In Part One of this guide on ways to improve your accounting business web presence, we covered the following topics:
- Challenges Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Accountants In The Online Economy
- Improving Your Website Pages
- How To Improve Your Content
In this section, we explore more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Areas covered include:
- Ways Of Improving Web Traffic With WordPress
- Ways To Generate New Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress
- WordPress Plugins For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Traffic Generation
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
Grow Your Accounting Website – Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Traffic Using WordPress Plugins & Themes
Web traffic is an important part of your online business growth. This section will help you improve your web traffic using WordPress.
Optimize Your Website For Search Engines
There are many ways WordPress can help to optimize your accounting or financial services website for search engines:
- SEO-Friendly – WordPress lets you set the permalinks to use the title of the posts as the URL of your pages.
- Post Tags – Choose the keywords that you want search engines to index your article pages (posts) for.
- Categories – Create search engine-friendly categories for keeping your content organized and easy to find.
- Excerpts – Create descriptions for your posts that will display to search engine users.
- Images – title images with keywords for better search results.
- Internal Content Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that allows you to easily create internal links for faster indexing of pages
- Post Notification – Set up your site to automatically notify other sites and directories immediately upon publishing new content on your site.
Improving Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Traffic Using WordPress Plugins
As well as the built-in features of WordPress, the WordPress development community makes available various plugins that improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your site.
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
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin
(A plugin like Yoast SEO (formerly known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your SEO)
Other things you can do to improve your accounting or financial services website’s SEO, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your website are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social sharing features. Here are a few useful WordPress plugins that can help (many of the plugins described below can be downloaded at no cost):
- BuddyPress – This free plugin can be used to run a social community on your website.
- bbPress – This free WordPress plugin can be used to run your own discussion forum on WordPress.
- E-Newsletter – Send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard.
- Disqus – use this WordPress plugin to power discussions and increases user engagement on your website or blog.
- Monarch – This plugin lets you add powerful social sharing features and buttons on your website or blog.
(WordPress users can easily add social features to their website with free or inexpensive plugins)
Generate More Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress-Based Applications
Let’s take a look now at how to improve your sales and generate more leads and enquiries.
Adding An Email Newsletter
Providing an email newsletter is a great way to build a subscriber list. It provides several benefits and advantages including:
- Drives targeted traffic
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides useful updates
- Provides a targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to offer special products or services to a select audience
- Provides new opportunities for user interaction
- Provides additional opportunities for your content to be shared around with other potential customers
An effective strategy for enticing visitors to subscribe is to provide users with valuable information and give them free gifts or bonus items in exchange for their details. This could be a useful report, checklists for handling tax, access to tax calculators, coupons, access to subscriber-only content, contests, etc.
Add A Contact Form
A contact form provides an easy and simple way for prospective clients to get in touch. Contact forms also let visitors send feedback, ask questions to specific departments, ask for quotes, and more.
Contact forms provide a number of benefits, like:
- Reduces spam
- Automated response
- Gives you control over what gets sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Can be added to any post or page
- Looks professional
- Convenient for visitors
One of the most popular contact form plugins for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin)
Contact Form 7 lets you create multiple contact forms into any page or post, customize your forms and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, and spam filtering is also supported.
Something to consider is to segment your contact form so visitors can select the topic they are contacting you about. This ensures that visitors get the comment to the right person.
Provide Maps
Maps help your visitors and customers find you.
Maps are useful tools for several reasons:
- They improve local SEO
- Clients can better plan their visits or appointments
- Shows location of events
(Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you)
Below are some 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 Search Engine Optimization, Better User Engagement And Traffic Generation
Financial Plugins For WordPress
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your accounting website that will immediately make available a range of functional tools for your site visitors. Here are some of the plugins you can choose from:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators WordPress Plugin)
This plugin provides a free collection of 400+ calculators. You can embed these into your posts, pages, or sidebars using shortcodes. The plugin also supports internationalization
Note: Most of them aren’t focused on accounting, but there are quite a few you can use for:
- Interest rate
- Rate of return
- CD
- Credit
- And lots more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin)
With this plugin you get a widget that shows up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many portfolios as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker Plugin For WordPress)
With this plugin you can place custom stock tickers on any sidebar, page or post with shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker comes with several customizable ticker. Choose from built-in themes or customize these yourself to match the look and feel of your website. You can also add custom stocks to specific categories.
