Content
In this section, we will continue looking at more ways to grow your accounting business online. Areas covered below include:
- Ways To Improve Traffic With WordPress
- How To Generate New Leads & Enquiries
- Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Increase Traffic To Your Website Generation Using Plugins & Themes
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, see the articles below:
- Add New Features And Functionality To Your Web Site With WordPress Plugins
- WordPress For Newbies – An Introduction To Themes
Ways To Improve Traffic
Web traffic is an important part of your online business growth. This section will help you improve your web traffic.
Optimize Your Site For Search Engines
There are many ways that WordPress helps improve your website’s SEO:
- SEO-Friendly – configure the permalinks to create search engine-optimized web addresses for your article pages.
- Post Tags – Specify the keywords that you want your article pages to be indexed for in the search engines.
- Categories – Create search engine-friendly categories for your posts and products.
- Excerpts – WordPress lets you compose descriptions for your posts that search engines will show in their search results.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your images for improved search engine results.
- Internal Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that allows you to easily create internal links
- Post Notification – WordPress can be configured to automatically notify (ping) other search directories immediately upon publishing new content on your website.
Improving Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Increase User Engagement And Drive More Web Traffic Using Plugins
As well as the built-in features of WordPress, there are also a number of plugins for WordPress that improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your website.
For example, here are some plugins you can use to improve your site’s search engine optimization:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress sitemap plugin (lists all of your pages and posts for search engines)
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(A plugin like Yoast SEO can improve your site’s search engine optimization)
Other ways to improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your website are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social sharing. Here are some more WordPress plugins that can help (many of the plugins listed below are also free):
- BuddyPress – Use the BuddyPress WordPress plugin to set up your own online social network on your site.
- bbPress – Run your own discussion forum on your site.
- E-Newsletter – E-Newsletter allows you to send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard, without requiring 3rd-party subscriptions.
- Disqus – Disqus lets you power discussions and increases engagement on your site.
- Social Media Feather – Use this WordPress plugin to add social sharing features and buttons on your site.
(You can add social sharing buttons to your website easily with free or inexpensive plugins)
How To Generate Leads & Enquiries
Let’s now discuss how to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries online.
Provide A Newsletter
Adding an email newsletter is a great way to build a list of subscribers. Adding email newsletters] provides a number of benefits including:
- Sends targeted traffic
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides updates that can save businesses time and money
- Provides a targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to provide special products or services to a select audience
- Provides regular opportunities for user engagement
- Provides you with another way for your content to be shared around with other potential customers
A proven strategy for attracting subscribers to your email newsletter is to provide high value information and give users free gifts or bonus items in exchange for their personal details. This could be a guide, checklists for handling tax, access to tax calculators, discount coupons, access to subscriber-only content, contests, etc.
Provide Contact Forms
Contact forms make it easy and simple for readers to contact you. A contact form also lets visitors report issues, ask questions to specific departments, request quotes, send suggestions for improvements and more.
Contact forms provide a number of benefits and advantages, like:
- Reducing spam
- Automated response
- Giving you control over what gets sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- They can be added to any post or page
- Improves the professional look of your site
- 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)
Contact Form 7 is easy to install and configure and allows you to add multiple contact forms into any page on your site, customize the forms and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
Supports international languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, spam filtering and so on.
Something to consider is to segment your contact form so users can choose which topic they are contacting you about. This helps you get the comment to the right person.
Add A Map
Maps help your visitors and customers find you.
Maps are a very useful tool for several reasons:
- Maps increase local SEO
- Visitors can find you easily and helps plan their appointments better
- Display location of events
(Adding 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 Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation Using WordPress Plugins
WordPress Accounting Plugins
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your accounting website that will 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 that you can display on your website and embed 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 you can use for:
- Interest rate
- Loans
- Tax
- Credit
- And many more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress)
With this plugin you get a widget that displays up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many portfolios as you like.
(Show Stock Quotes WordPress Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker WP Plugin)
This free plugin lets you place custom stock tickers on any post, page or sidebar using shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker offers a number of customizable features. Choose from built-in themes or customize these yourself to match the look and feel of your website. You can also create custom stocks for specific categories.
