In Part One of this article on ways to build your accounting web presence, we provided in-depth tips and suggestions on the following areas:
- Online Challenges For Accounting & Financial Businesses
- Online Opportunities For Professional Accountants
- Basic Pages
- Improving The Content On Your Site
In this section, we continue looking at more ways to grow your accounting business online. Areas covered below include:
- Ways Of Improving Web Traffic
- Generate New Leads & Enquiries With WordPress-Based Tools
- How To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins & Themes
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
- WordPress Plugins – The Easy Way To Extend Your Website’s Features And Functionality
- WP For Business – An Overview Of Themes
Your Accounting Website – How To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Increase Traffic Generation Using WordPress Plugins And Themes
Web traffic is vital to your business growth. This section explores ways of improving search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your accounting website with plugins and themes.
Optimizing Your Site For Search Engines (SEO)
There are loads of ways that WordPress helps optimize your accounting website for search engines:
- Search Engine-Friendly URLs – configure the permalinks to use the title of the post.
- Tags – Specify the keywords that you want search engines to index your article pages (posts) for.
- Categories – Add SEO-friendly categories for your posts and products.
- Excerpts – Create the description for your posts that will show in search results.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your content images for better search engine results.
- Content Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that lets you easily link internal content
- Post Notification – WordPress can be set up to automatically notify other sites and directories immediately upon publishing a new post on your site.
How To Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Traffic Using Plugins
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, the WP developer community makes available various plugins that will improve your accounting website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.
For example, here are some plugins you can use to improve your SEO:
- Yoast SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin
(A plugin like Yoast SEO can improve your SEO)
Other WordPress plugins you can add to improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your site are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social features. Here are some plugins that can help (many of the plugins listed below can be downloaded at no cost):
- BuddyPress – Use the BuddyPress plugin to set up a social community on your WordPress website, with member profiles, activity streams, messaging, user groups, and more.
- bbPress – Use bbPress to run your own online forum on your WordPress website.
- E-Newsletter – Use this WordPress plugin to send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard.
- Disqus – This WordPress plugin lets you power discussions and increases engagement on your website or blog.
- Monarch – Use this plugin to add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online to your website.
(You can easily add social sharing features to your site using free or inexpensive plugins)
Ways To Generate Leads & Enquiries
Let’s discuss now ways to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries online.
Adding A Newsletter
Adding an email newsletter is a great way to build a subscriber list. It] provides several benefits including:
- Drives targeted traffic
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Keeps readers updated
- Provides a highly targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to provide special services or products to a select audience
- Provides new opportunities for increasing user engagement
- Provides you with additional ways for subscribers to share your content
A proven way to attract subscribers is to provide them with valuable information and offer them a free gift in exchange for their personal details. This can be a time-saving guide, checklists for handling finances, access to tax calculators, discount coupons, membership access to courses, contests, etc.
Adding A Contact Form
A contact form provides an easy and simple way for readers to contact you. A contact form also lets visitors report problems, ask questions to specific departments, ask for quotes, and more.
A contact form provides many benefits, like:
- Reducing spam
- Automated response
- Giving you control over what gets sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Can be added to any page or post
- Looks professional
- Convenient for visitors
A popular contact form plugin is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin)
Contact Form 7 allows you to add multiple contact forms into any post or page, customize the forms and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, and spam filtering is also supported.
Something else to consider is to segment your contact form so prospective customers can choose which topic they want to discuss. This helps visitors get the comment to the right person.
Add A Map
Maps help your visitors and clients find you.
Maps are a useful tool for several reasons:
- Maps help to improve local SEO
- Allows clients to better plan their visits or appointments
- Display location of events
(Adding maps helps your visitors and customers find you)
Popular Google Maps plugins include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
Improving SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins And Themes
Financial Plugins For WordPress
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your site that will immediately make available a range of practical tools for visitors. Here are just some of the plugins you can choose from:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators WP Plugin)
This is a free collection of 400+ calculators that you can display on your website and embed into your posts, pages, or sidebars using shortcodes. Internationalization is supported.
Note: Most of them aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are quite a few for:
- Interest rate
- Rate of return
- CD
- Equity
- And lots more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin installs a widget that displays up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many portfolios as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes WP Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker WP Plugin)
With this plugin you can place custom stock tickers on any sidebar, page or post using shortcodes.
The plugin offers several customizable ticker. You can choose to use built-in themes or customize it yourself to match your website. You can also add custom stocks to specific categories.
