In Part 1 of this guide on ways to improve your accounting business online, we provided many practical tips and suggestions on the following topics:
- Challenges Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Accounting Services
- Improve Your Website Pages
- How To Improve The Content On Your Site
In this section, we discuss more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Areas covered include:
- Ways To Improve Traffic With WordPress
- Ways To Generate More Leads & Enquiries
- How To Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Traffic With Plugins And Themes
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
Improve Traffic With WordPress
Your web traffic is an important part of your business growth. This section explores ways to improve your accounting business online using WordPress plugins and themes.
Optimize Your Website For SEO
There are many ways WordPress can help to optimize your accounting website for search engines:
- Search Engine-Friendly URLs – WordPress lets you set the permalinks to create search engine-optimized web addresses for your article pages (called posts).
- Tags – Choose the keywords that you want your article pages to be indexed by in the search engines.
- Post Categories – Create categories for your posts and products.
- Post Excerpts – WordPress lets you compose an excerpt that will show to search engine users.
- Images – title images used in your content with keywords for improved search engine results.
- Content Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that lets you easily create internal links for better indexing of pages
- Pinging – Set up your WordPress site to automatically notify (ping) other search directories whenever a new post is published on your site.
How To Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Improve User Engagement And Generate More Visitors To Your Site With WordPress Plugins
As well as the built-in features of WordPress, the WordPress development community makes available various plugins that will improve your website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your site.
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 XML sitemap plugin
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin
(Use a plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your website’s search engine optimization)
Other WordPress plugins you can add to improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your website are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social sharing. Here are a few more plugins that can help (many of the plugins described below are also free):
- BuddyPress – This plugin can be used to set up your own social network on your website.
- bbPress – Run an online forum on your WordPress site.
- E-Newsletter – Use this WordPress plugin to send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WP site.
- Disqus – Power discussions and helps to increase engagement on your website.
- Social Media Feather – This WordPress plugin lets you add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online on your website or blog.
(You can easily add social sharing features to your site using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
Ways To Generate Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress
In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries for your accounting business.
Add A Newsletter
Adding a newsletter is an excellent way to retain and grow your readership. Adding a newsletter provides a number of benefits, like:
- Sends targeted traffic to your website
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Keeps readers updated
- Provides a targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to provide special products or services to a select audience
- Provides new opportunities for engaging with your users
- Provides another way for your content to be shared around with others
An effective strategy for attracting newsletter subscribers is to provide users with content of high value and give them a free gift in exchange for their details. This could be a guide, checklists for handling tax, access to financial calculators, discount coupons, access to courses, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
A contact form provides an easy and simple way for readers to contact you. Contact forms also allow users to report issues, contact specific departments, ask for a quote, give suggestions for new services or products and more.
Contact forms provide a number of benefits including:
- Reduces spam
- Set up automated responses
- Gives you control over what is sent to you
- You can keep your email address private
- Different forms can be added to any post or page
- Looks professional
- More convenient for site visitors
A very popular contact form plugin is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin is easy to install and set up and allows you to create and manage multiple contact forms into any post or page, customize the forms and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, and Akismet spam filtering is supported.
Another feature you may want to consider is adding sections to your contact form so prospective customers can choose the department they want to contact. This helps visitors get the comment to the right person.
Adding Maps
Adding maps helps your visitors and clients find you.
Maps are a very useful tool for several reasons:
- A map helps to improve local SEO
- Visitors can easily find you
- Show location of events
(Adding maps helps your visitors and customers find you)
Here are some of the more popular plugins that let you embed, customize and display Google maps on your WordPress site:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
WordPress Plugins For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Traffic Generation
Accounting Plugins For WordPress
WordPress provides a number of plugins you can add to your website to immediately add a range of practical tools for your site visitors. Here are some of these plugins:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators Plugin)
This is a free collection of over 400 calculators that you can display on your website and embed into your pages, posts, or sidebars using shortcodes. Internationalization is supported.
Note: Most of the calculators aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are a few for:
- 401k
- Rate of return
- Tax
- Credit
- And lots more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin)
This plugin installs a widget that displays up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can show as many widgets as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker Plugin)
This plugin lets you add a custom stock ticker to any sidebar, post or page using shortcodes.
The 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 create custom stocks for individual categories.
