In Part 1 of this guide on ways to build your accounting web presence, we covered the following topics:
- Challenges Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Accounting Professionals
- Basic Website Pages
- How To Improve The Content On Your Site
In this section, we continue exploring more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Topics covered below include:
- Tips For Improving Traffic
- Tips For Generating More Leads & Enquiries With WordPress
- WordPress Plugins For Improving SEO, Creating Better User Engagement And Traffic Generation
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins And Themes That Can Help To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Traffic
Web traffic is vital to your online business growth. In this section we explore ways to help you improve your web traffic using WordPress.
Optimize Your Site For Search Engines (SEO) With WordPress
There are so many ways that WordPress helps improve SEO:
- SEO-Friendly – Set the permalinks to create search engine-optimized URLS for your posts.
- Post Tags – Choose the keywords that you want search engines to index your posts for.
- Categories – Create search engine-friendly categories for your posts and products.
- Excerpts – Create the description for your posts that will display to search engine users.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your content images for improved search engine results.
- Internal Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that lets you easily link internal content
- Post Notification – WordPress can be set up to automatically notify other search directories the moment a new post is published on your site.
WordPress Plugins For Improving Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Better User Engagement And Web Traffic Generation
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, there are many WordPress plugins that will improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more visitors to your website.
For example, you can use the plugins below to improve your website’s search engine optimization:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin (lists all of your posts and pages for search engines)
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin
(Use a plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your SEO)
Other WordPress tools you can add to improve your accounting website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your site are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social sharing. Here are a few more powerful plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – This free plugin allows you to set up and run your own social network on WordPress.
- bbPress – This free plugin can be used to run a community forum on your WordPress website.
- E-Newsletter – Send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard, without 3rd-party subscriptions.
- Disqus – Disqus lets you power discussions and increases user engagement on your website.
- Monarch – Add powerful social sharing features on your website.
(You can easily add social features to your website using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
Generate New Leads & Enquiries With WordPress-Based Tools
In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries for your accounting or financial services business.
Add An Email Newsletter
Providing a newsletter is a great way to build a list of subscribers. Adding an email newsletter provides a number of benefits, like:
- Drives targeted traffic
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides updates that could save businesses time and money
- Provides a targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to offer special products or services to a select audience
- Provides new opportunities for improving engaging with users
- Provides you with another way for readers to share your content
One of the best ways to get visitors to subscribe is to provide them with valuable content and give them something valuable for free in exchange for their details. This can be a guide, checklists for handling finances, access to tax calculators, coupons, membership access to videos, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
A contact form provides an easy and simple way for prospective clients to get in touch with you. A contact form also lets users report concerns, ask questions to specific departments, request a quote, and more.
Contact forms provide many benefits and advantages including:
- Reduces spam
- Automated response
- Giving you control over what gets sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Contact forms can be added to any page or post
- Looks professional
- Convenience for users
One of the most popular contact form plugins is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin is easy to install and configure and lets you insert and manage multiple contact forms, customize the forms and the email contents, add fields, and more.
Contact Form 7 supports international languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, spam filtering and so on.
Something to consider is to segment your contact form so visitors can choose which aspect of your business they are contacting your company about. This ensures that contact form requests reach the right person.
Maps
A map helps your visitors and clients find you.
A map is a very useful tool for several reasons:
- A map helps to increase local SEO
- Clients can better plan their meeting or appointments
- Show location of events
(Adding maps to your site helps your visitors and clients find you)
Here are some popular plugins that let you embed, customize and display maps on your site:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors To Your Accounting Website Using WordPress Plugins And Themes
Accounting WordPress Plugins
WordPress makes available a number of plugins you can add to your accounting or financial services website to immediately add a range of practical tools for users. Here are some of these:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators Plugin)
This is a free collection of over 400 calculators that you can display on your website. It also supports internationalization
Most of them aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are quite a few for:
- 401k
- Payments
- CD
- Debit
- And more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin installs a widget that shows a number of different stock quotes per portfolio. You can show as many widgets as you like.
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker Plugin For WordPress)
With this plugin you can place a custom stock ticker on any post, page or sidebar with shortcodes.
The plugin includes several customizable ticker. Choose from built-in skins or customize it yourself. It’s easy to customize it so it matches your site. You can also add custom stocks to individual categories.
