In Part One of this step-by-step guide on ways to build your accounting web presence, we covered the following areas:
- Online Challenges For The Accounting Profession
- Opportunities For The Accounting Profession In The Web Economy
- Ways To Improve Your Web Pages
- Tips On 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:
- Tips For Improving Traffic With WordPress
- Tips For Generating New Leads & Enquiries
- WordPress Plugins & Themes That Can Help Improve Search Engine Optimization, Create Better User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic To Your Website Generation
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
- WordPress Plugins – Enhancing Your Web Site’s Features
- WordPress For Beginners – An Overview Of WordPress Themes
Improving Traffic
Your web traffic is a vital part of your online business growth. This section will help you improve your web traffic using WordPress.
Optimize Your Website For Search Engines Using WordPress
There are lots of ways WordPress can help to improve SEO:
- SEO-Friendly – Set the permalinks to create search engine-optimized web addresses for your article pages.
- Tags – WordPress lets you choose the keywords that you want search engines to index your posts for.
- Categories – Add categories for archiving and organizing your content.
- Excerpts – WordPress lets you compose descriptions for your posts that search engines will display in their search result pages.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your images for better search engine results.
- Content Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that lets you easily link internal content
- Pinging – Set up your WordPress site to automatically notify (ping) other search directories the moment a new post is published on your website.
Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors To Your Site With WordPress Plugins
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, there are a number of WordPress plugins that will improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your site.
For example, here are some plugins you can use to improve your site’s SEO:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(Use a plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your site’s SEO)
Other WordPress tools you can use to improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your business are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social sharing features. Here are some more useful plugins that can help (many of the plugins listed below can be downloaded at no cost):
- BuddyPress – Set up an online social network on your WordPress website, with member profiles, user groups, activity streams, messaging, and more.
- bbPress – Run your own community forum on your website.
- E-Newsletter – This plugin lets you send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard, without requiring third-party subscriptions.
- Disqus – use this plugin to power discussions and helps to increase user engagement on your website.
- Social Media Feather – This WordPress plugin lets you add social sharing features to your site.
(You can easily add social sharing buttons to your website using free or inexpensive plugins)
Tips For Generating New Leads & Enquiries
Let’s now discuss ways to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries for your business.
Adding An Email Newsletter
Providing a newsletter is an excellent way to grow and retain your readership. Adding email newsletters] provides several benefits, like:
- Sends targeted traffic
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides useful updates
- Provides you with a highly targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to provide special products or services to a select audience
- Provides regular opportunities for improving interaction
- Provides you with another way for subscribers to share your content
An effective strategy for getting visitors to subscribe to your email newsletter is to provide users with valuable information and offer them free gifts or bonus items in exchange for their details. This can be a useful report, checklists for handling finances, access to financial calculators, discount coupons, access to courses, contests, etc.
Adding Contact Forms
Contact forms make it easy and simple for readers to get in touch. Users can report issues, ask questions to specific departments, ask for quotes, and more.
Contact forms provide several benefits and advantages including:
- Reducing spam
- Automated response
- Giving you control over what is sent to you
- You can keep your email address private
- Can be added to any page or post
- Looks professional
- More convenient for visitors
A very popular contact form plugin 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 configure and allows you to add and manage multiple contact forms into any post or page, customize your form and the email contents, add fields, and more.
Supports international languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, spam filtering and so on.
Something else to consider is to add sections to your contact form so users can select the aspect of your business they are contacting your company about. This ensures that visitors get the comment to the right person.
Add A Map
Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you.
Adding maps (e.g. Google Maps) to your WordPress site also provides many benefits, such as:
- A map improves local SEO
- Allows customers to better plan their visits or appointments
- Display location of events
(Adding maps helps your visitors and customers find you)
Below are just some of the more plugins that let you embed, customize and display maps on your WordPress site:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
How To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors With Plugins
Accounting WordPress Plugins
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your site that will immediately make available a range of practical tools for your site visitors. Here are just some of these plugins:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators – WordPress Plugin)
This is a free collection of over 400 calculators that you can display on your website. The plugin supports internationalization
Note: Most of them aren’t focused on accounting, but there are a few you can use for:
- Interest rate
- Payments
- Tax
- Credit
- And more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin)
This plugin lets you add a widget that displays up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can show as many portfolios as you like.
(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.
The plugin provides several customizable features. Choose from built-in skins or customize it yourself. It’s easy to customize it so it matches your website. You can also add custom stocks to specific categories.
