In Part 1 of this step-by-step guide on ways to improve your accounting web presence, we provided practical tips and suggestions on the following topics:
- Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Accounting Businesses In The Web Economy
- How To Improve Your Website Pages
- 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:
- Improving Web Traffic With WordPress
- Generating New Leads & Enquiries With WordPress-Based Tools
- WordPress Plugins For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increasing User Engagement And Generating More Traffic
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
- WP Plugins – The Easy Way To Extend Your Website’s Functionality
- WordPress For Business – An Overview Of Themes
Tips For Accountants – Improving Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins And Themes
Your web traffic is an integral part of your online business growth. In this section we explore ways to help you improve your web traffic.
Optimize Your Website For SEO
There are many ways that WordPress helps optimize your accounting or financial services website for search engines:
- SEO-Friendly – configure the permalinks to create search engine-optimized URLS for your articles and posts.
- Tags – Specify the keywords that you want your article pages (posts) to be indexed by in the search engines.
- Categories – Create categories for your posts and products.
- Excerpts – Set the description for your posts that search engines will display.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your content images for improved search results.
- Internal Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that lets you easily create internal links
- Post Notification – Configure your site to automatically notify other search directories immediately upon publishing a new post 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 many WordPress plugins that improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your site.
For example, you can install the plugins below to improve your SEO:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress sitemap plugin
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(A plugin like Yoast SEO (previously known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your SEO)
Other WordPress plugins you can add to improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your site are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social sharing. Here are some more plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – Run an online social networking community on WordPress, with member profiles, user groups, messaging, activity streams, and more.
- bbPress – Set up your own community forum on your website.
- E-Newsletter – Use this WordPress plugin to send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress site.
- Disqus – Disqus lets you power discussions and helps to increase user engagement on your site.
- Floating Social – Use this plugin to add powerful social sharing features to your website or blog.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing features to their site using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
Tips For Generating More Leads & Enquiries
This section will show you ways to improve sales and generate new leads and enquiries for your business.
Adding A Newsletter
Providing a newsletter is a great way to build a subscriber list. It] provides a number of benefits and advantages, like:
- Sends targeted traffic to your site
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides useful information and advice
- Provides you with a targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to provide special products or services to a select audience
- Increases user interaction
- Provides you with another way for readers to share your content
A proven strategy for enticing your visitors to become subscribers is to provide high value content and give users additional bonuses for free in exchange for their details. This could be a useful report, tips for handling finances, access to tax calculators, discount coupons, membership access to videos, contests, etc.
Adding Contact Forms
A contact form makes it easy and simple for readers to get in touch with you. A contact form also allows visitors to provide feedback, contact specific departments, request quotes, send suggestions for improvements and more.
Contact forms provide many benefits including:
- Reduces spam
- Automated response
- Gives you control over what is 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 website
- Convenience for visitors
A very popular WordPress contact form plugin is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin For WordPress)
This free plugin is easy to install and configure and allows you to insert and manage multiple contact forms into any page or post, customize your form and the email contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, and spam filtering is also supported.
Something else to consider is to segment your contact form so users can select which aspect of your business they are contacting your company about. This will help you to get the comment to the right person.
Map Integration
Maps help your visitors and customers find you.
Inserting maps (e.g. Google Maps), into your website also provides visitors with a number of benefits, such as:
- Maps improve local SEO
- Helps visitors find you easily
- Show location of events
(Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you)
Here are some 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 & Themes For Improving SEO, Better User Engagement And Web Traffic Generation
WordPress Plugins
WordPress provides a number of plugins you can add to your accounting site to immediately add a range of functional tools for users. Here are just some of the plugins you can choose from:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin provides a free collection of 400+ calculators that you can display on your website and embed into your pages, posts, or sidebars using shortcodes. It supports internationalization
Most of them aren’t focused on accounting, but there are a few for:
- 401k
- Payments
- Leases
- Debit
- And more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin)
This plugin installs a widget that shows up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many widgets as you like.
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker Plugin)
This free plugin lets you add custom stock tickers to any sidebar, page or post with shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker provides several customizable ticker. 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 specific categories.
