In Part 1 of this step-by-step guide on ways to grow your accounting business presence online, we provided in-depth information on the following areas:
- Challenges Accounting And Financial Professionals Face Online
- Opportunities For Accountants
- Basic Pages
- Tips For Improving The Content On Your Website
In this section, we will continue exploring more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Areas covered below include:
- Tips For Improving Web Traffic Using WordPress
- Tips For Generating Leads & Enquiries
- Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation Using Plugins
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
Ways Of Improving Web Traffic With WordPress
Your web traffic is vital to your business growth. In this section, we explore ways of improving search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more visitors to your accounting or financial services site with plugins & themes.
Optimizing Your Website For SEO
There are loads of ways that WordPress helps improve SEO:
- SEO-Friendly – configure the permalinks to use the title of the post.
- Tags – WordPress lets you 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.
- Excerpts – Set an excerpt that visitors will see in the search engine results.
- Images – title images with keywords for improved search results.
- Internal Content Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that allows you to easily link your content to other posts
- Pinging – Set up your WordPress site to automatically notify other search directories whenever a new post is published on your site.
Improving Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Traffic Using Plugins
As well as the built-in features of WordPress, the WordPress community makes available various plugins that improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your website.
For example, you can use the plugins below to improve your SEO:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin (for search engines)
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(A plugin like Yoast SEO can improve your website’s search engine optimization)
Other WordPress tools you can use to improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more visitors to your website are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social sharing features. Here are some powerful plugins that can help (many of the plugins described below are also free):
- BuddyPress – This plugin helps you set up a social community on WordPress.
- bbPress – This plugin can be used to set up a forum on your website.
- E-Newsletter – Use this plugin to send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard, without a third party subscription.
- Disqus – Power discussions and helps to increase user engagement on your website or blog.
- Social Media Feather – Add powerful social sharing features and buttons to your website or blog.
(WordPress users can easily add social features to their site with WordPress plugins)
Tips For Generating Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress-Based Applications
Let’s discuss now ways to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries.
Adding A Newsletter
Adding a newsletter is a great way to grow and retain your readership. Adding a newsletter provides a number of benefits including:
- Sends targeted traffic
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides updates that can save businesses time and money
- Provides you with a targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to offer special products or services to a select audience
- Increases user engagement
- Provides additional ways for your content to be shared with other prospective customers
An effective strategy for attracting subscribers to your newsletter is to provide high value information and give users free gifts or bonus items in exchange for their details. This can be a time-saving guide, tips for handling finances, access to financial calculators, coupons, access to subscriber-only content, contests, etc.
Provide A Contact Form
A contact form provides an easy and simple way for readers to contact you. Contact forms also let visitors report concerns, ask questions to specific departments, ask for quotes, and more.
A contact form provides many benefits and advantages, like:
- Reduces spam
- Set up automated responses
- Gives you control over what gets sent to you
- You can keep your email address private
- Can be added to any post or page
- Looks professional
- Is convenient for visitors
One of the most popular WordPress contact form plugins is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7)
This free contact form plugin is easy to install and set up and lets you create and manage multiple contact forms into any post or page, customize the form and the email contents, add fields, and more.
Supports international languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.
Something to consider is to segment your contact form so prospective customers can choose the aspect of your business they are contacting you about. This helps you get the comment to the right person.
Map Integration
Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you.
Adding maps, such as Google Maps to your site also provides a number of benefits, such as:
- A map improves local SEO
- Visitors can find you more easily and helps plan their visits better
- Shows location of events
(Adding maps helps your visitors and clients find you)
Some of the most 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
WordPress Accounting Plugins
WordPress provides a number of plugins you can add to your site that will immediately make available a range of functional tools for site visitors. Here are some of these plugins:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators Plugin)
This is a free collection of 400+ calculators. You can embed them into your posts, pages, or sidebars using shortcodes. It also supports internationalization
Note: Most of the calculators aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are quite a few for:
- 401k
- Payments
- Leases
- Equity
- And many more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes WP Plugin)
With this plugin you get a widget that shows up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many widgets as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you add custom stock tickers to any sidebar, post or page using shortcodes.
The plugin provides loads of customizable features. Choose from built-in themes or customize it yourself. It’s easy to customize it so it matches your site. You can also create custom stocks for individual categories.
Customize the appearance by changing colours, size, speed, text, and symbols, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress)
This free plugin lets users calculate indicative repayments online. This is a useful tool for calculating car loans, property, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress – Loan Calculators)
The plugin also contains an application form that will send a message to a specified email address.
