In Part One of this comprehensive guide on ways to improve your accounting business presence online, we provided in-depth information on the following areas:
- Online Challenges For Accounting And Financial Businesses
- Opportunities For Accounting Businesses In The Online Economy
- Essential Website Pages
- Improving The Content On Your Site
In this section, we explore more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Areas covered include:
- Improve Web Traffic Using WordPress
- How To Generate More Leads & Enquiries
- WordPress Plugins & Themes For Improving SEO, Creating Better User Engagement And Driving More Visitors
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
Grow Your Accounting Website – Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins
Web traffic is an important part of your online business growth. In this section we explore ways to help you improve your web traffic.
Optimizing Your Website For SEO With WordPress
There are many ways WordPress can help to improve your accounting or financial services website’s SEO:
- SEO-Friendly – configure the permalinks to use the title of the post.
- Post Tags – WordPress lets you specify the keywords that you want your posts to be indexed for in the search engines.
- Post Categories – Create SEO-friendly categories for your posts and products.
- Excerpts – Create an excerpt that search engines will display.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your content images for better search engine results.
- Internal Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that allows you to easily create internal links
- Pinging – WordPress can be configured to automatically notify other sites and directories immediately upon publishing new content on your site.
Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Increase User Engagement And Drive More Traffic With Plugins
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, the WordPress developer community makes available dozens of plugins that improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more web traffic to your site.
For example, you can use the plugins below to improve your SEO:
- Yoast SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress sitemap plugin
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin
(Use a plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your site’s SEO)
Other ways to improve your website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your business are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social features. Here are some plugins that can help (many of the plugins described below are also free):
- BuddyPress – Use this free WordPress plugin to set up and manage a social network on your website, with member profiles, activity streams, user groups, messaging, and more.
- bbPress – Use bbPress to set up your own online discussion forum on your WordPress site.
- E-Newsletter – This plugin lets you send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WP dashboard, without requiring a 3rd party subscription.
- Disqus – This plugin lets you power discussions and increases user engagement on your site.
- Floating Social – Add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online on your website.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing buttons to their site using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
Tips For Generating More Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress-Based Tools
In this section we will discuss ways to improve your sales and generate more leads and enquiries online.
Add An Email Newsletter
Providing an email newsletter is a great way to retain and grow your readership. It] provides many benefits and advantages including:
- Drives targeted traffic
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides practical tips and advice
- Provides a highly targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to offer special services or products to a select audience
- Provides new opportunities for user engagement
- Provides other ways for subscribers to share your content
An effective way to attract newsletter subscribers is to provide users with valuable content and give them free gifts or bonus items in exchange for their details. This can be a special report, checklists for handling finances, access to financial calculators, discount coupons, access to videos, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
Contact forms make it easy and simple for readers to get in touch. A contact form also lets readers provide feedback, ask questions to specific departments, ask for quotes, give suggestions and more.
A contact form provides several benefits including:
- Reduces spam
- Automated response
- Gives you control over what is sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Can be added to any post or page
- Looks professional
- More convenient for users
A popular contact form plugin for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7)
This plugin is easy to install and configure and allows you to create and manage multiple contact forms, customize your 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 add sections to your contact form so users can select which aspect of your business they are contacting you about. This ensures that visitors’ requests reach the right person.
Adding A Map
Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you.
Maps are a very useful tool for several reasons:
- A map helps to increase local SEO
- Visitors can find you more easily
- Display location of events
(Adding maps to your site helps your visitors and clients find you)
Popular Google Maps plugins for WordPress include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
WordPress Plugins For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Web Traffic Generation
Accounting WordPress Plugins
WordPress provides a number of plugins you can add to your accounting website that will immediately add a range of practical tools for your site visitors. Here are some of these plugins:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin provides 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 them aren’t focused on accounting, but there are a few for:
- 401k
- Loans
- CD
- Equity
- And many more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress)
With this plugin you get a widget that displays a number of different stock quotes per portfolio. You can show as many portfolios as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker)
With this plugin you can add a custom stock ticker to any page, post, or sidebar using shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker includes loads of customizable ticker. You can choose from built-in themes or customize it yourself to match the look and feel of your site. You can also create custom stocks for specific categories.
Customize the appearance by changing height, width, scroll speed, opacity, background color, number of stocks displayed at one time, text color, font family, font size, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin)
This free plugin allows your site visitors to calculate indicative repayments online. It’s great for automotive loans, real estate loans, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin – Loan Calculators)
The plugin 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 a form that can be placed in any page or post.