Appearance customizations include colours, size, speed, text, and symbols, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator)
This free calculator lets your visitors calculate indicative repayments. It’s great for vehicle loans, property loans, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress – Loan Calculators)
Finance Calculator also contains an application form that sends a 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 Plugin For WordPress)
WP-Invoice is ideal for WordPress site owners with clients to bill.
This plugin integrates billing into WordPress. You can send clients itemized invoices. It also 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, quote creation, checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into the WordPress user management database to keep track of your clients and their information, and integrates with PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, 2Checkout, Interkassa, and several others.
The plugin gives you the ability to add custom payments and charges, create pre-defined line items and discounts, quickly view invoice status and progression, filter and find invoices, see invoice receipts and invoice history, create e-mail notification templates, view 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 – WordPress Plugin)
This complete business management solution includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with ticket system, CRM and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application WordPress Plugin – Invoicing)
The plugin supports different 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 WP Plugin)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage clients and invoicing, 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 integrates with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting And Financial Services Themes For WordPress
To get the best features and professional look for your website, we recommend choosing a theme specifically for accounting. Here is a list of some of the best accounting themes available. These themes allow you to own 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, has several page templates, custom menu features, a content composer (which improves on the standard WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, performs auto resizing for images, and lots more.
Accounting Pro can be expanded with premium add-ons.
For more details, go here:
Accountancy
(Accountancy)
This theme offers a variety of built-in styles and layouts that helps make your accounting website look and feel professional.
This mobile-friendly theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, it’s lightweight, search engine optimized, and loads fast. Accountancy provides the flexibility you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. Free updates and 1 year of support is included in your purchase.
More information:
Accounting
(Accounting WP Theme)
This premium WordPress theme 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 administration panel, four color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). Accountancy looks clean and modern and loads fast.
More information:
Kathryn
(Kathryn WP Theme)
This one is created specifically for accounting services. Kathryn provides multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, many color options, is easy to use, search engine friendly, and is 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 slider plugin and is a separate purchase from the Genesis Framework.
Go here for more details:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
This one 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 make your accounting website look professional while not 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 details section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials, and a blog.
Go here to learn more about using this theme:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate Theme For WordPress)
WP Advocate is a free corporate theme designed specifically 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 adding staff profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s clean-looking and fast-loading.
For more details, go here:
Divi
(Divi – WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ entire theme collection. Divi lets you create a professional website using the page builder or beautiful pre-made layouts. You can change your layout as much as you need.
The builder transforms elements into visual building blocks, allowing anyone to understand and easily redesign the structure of their pages without touching a single line of code.
(Divi WP Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
It comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. Modules include accordion, blurb, contact form, divider, gallery, login, post title, slider, tabs, toggle, fullwidth header, fullwidth map, fullwidth slider, and more.. It is mobile-friendly and fully customizable. Prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to over 80 professional themes.
More information:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme For WordPress)
This theme from Elegant Themes was specifically designed to create good-looking corporate sites.
It has a page-based home page design with a eye-catching slider, blog design, six unique different color schemes, multiple page templates that include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Elegant Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to over 80 stunning themes.
Go here to learn more this theme:
Adviser
(Adviser Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was designed 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 built-in lease calculator. It includes multiple shortcodes and widgets, and includes the drag-and-drop visual composer.
Visit the theme site to learn more about this WordPress theme:
Tax Help
(Tax Help Theme)
Tax Help was developed specifically for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and businesses offering tax assistance. The theme is designed to show your services in a professional way and help build your business reputation. It comes with different blog styles, uses the drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and additional custom shortcodes.
More info:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme)
Finance Business was built for firms that provide financial services including consulting, tax help, finance, insurance, corporate, loans, accounting, and more. The theme includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around one hundred shortcodes that includes charts and financial content, custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page settings, color management, animated elements, and a whole lot more.
To learn more 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
Hopefully, this comprehensive guide has helped you learn how to improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and increase web traffic generation using plugins & themes.
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