Customize the appearance by changing width, height, scroll speed, background color, opacity, number of stocks displayed simultaneously, font size, text color, font family, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress)
This free plugin allows users to calculate indicative repayments online. This is a great tool for calculating repayments on automotive loans, real estate, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator – Loan Calculator)
The plugin also contains an application form that sends a message to the email address you specify.
It will display payment protection, calculate 12 to 60 months loans and create a form that can be placed in any page or post.
For more details, go here}:
WP-Invoice
(WP-Invoice Plugin For WordPress)
WP-Invoice is ideal for WordPress users with clients to bill.
This plugin lets you integrate billing into WordPress. You can send out 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 WP’s user management database to keep track of your clients and their information, and integrates with PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, and others.
WP-Invoice features include adding custom payments and charges, creating pre-defined line items and discounts, quickly viewing invoice status and progression, easily filtering and finding invoices, seeing invoice receipts and invoice history, creating email 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 – WordPress 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 many additional features.
(All In One Business Management Application – Client Invoice)
All In One Business Management Application supports different 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)
iBilling is a scalable business software that lets you manage customer data and invoicing, tracks your company’s cash flow and net worth, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software – WordPress Plugin – Invoicing)
iBilling Accounting and Billing Software integrates with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting – WordPress Themes
To get the most benefit out of growing your business online with WordPress, it’s best to choose a theme specifically suited for accounting businesses. Below is a list of some of the best themes themes available for accountancy businesses. These themes allow you to own a professional-looking accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro Theme For WordPress)
Accounting Pro is an inexpensive turn-key theme for accountants and accounting firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, offers 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 a whole lot more.
You can easily expand Accounting Pro with premium add-ons.
More info:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme)
Accountancy Theme comes in a variety of styles and layouts to make your accounting site look and feel professional.
This responsive theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, it’s lightweight, search engine friendly, and loads fast. It provides what you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. Free updates and one year of support is included in your purchase.
For more details about using this WordPress theme, visit this website:
Accounting
(Accounting Theme)
This premium theme includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your website any way you want. The theme also has unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different header types, a custom admin panel, four color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). It is a clean-looking, modern and fast loading theme.
For more information, go here:
Kathryn
(Kathryn Theme)
This one is a child theme for the Genesis Framework that’s built for accounting services. It offers a slider, multiple layouts, multiple sidebars, many color choices, is easy to use, inexpensive, SEO friendly, and is mobile-friendly. Although it could easily suit any profession you want it to, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy plugin and must be purchased separately from the Genesis Framework.
To learn more about this WordPress theme, go here:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was created to exude professionalism within the accounting industry. It features authoritative colors and elements designed specifically 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 (mobile-friendly) and includes pages for your services, contact form section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials, and a blog.
Go here for more details:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate – WordPress Theme)
WP Advocate is a corporate theme developed 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 for staff profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is clean and fast-loading.
More info:
Divi
(Divi Theme For WordPress)
This is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ collection. Divi lets you create a professional website using the page builder or beautiful 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 edit the structure of their page without editing any code.
(Divi Theme – Page Builder)
It has 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. Modules include multiple layouts, a slider, you can place pricing tables, testimonials, call-to-action, and lots more. Divi is responsive and completely customizable. Themes start at $69 per year and includes access to 80+ themes.
Go here for more info:
The Corporation
(The Corporation WordPress Theme)
This theme from Elegant Themes was specifically created to make corporate websites look great.
The Corporation has a sleek page-based home page design with a eye-catching slider. It also has a blog design and features that toggle on and off. It has 6 color schemes. It also has 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 full access to all professional themes.
Go here for more details about using this theme:
Adviser
(Adviser WP Theme)
The Adviser WordPress Theme was developed specifically to help businesses in the financial industry to build trust with a clean business design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services like 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.
For more information, go here:
Tax Help
(Tax Help WordPress Theme)
This theme was built for financial organizations, tax and finance advisors, and firms offering tax assistance. It’s designed to show your services in a professional way to help build your professional reputation. It comes with a range of 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 Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme was developed for organizations that provide financial services such as tax help, consulting, insurance, finance, corporate, loans, accounting, and more. It includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin. It also has around 100 shortcodes that includes charts and financial content. It also includes a custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page settings, color management, animations, and a whole lot more.
Go here for more details about this WordPress theme:
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 ways to improve your accounting website with WordPress themes and plugins useful.
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