For more details, go here}:
WP-Invoice
(WP-Invoice Plugin)
WP-Invoice lets WordPress blog owners send itemized invoices to their clients.
WP-Invoice lets you integrate billing into WordPress. You can send out 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 from clients, 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 your clients and their information, and integrates with PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, and several others.
Plugin features include adding custom payments and charges, inserting pre-defined line items and discounts, viewing invoice status and progression, easily filtering and finding invoices, seeing 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 Plugin For WordPress)
This is a complete business management system that includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, helpdesk with ticketing management system, client relationship management and many additional features.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin For WordPress – Client Invoicing)
All In One Business Management Application supports multiple 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 WordPress Plugin)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage customer data and invoices, tracks 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 – Invoicing)
iBilling integrates with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
WordPress Themes - Financial Services
To benefit the most from using WordPress to grow your business online, it’s best to choose a theme specifically suited for accounting businesses. Here is a look at some of the best accounting themes available. These themes allow you to have a professional-looking accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro)
This premium WordPress theme is a turn-key theme designed for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s responsive, has a drag-and-drop page-builder, offers several page templates, custom menus, a content composer (which improves on the standard WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resized images, and lots more.
Accounting Pro can be expanded by installing premium add-ons.
More information:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme)
This theme comes with a variety of styles and layouts that helps make your accounting site look and feel professional.
This fully responsive (mobile-friendly) theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, it’s lightweight, search engine optimized, and loads fast. It provides the features your business needs without bloating your theme. Free updates and one year of support is included with the price.
More info:
Accounting
(Accounting – WordPress Theme)
Accounting includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can design your website any way you want. The theme also has unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different header types, a custom administration panel, different color schemes, a custom slider, three different blog types, and is mobile-friendly. Accountancy looks clean and modern and loads fast.
To learn more about this WordPress theme, go here:
Kathryn
(Kathryn Theme)
Kathryn is a premium WordPress child theme for the Genesis Framework that’s built specifically for accountants. The theme offers a slider, multiple layouts, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, various color choices, is easy to use, search optimized, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). Although this theme could easily suit any profession you like, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy plugin and is a separate purchase from the Genesis Framework.
More information:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
This one was designed with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. It features authoritative colors and layout elements specifically designed to make your accounting site look professional while not 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 accounting services, contact details section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials section, and a blog.
Go here for more info:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate Theme For WordPress)
WP Advocate is a corporate theme designed specifically for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. You can use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. WP Advocate includes a custom post type for employee profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is a clean-looking and fast-loading theme.
More information:
Divi
(Divi – WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ entire theme collection. You can create a professional website using the page builder or beautiful and unique 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 change the structure of their web pages without touching code.
(Divi – WordPress Theme – Page Builder)
It comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. This includes modules such as audio player, blurb, code, email optin, filterable portfolio, number counter, post title, shop, tabs, video slider, fullwidth header, fullwidth portfolio, fullwidth slider, and more.. Divi is mobile-friendly and completely customizable. Prices start at $69 per year and includes access to all beautifully-designed themes.
Go here for more info:
The Corporation
(The Corporation)
The Corporation Theme from Elegant Themes was developed specifically to make corporate sites look good.
It has a page-based home page design with a nice slider, blog design, 6 unique 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 over 80 beautifully-designed themes.
For more information, go here:
Adviser
(Adviser – WordPress Theme)
This theme was specifically built to help businesses in the financial industry to build trust online with a clean business design. It’s perfect for businesses that provide services such as investment advice or tax advice. The theme 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.
More info:
Tax Help
(Tax Help)
This theme was specifically designed for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and businesses that provide tax services. Tax Help is designed to showcase your services in a professional way and help build your professional reputation. It provides a range of blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and many custom shortcodes.
For more information, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business)
This premium WordPress theme was designed specifically for businesses that provide financial services such as consulting, tax help, insurance, corporate, finance, accounting, loans, and more. The theme includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around one hundred shortcodes that includes charts and financial content, a custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page options, color management, animated elements, and a lot more.
To learn more about using this theme, visit this site:
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 and themes that can help to improve SEO, improve user engagement and increase traffic to your site generation useful.
Subscribe below to receive 101+ useful WordPress tips that will help you grow your business …
***
"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group
***