In Part 1 of this guide on ways to build your accounting web presence, we covered the following areas:
- Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Accountants In The Online Economy
- Your Web Pages
- Ways To Improve Your Content
In this section, we explore more ways to grow your accounting business online. Areas covered below include:
- Tips For Improving Web Traffic
- Generating More Leads & Enquiries
- How To Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With Plugins And Themes
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
- Adding New Features And Functionality To Your Site With WP Plugins
- WP For Newbies – An Overview Of Themes
Ways To Improve Traffic With WordPress
Your web traffic is an important part of your online business growth. This section explores ways of improving SEO, increase user engagement and increase web traffic generation using WordPress plugins & themes.
Optimize Your Site For Search Engines (SEO) Using WordPress
There are so many ways WordPress can help to improve SEO:
- Search Engine-Friendly URLs – configure the permalinks to create search engine-optimized URLS for your posts.
- Tags – Choose the keywords that you want your articles to be indexed by in the search engines.
- Categories – Create search engine-friendly categories for your posts and products.
- Post Excerpts – Create an excerpt that search engines will show in their search results.
- Images – title images used in your content with keywords for improved search engine results.
- Internal Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that lets you easily link internal content
- Post Notification – Set up your WordPress site to automatically notify (ping) other sites and directories whenever 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 dozens of plugins that improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more web 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 XML sitemap plugin (lists all of your posts and pages for indexing by search engines)
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin
(A plugin like Yoast SEO can improve your site’s search engine optimization)
Other WordPress tools you can use to improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your site are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social sharing. Here are a few WordPress plugins that can help (many of the plugins described below are also free):
- BuddyPress – BuddyPress can be used to run a social community on WordPress, with member profiles, activity streams, messaging, user groups, and more.
- bbPress – This free plugin can be used to set up and manage your own community forum on your site.
- E-Newsletter – Send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard.
- Disqus – Power discussions and increases user engagement on your website or blog.
- Social Media Feather – Add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online on your site.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing buttons to their website with free or inexpensive plugins)
Generate Leads & Enquiries
In this section we’ll show you ways to improve your sales and generate leads and enquiries.
Add An Email Newsletter
Providing an email newsletter is an excellent way to build a list of subscribers. It provides a number of benefits including:
- Drives targeted traffic
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides updates that could save businesses time and money
- Provides you with a highly targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to offer special services or products to a select audience
- Provides regular opportunities for improving user interaction
- Provides you with other ways for your content to be shared around with new prospective clients
A proven way to attract new subscribers to your newsletter is to provide high value content and give users additional bonuses for free in exchange for their personal details. This can be a useful report, checklists for handling finances, access to financial calculators, coupons, membership access to courses, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
A contact form provides an easy and simple way for prospective customers to get in touch with you. Contact forms also let visitors report issues, contact specific departments, ask for a quote, and more.
A contact form provides many benefits, like:
- 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
- Looks professional
- Convenience for visitors
A popular contact form plugin for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin For WordPress)
Contact form 7 is a free plugin that is easy to install and set up and lets you create multiple contact forms, customize the form and the email contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, and Akismet spam filtering is supported.
Another option you may want to consider is to segment your contact form so users can select which aspect of your business they are contacting you about. This ensures that contact form requests reach the right person.
Adding A Map
A map helps your visitors and clients find you.
Adding maps (e.g. Google Maps) to your WordPress site also provides visitors with a number of benefits, such as:
- Maps improve local SEO
- Customers can better plan their meeting or appointments
- Displays location of events
(Maps help your visitors and clients find you)
Some of the more popular Google Maps plugins include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
WordPress Plugins & Themes For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Better User Engagement And Traffic Generation
Accounting And Financial Services Plugins For WordPress
WordPress makes available a number of plugins you can add to your accounting website that will immediately make available a range of functional tools for your site visitors. Here are just some of the plugins you can choose from:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators)
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. It also supports internationalization
Most of the calculators aren’t focused on accounting, but there are quite a few you can use for:
- 401k
- Rate of return
- Leases
- Debit
- And lots more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin)
This free plugin gives you a widget that shows up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can show as many widgets 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, page or post with shortcodes.
This plugin comes with loads of customizable ticker. You can choose from built-in skins or customize these yourself to match the look and feel of your site. You can also add custom stocks to individual categories.