Customize the appearance by changing height, width, background color, opacity, scrolling speed, number of stocks displayed simultaneously, text color, font size, font family, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator WP Plugin)
This free calculator allows your users to calculate indicative repayments online. It’s great for auto loans, property, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator WP Plugin – Loan Calculator)
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 forms that can be placed in any page or post.
For more details, go here}:
WP-Invoice
(WP-Invoice)
WP-Invoice lets WordPress blog owners send itemized invoices to their clients.
This plugin lets you integrate 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 WP’s user management database to keep track of clients and their information, and integrates with payment processors like PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, 2Checkout, USAePay, and several others.
Plugin features include adding custom payments and charges, adding pre-defined line items and discounts, viewing invoice status and progression, easily filtering and finding invoices, showing invoice receipts and invoice history, creating e-mail notification templates, accessing 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 WP Plugin)
This complete business management system includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with ticket management system, client relationship management and many more features.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin – Invoice)
The plugin supports international 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 customer data and invoicing, tracks your company’s net worth and cash flow, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software – WordPress Plugin – Client Invoice)
iBilling Accounting and Billing Software allows you to get paid faster by integrating with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting Themes For WordPress
To benefit the most from using WordPress to grow your business online, it’s best to choose a theme specifically for accounting businesses. Here is a look at some of the best accounting themes available. With these themes you can have a professional accounting website within minutes and save hundreds to thousands of dollars on the cost of web design.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro Theme For WordPress)
Accounting Pro is an inexpensive turn-key theme designed for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s responsive, has 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 lots more.
You can expand Accounting Pro with premium add-ons.
More information:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme For WordPress)
Accountancy comes in a variety of styles and layouts to help make your accounting site look and feel professional.
This fully responsive (mobile-friendly) theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, it’s lightweight, search optimized, and fast loading. Accountancy provides the features your business needs without bloating your theme. Your purchase includes free updates and one year of support.
More info:
Accounting
(Accounting)
Accounting Theme includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can design your website any way you want. It also has unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom admin panel, four color schemes, a custom slider, 3 blog types, and is fully responsive. Accountancy is a clean-looking, modern and fast-to-load theme.
For more details, go here:
Kathryn
(Kathryn WP Theme)
Kathryn is a premium WordPress child theme for the Genesis Framework created specifically for accountants. It allows you to use WordPress as a true CMS and provides multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, flexible rotator, various color choices, is easy to use, inexpensive, search engine friendly, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). Although it could easily suit any profession, 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.
More information:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was developed with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., is specifically designed to make your accounting business site look professional without 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 services, contact section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials section, and a blog.
More info:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate)
This is a corporate theme designed specifically for professional service providers such as accountants and attorneys. You can 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 clean and loads fast.
More information:
Divi
(Divi Theme For WordPress)
This is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection. Divi lets you create any style of professional site you want using its page builder or beautiful and unique pre-made layouts. You can modify your layout as much as you need.
The builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing anyone to understand and change the structure of their page without touching code.
(Divi – WordPress Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
It comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. This includes accordion, call to action, circle counter, divider, image, map, post title, pricing table, tabs, text, fullwidth code, fullwidth map, fullwidth slider, and more.. Divi is responsive and fully customizable. Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to over 80 sleek business themes.
More information:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme For WordPress)
The Corporation was created specifically to make corporate sites look good.
It has a sleek and professional page-based home page design with a prominent slider. It also has a blog design. It comes with 6 color schemes. It also comes with 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 access to 80+ beautifully-designed themes.
For more details about this WordPress theme, go here:
Adviser
(Adviser Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme was designed specifically to help those in the financial industry to build trust with a clean business design. It’s ideal for those that provide services like investments or tax help. It includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications, lease calculator, widgets and multiple shortcodes, and a drag-and-drop visual composer..
Go here to learn more about using this theme:
Tax Help
(Tax Help WP Theme)
This theme was specifically built for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and those that provide tax services. It’s designed to show your services professionally and help grow your professional 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 info:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme was built for businesses that provide any type of financial service such as tax help, consulting, insurance, finance, corporate, accounting, loans, and more. Finance Business includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around one hundred shortcodes that let you add charts and financial content, custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page settings, color management features, animated elements, and a lot more.
Go here for 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, you have found this guide on how to improve SEO, increase user engagement and increase web traffic generation using plugins useful.
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