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 Plugin)
WP-Invoice is ideal for WordPress users with clients to bill.
WP-Invoice integrates billing into WordPress. You can send out itemized invoices. It even allows you to set up recurring billing. It can be expanded through both free and premium add-ons, like business location, electronic signature, PDF creation, quote creation, checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into the WordPress user management database to keep track of clients and their information, and integrates with payment processors like PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, and several others.
WP-Invoice lets you add custom payments and charges, create pre-defined line items and discounts, view invoice status and progression, filter and find invoices, see invoice receipts and invoice history, create email notification templates, access reports (collected vs uncollected invoices, ten 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 ticket system, CRM and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application – Invoicing)
All In One Business Management Application supports multiple languages, is fully customizable and provides powerful 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 For WordPress)
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 Plugin – Invoice)
iBilling Accounting and Billing Software allows you to get paid faster online by integrating with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
WordPress Financial Themes
To benefit the most from using WordPress, we recommend choosing a theme specifically for accounting. Below is a list of some of the best WordPress themes available for accounting. With the themes listed below you can own a professional-looking accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme for WordPress is an inexpensive turn-key theme for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s responsive, has a drag-and-drop page-builder, offers several page templates, a custom menu feature, a content composer (gives you an improved WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resized images, and a whole lot more.
Accounting Pro can be customized through premium add-ons.
More info:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme For WordPress)
This premium WordPress theme has a variety of built-in styles and layouts that helps give your accounting site a professional look and feel.
This fully responsive (mobile-friendly) theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, it’s lightweight, SEO friendly, and loads fast. Accountancy Theme provides what you need without bloating your theme. The price includes free updates and 1 year of support.
Visit the theme site to learn more this WordPress theme:
Accounting
(Accounting Theme)
This theme includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can design your website any way you want. The theme also provides unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different header types, a custom admin panel, different color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). Accountancy is a clean-looking, modern and fast-to-load theme.
Go here to learn more this WordPress theme:
Kathryn
(Kathryn)
This premium theme for WordPress was created for accounting services. It has multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, a variety of color options, is easy to use, search engine optimized, 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 slider plugin and is a separate purchase from the Genesis Framework.
More info:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – Theme For WordPress)
Accounting WordPress Theme was created to enhance professionalism within the accounting industry. It features an authoritative color scheme and layout elements specifically designed to make your accounting business site look professional without looking dull. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s mobile-friendly and includes pages for your accounting services, contact section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials section, and a blog.
To learn more about this theme, visit this website:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate – WordPress Theme)
This is a free corporate theme specifically designed for professionals 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 fast-loading.
More information:
Divi
(Divi – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection of WordPress themes. You can create a professional website using its page builder or beautiful and unique pre-made layouts. You can change your layout as much as you need.
The builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and easily change the structure of their web pages without editing any code.
(Divi – WordPress Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
It comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. These include bar counter, blurb, code, divider, gallery, login, post title, sidebar, social media follow, toggle, fullwidth image, fullwidth portfolio, fullwidth slider, and more.. It is mobile-friendly and completely customizable. Themes start at $69 per year and includes access to 80+ sleek business themes.
Go here for more details:
The Corporation
(The Corporation WP Theme)
The Corporation from Elegant Themes was specifically developed to make corporate sites look good.
It has a sleek page-based home page design with a prominent, flashy slider, blog design, 6 unique unique color schemes, 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 80+ professional themes.
To learn more about this theme, go here:
Adviser
(Adviser Theme)
This premium theme was developed to help finance industry professionals build trust through clean web design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services such as investments or tax help. The theme includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications, lease calculator, multiple shortcodes and widgets, and a drag-and-drop visual composer..
More info:
Tax Help
(Tax Help WordPress Theme)
This theme was designed specifically for financial organizations, tax and finance advisors, and firms offering tax services. This theme is designed to show your services in a professional way to help establish your business reputation. It comes with different blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and many custom shortcodes.
For more details, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme)
This premium theme was developed specifically for organizations that provide any type of financial service such as consulting, tax help, corporate, insurance, finance, accounting, loans, and more. Finance Business 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 a custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page options, color management, animated elements, and a whole lot more.
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
Hopefully, you have found this article on ways of improving search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more traffic with WordPress plugins helpful.
Subscribe below to receive 101+ useful WordPress tips that will help you grow your business …
***
"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie
***