Customize the appearance by changing width, height, background color, opacity, scroll speed, number of stocks displayed at one time, text color, font size, font family, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator WP Plugin)
This free plugin allows users to calculate indicative repayments. This is a great financial tool for calculating vehicle loans, real estate, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress – Loan Calculators)
Finance Calculator also contains an application form that will send a notification message to a specified email address.
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 Plugin)
WP-Invoice is ideal for WordPress business users with clients to bill.
WP-Invoice integrates billing into WordPress. You can send itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand plugin functionality with free and premium add-ons, like business location, electronic signature, PDF creation, quote creation, single-page checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into your WordPress 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 many others.
Plugin features include adding custom payments and charges, inserting pre-defined line items and discounts, quickly viewing invoice status and progression, filtering and finding invoices, showing invoice receipts and invoice history, creating email notification templates, displaying 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 WP Plugin)
This is a complete business management system that includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, helpdesk with knowledgebase and support ticketing management system, client relationship management and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin For WordPress – Client Invoice)
The plugin supports international languages, is fully customizable and provides additional tools such as document management, to do app, and more.
For more details, go here}:
iBilling – Accounting And Billing Software
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software Plugin)
iBilling is a scalable business software that lets you manage clients and invoicing, track your company’s cash flow and net worth, send single-click payment reminders and payment confirmations, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software WP Plugin – Invoice)
iBilling Accounting and Billing Software integrates with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Financial WordPress Themes
To benefit the most from using WordPress, we recommend choosing a theme specifically suited for accounting. Here is a look at some of the best themes themes available for accounting. These themes allow you to have 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 an inexpensive turn-key theme created for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s responsive, has 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 lots more.
You can easily expand this theme with premium add-ons.
For more information, go here:
Accountancy
(Accountancy)
This premium theme comes in a variety of built-in styles and layouts to help make your accounting site look and feel professional.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, and more. It’s lightweight, search engine optimized, loads fast, and fully responsive. It provides the features you need without bloating your theme. Your purchase price includes free updates and 1 year of support.
More info:
Accounting
(Accounting)
This premium theme includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can design your site any way you want. The theme also provides unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom admin panel, different color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is fully responsive. It is a clean-looking, modern and fast-to-load theme.
More info:
Kathryn
(Kathryn Theme For WordPress)
This one is a premium child theme for the Genesis Framework that’s created for accounting services. Kathryn offers multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, call to action boxes, various colors, is easy to use, SEO friendly, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). Although it could easily suit any profession, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy plugin and must be purchased separately from the Genesis Framework.
Go here to learn more about using this theme:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – Theme For WordPress)
This one was created to enhance professionalism within the accounting industry. It features authoritative colors and elements designed specifically to make your accounting website look professional without looking dull. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s fully responsive and includes pages for your services, contact details section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials, and a blog.
For more details, go here:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate)
This is a corporate theme developed specifically for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. You can use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. It also includes a custom post type for employee profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s a clean and fast-loading theme.
More information:
Divi
(Divi Theme)
Divi is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ entire theme collection. Divi lets you create a professional site using its page builder or pre-made layouts. You can modify your layout to your heart’s content.
Divi’s page builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and easily edit the structure of their pages without editing code.
(Divi – Page Builder)
Divi comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. These include bar counter, blurb, contact form, divider, image, login, portfolio, pricing table, tabs, video, fullwidth header, fullwidth portfolio, fullwidth post title, and more.. Divi is fully responsive and completely customizable. Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to over 80 beautifully-designed themes.
More info:
The Corporation
(The Corporation)
This one from Elegant Themes was specifically designed to create good-looking corporate sites.
It has a sleek and professional page-based home page design with a prominent slider, blog design, six different color schemes, multiple page templates that 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 stunning themes.
More info:
Adviser
(Adviser Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was specifically developed to help finance professionals build trust online through clean web design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services such as investments or tax advice. The theme 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..
More information:
Tax Help
(Tax Help Theme)
Tax Help was designed specifically for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and those that provide tax services. This theme is designed to showcase your services in a professional way and help build your professional reputation. It has a range of blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and additional custom shortcodes.
More information:
Finance Business
(Finance Business WP Theme)
This one was built for businesses that provide any type of financial service such as tax help, consulting, finance, insurance, corporate, accounting, loans, and more. It includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin. It also has around one hundred shortcodes that let you add charts and financial content. It also includes the custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page settings, color management, animations, and a lot more.
For more details, 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 guide has helped you learn WordPress plugins and themes that can help to improve SEO, increase user engagement and increase web traffic generation.
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