Appearance customizations include height, width, background color, scrolling speed, opacity, number of stocks displayed simultaneously, font family, text color, font size, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin)
This free calculator allows your users to calculate indicative repayments online. It’s great for auto loans, property loans, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress – Loan Calculator)
The Finance Calculator plugin 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 users with clients to bill.
This plugin integrates billing into WordPress. You can send itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand functionality with both free and premium add-ons that let you manage locations, accept electronic signatures from clients, create PDF invoices, create quotes, create single-page checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into your WP user management database to keep track of your clients and their information, and integrates with payment processors like PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, and several others.
Plugin features include adding custom payments and charges, creating pre-defined line items and discounts, viewing invoice status and progression, easily filtering and finding invoices, seeing invoice receipts and invoice history, creating notification email templates, accessing 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 WordPress Plugin)
This complete business management system includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with ticket management system, client relationship management and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin – Client Invoice)
The plugin supports multiple 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 – WordPress Plugin)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage client data 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 – WordPress Plugin – Client 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 to grow your business online, it’s best to choose a theme specifically suited for accounting businesses. Below is a list of some of the best WordPress themes available for accounting. These themes allow you to own a professional-looking accounting website within minutes and save hundreds to thousands of dollars on the cost of website design.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro WP Theme)
Accounting Pro is a turn-key theme 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 (gives you an improved WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, performs auto resizing for images, and a whole lot more.
You can easily expand this theme with premium add-ons.
More info:
Accountancy
(Accountancy – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme has a variety of styles and layouts to help give your accounting website a professional look and feel.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, and more. It’s lightweight, search engine optimized, loads fast, and is responsive. Accountancy Theme provides what you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. The cost of purchasing includes free updates and 1 year of support.
Go here for more details:
Accounting
(Accounting Theme)
Accounting Theme includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your website any way you want. It also has unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom admin panel, different color schemes, custom slider, three different blog types, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). It looks clean and modern and is fast to load.
Visit the theme site to learn more this WordPress theme:
Kathryn
(Kathryn – WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was created for accounting businesses. Kathryn offers a slider, multiple layouts, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, flexible rotator, call to action boxes, author boxes for single or multiple bloggers, various color options, is easy to use, inexpensive, search optimized, and is fully responsive. Although it could easily suit any profession you like, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy slider plugin and must be purchased separately from the Genesis Framework.
Visit this site to learn more about this theme:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This one was created to exude professionalism within the accounting industry. It features an authoritative color scheme and elements specifically designed to help make your accounting site look professional without looking dull. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s responsive and includes pages for your accounting services, contact section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials section, and a blog.
Visit the theme site for more information about this WordPress theme:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate Theme For WordPress)
This is a free corporate theme built 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 staff profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is a clean-looking and fast-loading theme.
Go here for more details:
Divi
(Divi)
This is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ entire theme collection. Divi lets you create any kind of professional website you want using the page builder or pre-made layouts. You can change your layout to your heart’s content.
The builder transforms elements into visual building blocks, allowing anyone to understand and easily redesign the structure of their web pages without touching a single line of code.
(Divi – Flexible Page Builder)
It comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. These include multiple layouts, a slider, you can place pricing tables, testimonials, call-to-action, and lots more. It is responsive and fully customizable. Elegant Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to 80+ sleek business themes.
For more details, go here:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme)
This theme from Elegant Themes was specifically created to create good-looking corporate sites.
The Corporation has a page-based home page design with a prominent, flashy slider. It also has a blog design. It has six color schemes. It also comes with multiple page templates which include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Elegant Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to all beautifully-designed themes.
To learn more about this theme, visit this website:
Adviser
(Adviser Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was specifically designed to help finance industry professionals build trust through clean web design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services such as investing advice or tax advice. It includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications. It also includes a lease calculator. It includes widgets and multiple shortcodes, and includes the drag-and-drop visual composer.
Go here to learn more this WordPress theme:
Tax Help
(Tax Help – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was designed specifically for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and those offering tax assistance. This theme is designed to show your services in a professional way to help build your business reputation. It has a range of blog styles, uses the drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and additional custom shortcodes.
More information:
Finance Business
(Finance Business)
This theme was developed for businesses that provide financial services including consulting, tax help, corporate, finance, insurance, loans, accounting, and more. It includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin. It also has around one hundred shortcodes that includes charts and financial content. It also includes the custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page options, color management features, animations, and a whole lot more.
Go here for more info:
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 how to improve SEO, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic with plugins & themes helpful.
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