Customize the appearance by changing width, height, background color, number of stocks displayed at one time, font size, text color, font family, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator)
This free calculator lets your visitors calculate indicative repayments. This is a great financial tool for vehicle loans, property, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator Plugin – Loan Calculators)
The 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)
WP-Invoice is ideal for WordPress users with clients to bill.
This plugin integrates billing into WordPress. You can send clients itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand functionality with free and premium add-ons that let you manage locations, accept electronic signatures, 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 clients and their information, and integrates with payment processors like PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, and many others.
WP-Invoice lets you add custom payments and charges, create pre-defined line items and discounts, view invoice status and progression, easily filter and find invoices, show invoice receipts and invoice history, create e-mail notification 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 Plugin)
This is a complete business management system that includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, helpdesk with knowledgebase and ticketing management system, client relationship management and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin For WordPress – Client Invoice)
All In One Business Management Application supports international 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 Plugin For WordPress)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage client data and invoices, track your company’s cash flow and net worth, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software Plugin For WordPress – Invoicing)
iBilling allows you to get paid faster by integrating with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting And Financial Services Themes For WordPress
To benefit the most from using WordPress to grow your business online, we recommend choosing a theme specifically suited for accounting businesses. Here is a list of some of the best accounting 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 web design.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro)
This is a turn-key theme for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, offers several page templates, custom menu features, a content composer (which improves on the standard WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resized images, and a whole lot more.
You can customize this theme with premium add-ons.
Visit this site to learn more this WordPress theme:
Accountancy
(Accountancy – WordPress Theme)
Accountancy comes in a variety of styles and layouts to help make your accounting site look and feel professional.
This fully responsive theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, it’s lightweight, search engine friendly, and loads fast. Accountancy Theme provides what your business needs without bloating your theme. Free updates and 1 year of support is included in the cost of purchasing.
To learn more about about this theme, visit this site:
Accounting
(Accounting Theme)
This premium theme includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your site any way you want. The theme also provides unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different header types, a custom administration panel, four color schemes, a custom slider, 3 blog types, and is mobile-friendly. It is a clean-looking, modern and fast loading theme.
For more details, go here:
Kathryn
(Kathryn WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was created specifically for accounting businesses. The theme comes with multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, flexible rotator, call to action boxes, author boxes for single or multiple bloggers, various colors, is easy to use, search optimized, 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 responsive slider plugin and must be purchased separately from the Genesis Framework.
To learn more about this theme, visit this website:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – Theme For WordPress)
This one was built with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., was specifically designed 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 mobile-friendly and includes pages for your accounting services, contact details section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials, and a blog.
More info:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate WP Theme)
This is a corporate theme developed specifically for professional service providers such as accountants and attorneys. Use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. WP Advocate includes a custom post type adding staff profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s a clean and fast-loading theme.
To learn more about this theme, go here:
Divi
(Divi)
This premium theme is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection. You can create a unique, professional site using its page builder or beautiful 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 edit the structure of their page without editing code.
(Divi – WordPress Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
It has 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. Modules include multiple layouts, a slider, you can place pricing tables, testimonials, call-to-action, and lots more. Divi is mobile-friendly and fully customizable. Prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to all sleek business themes.
For more details, go here:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme for WordPress from Elegant Themes was specifically created to make corporate sites look great.
The Corporation has a sleek and professional page-based home page design with a prominent, flashy slider, blog design, 6 different different 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 over 80 sleek business themes.
Go here for more information:
Adviser
(Adviser – WordPress Theme)
This theme was specifically built to help finance professionals build trust online with a clean business design. It’s ideal for those that provide services like investing advice or tax advice. Adviser 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.
For more details, go here:
Tax Help
(Tax Help)
This premium WordPress theme was designed for financial organizations, tax and financial advisors, and businesses offering tax assistance. This theme is designed to show your services professionally to help establish your business reputation. It has different blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and many custom shortcodes.
More information:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme For WordPress)
Finance Business WordPress Theme was specifically designed for organizations that provide any type of financial service including tax help, consulting, finance, insurance, corporate, accounting, loans, and more. Finance Business includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around one hundred shortcodes that includes charts and financial content, custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page settings, color management, animated elements, and lots more.
Go here to learn more this theme:
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 of improving SEO, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic using plugins & themes helpful.
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