In Part One of this guide on ways to grow your accounting web presence, we provided many practical tips and suggestions on the following areas:
- Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Accounting Businesses In The Online Economy
- Ways To Improve Your Web Pages
- Tips For Improving Your Web Content
In this section, we continue looking at more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Areas covered include:
- Improve Web Traffic Using WordPress
- Generating Leads & Enquiries
- How To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins And Themes
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins That Can Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Visitors To Your Website Generation
Web traffic is vital to your online business growth. This section discusses WordPress plugins that can help improve SEO, improve user engagement and generate more visitors to your accounting website.
Optimize Your Site For SEO
There are so many ways that WordPress helps optimize your website for search engines:
- SEO-Friendly – configure the permalinks to use the title of the posts as the web address of your pages.
- Tags – WordPress lets you select the keywords that you want your article pages to be indexed for in the search engines.
- Post Categories – Create categories for keeping your content organized and easy to find.
- Excerpts – WordPress lets you compose an excerpt that will show to search engine users.
- Images – title images used in your content with keywords for better search engine results.
- Internal Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that lets you easily create internal links for faster page indexing
- Pinging – WordPress can be set up to automatically notify (ping) other sites and directories immediately upon publishing new content on your website.
WordPress Plugins For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Web Traffic Generation
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, there are quite a number of plugins for WordPress that improve your accounting or financial services website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more visitors to your business.
For example, here are some plugins you can use to improve your SEO:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin
(A plugin like Yoast SEO can improve your site’s search engine optimization)
Other things you can do to improve your accounting site’s SEO, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social sharing. Here are a few plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – Run your own social community on your site.
- bbPress – Run your own online community forum on your site.
- E-Newsletter – E-Newsletter lets you send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WP dashboard, without requiring 3rd-party subscriptions.
- Disqus – Power discussions and increases user engagement on your website or blog.
- Floating Social – This plugin lets you add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online on your website.
(You can easily add social sharing to your website using WordPress plugins)
Ways To Generate Leads & Enquiries With WordPress
Let’s take a look now at how to improve sales and generate new leads and enquiries for your accounting or financial services business.
Provide A Newsletter
Providing an email newsletter is a great way to retain and grow your readership. Adding email newsletters] provides a number of benefits including:
- Sends targeted traffic
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides useful updates
- Provides a targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to provide special products or services to a select audience
- Increases engaging with your users
- Provides you with other ways for your content to be shared online with others
An effective strategy for attracting new subscribers to your email newsletter is to provide high value information and give users a free gift in exchange for their details. This can be a useful report, checklists for handling tax, access to financial calculators, discount coupons, membership access to videos, contests, etc.
Adding Contact Forms
Contact forms make it easy and simple for prospective customers to contact you. Readers can report issues, contact specific departments, request a quote, and more.
A contact form provides a number of benefits including:
- Reduces spam
- Automated response
- Gives you control over what gets sent to you
- You can keep your email address private
- Contact forms can be added to any page or post
- Improves the professional look of your website
- Convenience for visitors
A popular contact form plugin is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7)
Contact form 7 is a free plugin that is easy to install and configure and allows you to add and manage multiple contact forms, customize the forms and the email contents, add fields, and more.
The plugin supports international languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.
Something else to consider is adding sections to your contact form so prospects can choose the topic they are contacting your company about. This will help you to get the comment to the right person.
Provide A Map
A map helps your visitors and customers find you.
Maps are great tools for several reasons:
- A map helps to improve local SEO
- Helps visitors find your office easily
- Displays location of events
(Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you)
Here are some of the more popular plugins that let you embed, customize and display maps on your WordPress site:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Web Traffic Using WordPress Plugins
Financial WordPress Plugins
WordPress provides a number of plugins you can add to your website that will immediately make available a range of practical tools for visitors. Here are just some of these:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin provides a free collection of 400+ calculators. You can embed these into your pages, posts, or sidebars using shortcodes. The plugin also supports internationalization
Most of them aren’t focused on accounting, but there are a few for:
- 401k
- Loans
- CD
- Debit
- And many more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin)
With this plugin you get a widget that shows a number of different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many portfolios as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker)
This plugin lets you place a custom stock ticker on any sidebar, post or page with shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker offers several customizable features. Choose from built-in skins or customize it yourself to match your site. You can also create custom stocks for individual categories.