Appearance customizations include speed, text, colours, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress)
This free plugin lets your visitors calculate indicative repayments. This is a great tool for calculating repayments on vehicle loans, property, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator WordPress Plugin – Loan Calculator)
This plugin also contains an application form that sends a notification message to a specified email address.
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)
WP-Invoice is ideal for WordPress users with clients to bill.
This plugin lets you integrate billing into WordPress. You can send itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand plugin functionality with free and premium add-ons that let you manage business, accept electronic signatures from clients, create PDF versions of invoices, create quotes, create 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 several others.
You can add custom payments and charges, create 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 email templates, access 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)
This complete business management solution includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, helpdesk with support ticketing management system, CRM and many additional features.
(All In One Business Management Application – WordPress Plugin – Invoicing)
All In One Business Management Application supports international 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 – WordPress Plugin)
iBilling is a scalable business software that lets you manage client data and invoices, track your company’s net worth and cash flow, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software Plugin For WordPress – Invoice)
It integrates with several online 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 accountancy themes available. With these themes you can own a professional accounting website within minutes and save hundreds to thousands of dollars on the cost of website design.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro)
This premium WordPress theme is an inexpensive turn-key theme designed for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, has 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 a whole lot more.
Accounting Pro can be customized with premium add-ons.
More information:
Accountancy
(Accountancy)
This premium WordPress theme comes with a variety of built-in styles and layouts to give your accounting website a professional look and feel.
This responsive (mobile-friendly) theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, it’s lightweight, search engine optimized, and fast loading. Accountancy provides what your business needs without bloating your theme. Free updates and one year of support is included with your purchase.
Visit the theme website to learn more about using this theme:
Accounting
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
Accounting Theme includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can 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, a custom slider, three different blog types, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). Accountancy looks clean and modern and loads fast.
For more details, go here:
Kathryn
(Kathryn WordPress Theme)
This one is created for accounting businesses. It has multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, a variety of colors, is easy to use, SEO friendly, and is fully responsive. Although it could easily suit any profession you like, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy slider plugin and must be purchased separately from the Genesis Framework.
Go here for more info:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
Accounting WordPress Theme was created with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. It features authoritative colors and layout elements specifically designed 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 responsive and includes pages for your accounting services, contact form section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials, and a blog.
For more information, go here:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate WordPress Theme)
This is a corporate theme built specifically 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. WP Advocate is clean and fast-loading.
More info:
Divi
(Divi)
Divi is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection of WordPress themes. You can create a unique, professional website using its page builder or beautiful and unique pre-made layouts. You can change your layout to your heart’s content.
The builder transforms elements into visual building blocks, allowing anyone to understand and easily edit the structure of their pages without touching any code.
(Divi Theme – Page Builder)
It comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. These include bar counter, blurb, circle counter, countdown timer, filterable portfolio, number counter, person, shop, tabs, text, fullwidth code, fullwidth portfolio, fullwidth post title, and more.. It is responsive and completely customizable. Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to over 80 professional themes.
For more information, go here:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme)
This premium theme was specifically developed to make corporate websites look good.
This theme has a page-based home page design with a eye-catching slider, blog design, six different color schemes, 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 themes.
More information:
Adviser
(Adviser WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was specifically developed to help professionals in the financial industry to build trust through clean web design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services such as investments or tax help. The theme includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications, lease calculator, widgets and multiple shortcodes, and the drag-and-drop visual composer..
Go here to learn more about this WordPress theme:
Tax Help
(Tax Help – WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was specifically developed for financial companies, tax and financial advisors, and firms providing tax assistance. This theme is designed to show your services in a professional way to help grow 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 many custom shortcodes.
For more details, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business)
This theme was specifically designed for organizations that provide financial services including consulting, tax help, insurance, finance, corporate, accounting, loans, and more. The theme includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around 100 shortcodes that includes charts and financial content, the custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page options, color management, animated elements, and a 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 article on ways of improving your accounting website with WordPress themes and plugins helpful.
Subscribe below to receive 101+ useful WordPress tips that will help you grow your business …
***
"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie
***