Customize the appearance by changing colors, speed, symbols, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin)
This free plugin lets users calculate indicative repayments. It’s great for calculating vehicle loans, property loans, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin – Loan Calculators)
Finance Calculator also contains an application form that will send a notification message to the email address you specify.
Other features of this plugin include showing 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 integrates billing into WordPress. You can send itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand plugin functionality with both free and premium add-ons that let you manage business, accept electronic signatures, create PDF invoice versions, provide quotes, create 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, and others.
The plugin gives you the ability to 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, 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 For WordPress)
This complete business management system includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with ticket management system, CRM and many added features.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin – Invoicing)
The plugin supports different languages, is fully customizable and provides powerful tools such as 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 and communicate with clients, tracks your company’s cash flow and net worth, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software Plugin – Invoice)
iBilling Accounting and Billing Software integrates with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
WordPress Financial Themes
To get the best features and professional look for your website, we recommend choosing a theme specifically suited for accounting businesses. Here is a look at some of the best accountancy themes available. These themes allow you to own a professional accounting website within minutes and save hundreds to thousands of dollars on the cost of website design.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro)
Accounting Pro is an inexpensive turn-key theme 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, performs auto resizing for images, and lots more.
You can easily expand Accounting Pro by installing premium add-ons.
Go here for more details:
Accountancy
(Accountancy WP Theme)
This theme has a variety of built-in styles and layouts to help give your accounting website a professional look and feel.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, and more. It’s lightweight, search optimized, loads fast, and is responsive. It provides what your business needs without bloating your theme. Free updates and one year of support is included in your purchase.
For more details, go here:
Accounting
(Accounting – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your website any way you want. It also provides unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different header types, a custom administration panel, four color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). Accountancy is a clean-looking, modern and fast-to-load theme.
For more details about this theme, go here:
Kathryn
(Kathryn)
Kathryn is a premium child theme for the Genesis Framework designed for accountants. Kathryn allows you to use WordPress as a true CMS and offers multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, many colors, is easy to use, search optimized, and is mobile-friendly. Although this theme could easily suit any profession you want it to, 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 information:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WP Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was created 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 give your accounting website a professional look. 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 form section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials, and a blog.
Visit this site to learn more about using this theme:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate)
This is a corporate theme specifically designed for professional service providers such as accountants and attorneys. 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 clean-looking and loads fast.
Go here for more info:
Divi
(Divi WP Theme)
This premium theme is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ collection. You can create a unique, professional site using the page builder or pre-made layouts. You can change your layout as much as you need.
Divi’s page builder transforms elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and easily edit the structure of their pages without touching code.
(Divi WordPress Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
It has 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. This includes modules such as multiple layouts, a slider, you can place pricing tables, testimonials, call-to-action, and lots more. Divi is mobile-friendly and fully customizable. Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to all professional themes.
Go here for more details:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme from Elegant Themes was specifically developed to create great-looking corporate websites.
The Corporation has a page-based home page design with a prominent slider. It also has a blog design and features that toggle on and off. It comes with six color schemes. It also comes with multiple page templates that include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Elegant Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to 80+ sleek business themes.
More info:
Adviser
(Adviser WP Theme)
This one was built to help finance professionals build trust through clean web design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services like investments or tax advice. The theme includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications, a built-in lease calculator, multiple shortcodes and widgets, and the drag-and-drop visual composer..
Go here to learn more this theme:
Tax Help
(Tax Help)
This theme was designed for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and firms providing tax assistance. This theme is designed to show your services in a professional way and help build your professional reputation. It provides different blog styles, uses the drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and additional custom shortcodes.
Go here for more info:
Finance Business
(Finance Business WordPress Theme)
This theme was designed specifically for firms that provide financial services such as consulting, tax help, insurance, finance, corporate, loans, accounting, and more. The theme includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin. It also has around 100 shortcodes that let you add charts and financial content. It also includes the custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page settings, color management features, animations, and a whole lot 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, you have found this guide on WordPress plugins & themes that can help improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more traffic helpful.
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