Appearance customization features include colors, size, symbols, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin)
This free calculator allows your site visitors to calculate indicative repayments online. It’s great for vehicle loans, property, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator WordPress Plugin – Loan Calculators)
The plugin also contains an application form that will send a notification message to the email address you specify.
It will show payment protection, calculate 12 to 60 months loans and create forms that can be placed in any page or post.
For more details, go here}:
WP-Invoice
(WP-Invoice – WordPress Plugin)
WP-Invoice lets WordPress blog owners send itemized invoices to their clients.
This plugin integrates billing into WordPress. You can send out itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand functionality with both free and premium add-ons that let you manage locations, accept electronic signatures, create PDF versions of invoices, provide 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, 2Checkout, PayPal Payments Pro, and others.
The plugin lets you add custom payments and charges, insert pre-defined line items and discounts, quickly view invoice status and progression, filter and find invoices, see invoice receipts and invoice history, create notification e-mail templates, access 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 complete business management solution includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, helpdesk with knowledgebase and ticket system, client relationship management and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application – WordPress Plugin – Invoice)
All In One Business Management Application supports multiple languages, is fully customizable and provides powerful tools like document management, to do app, 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 client data 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 Invoicing)
iBilling integrates with several 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. Here is a list of some of the best accountancy themes available. With the themes below you can own a professional-looking accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro – WordPress Theme)
This is an inexpensive turn-key theme created for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s responsive, has a drag-and-drop page-builder, offers several page templates, custom menus, a content composer (gives you an improved WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, performs auto resizing for images, and lots more.
You can customize this theme by installing premium add-ons.
Go here for more information:
Accountancy
(Accountancy)
This inexpensive theme comes with a variety of built-in styles and layouts to help give your accounting site a professional look and feel.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, and more. It’s lightweight, search engine optimized, fast loading, and fully responsive. Accountancy provides what you need without bloating your theme. Your purchase price includes free updates and 1 year of support.
For more information, go here:
Accounting
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your website any way you want. The theme also has unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different header types, a custom administration panel, different color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). It looks clean and modern and is fast to load.
To learn more about this theme, go here:
Kathryn
(Kathryn Theme For WordPress)
Kathryn is a child theme for the Genesis Framework developed specifically for accounting businesses. Kathryn comes with multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, flexible rotator, call to action boxes, author boxes for single or multiple bloggers, various color choices, is easy to use, inexpensive, search engine friendly, and is responsive. Although it 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 – Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme for WordPress was designed to exude professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., is designed specifically to give your accounting website a professional look. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s responsive (mobile-friendly) and includes pages for your services, contact form section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials section, and a blog.
More info:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate WordPress Theme)
WP Advocate is a free corporate theme built specifically for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. Use the bundled images or upload your own. WP Advocate includes a custom post type adding employee profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is clean-looking and fast-loading.
More info:
Divi
(Divi Theme)
This premium theme is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection. Divi lets you create a professional site using the page builder or pre-made layouts. You can modify your layout to your heart’s content.
The builder transforms elements into visual building blocks, allowing anyone to understand and easily change the structure of their web pages without editing a single line of code.
(Divi Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
Divi has 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. Divi is fully responsive and completely customizable. Prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to all stunning themes.
Go here for more information:
The Corporation
(The Corporation WordPress Theme)
The Corporation from Elegant Themes was specifically built to make corporate sites look good.
It has a sleek and professional page-based home page design with a nice slider, blog design, 6 unique color schemes, multiple page templates which include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Themes start at $69 per year and includes full access to 80+ themes.
More info:
Adviser
(Adviser – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme was built specifically to help finance professionals build trust online with a clean business design. It’s perfect for those that provide services like investing advice or tax advice. It includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications, a lease calculator, widgets and multiple shortcodes, and the drag-and-drop visual composer..
For more details about using this WordPress theme, visit this site:
Tax Help
(Tax Help Theme)
This one was built specifically for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and businesses offering tax services. The theme is designed to showcase your services professionally to help grow your business 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.
Visit this site for more details about using this WordPress theme:
Finance Business
(Finance Business)
Finance Business was developed for organizations that provide financial services including tax help, consulting, corporate, insurance, finance, loans, accounting, and more. The theme includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin. It also has around one hundred shortcodes that includes charts and financial content. It also includes the custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page settings, color management, animations, and lots more.
More information:
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.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum
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