In Part One of this article on ways to improve your accounting web presence, we provided in-depth information on the following areas:
- Challenges Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Accounting Businesses In The Digital Economy
- How To Improve Your Web Pages
- Improving Your Content
In this section, we explore more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Areas covered below include:
- Tips For Improving Web Traffic With WordPress
- How To Generate New Leads & Enquiries
- WordPress Plugins & Themes That Can Help To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Web Traffic
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
- Using WordPress Plugins To Extend Your Blog’s Capabilities
- WordPress For Newbies – An Introduction To Themes
Tips For Accountants – WordPress Plugins & Themes That Can Help To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation
Your web traffic is vital to your business growth. In this section, we discuss ways of improving search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more visitors using plugins & themes.
Optimizing Your Site For SEO With WordPress
There are lots of ways WordPress can help to optimize your accounting or financial services website for search engines:
- URLs – WordPress lets you set the permalinks to use the title of the post.
- Tags – WordPress lets you select the keywords that you want search engines to index your posts for.
- Categories – Add SEO-friendly categories for archiving and organizing your content.
- Post Excerpts – WordPress lets you compose descriptions for your posts that will display to search engine users.
- Images – title images with keywords for improved search engine results.
- Internal Content Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that allows you to easily create internal links for faster page indexing
- Pinging – WordPress can be set up to automatically notify (ping) other sites and directories immediately upon publishing a new post on your website.
WordPress Plugins For Improving SEO, Better User Engagement And Web Traffic Generation
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, the WP community makes available quite a number of plugins that improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more visitors to your website.
For example, you can install the plugins below to improve your site’s search engine optimization:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(A plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your website’s SEO)
Other things you can do to improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your website are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social sharing. Here are a few more useful WordPress plugins that can help (many of the plugins listed below are also free):
- BuddyPress – Set up your own online social networking community on your WordPress website.
- bbPress – Set up an online forum on your site.
- E-Newsletter – Send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress site.
- Disqus – This plugin lets you power discussions and increases user engagement on your site.
- Floating Social – Use this plugin to add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online to your pages and posts.
(You can easily add social features to your site with WordPress plugins)
Tips For Generating More Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress
Let’s now discuss ways to improve your sales and generate leads and enquiries.
Adding A Newsletter
Adding a newsletter is a great way to build a subscriber list. It] provides a number of benefits and advantages, like:
- Drives targeted traffic
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides updates that could save businesses time and money
- Provides a targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to provide special services or products to a select audience
- Provides new opportunities for increasing user interaction
- Provides additional ways for readers to share your content
A proven way to entice visitors to subscribe to your newsletter is to provide high value information and give users free gifts in exchange for their personal details. This could be an exclusive guide, tips for handling tax, access to tax calculators, coupons, membership access to videos, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
Contact forms make it easy and simple for prospective clients to get in touch with you. A contact form also allows visitors to provide feedback, contact specific departments, ask for quotes, and more.
A contact form provides a number of benefits and advantages including:
- Reducing spam
- Set up automated responses
- Gives you control over what is sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Different forms can be added to any post or page
- Looks professional
- Convenience for site visitors
One of the most popular contact form plugins for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7)
This free plugin is easy to install and configure and allows you to insert and manage multiple contact forms, customize your forms and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
Supports international languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, spam filtering and so on.
Something to consider is to add sections to your contact form so users can choose which aspect of your business they are contacting you about. This will help you to get the comment to the right person.
Provide A Map
Adding maps to your website helps your visitors and clients find you.
Maps are great tools for several reasons:
- Maps increase local SEO
- Helps visitors find your office easily
- Show location of events
(Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you)
Here are some of the more plugins that let you embed, customize and display Google maps on your site:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
Improving SEO, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Traffic With Plugins
Financial 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 some of these plugins:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin provides a free collection of 400+ calculators that you can provide to users on your website and embed into your pages, posts, or sidebars using shortcodes. The plugin also supports internationalization
Note: Most of the calculators aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are quite a few you can use for:
- Interest rate
- Loans
- Leases
- Debit
- And lots more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes)
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 – WordPress Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker Plugin For WordPress)
This free plugin lets you add a custom stock ticker to any sidebar, page or post using shortcodes.
The plugin includes a number of customizable features. You can choose from built-in themes or customize it yourself. It’s easy to customize it so it matches your site. You can also add custom stocks to individual categories.
Customize the appearance by changing speed, symbols, colours, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress)
This free plugin lets your visitors calculate indicative repayments. This is a great tool for calculating repayments on car loans, property loans, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator – Loan Calculator)
This plugin also contains an application form that will send a message to a specified email address.
It will show 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)
WP-Invoice is ideal for WordPress site owners with clients to bill.
WP-Invoice integrates billing into WordPress. You can send 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, quoting, checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into the WP user management database to keep track of clients and their information, and integrates with PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, 2Checkout, PayPal Payments Pro, 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, showing invoice receipts and invoice history, creating e-mail notification templates, displaying 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 support ticket management system, CRM and many added features.
(All In One Business Management Application – Invoice)
The plugin supports different languages, is fully customizable and provides additional 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)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage customer data and invoices, 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 Invoicing)
It allows you to get paid faster by integrating with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting And Financial Services Themes For WordPress
To benefit the most from using WordPress, it’s best to choose a theme specifically for accounting. 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 – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress is a turn-key theme designed for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, has several page templates, custom menu features, a content composer (which improves on the standard WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, performs auto resizing for images, and lots more.
Accounting Pro can be expanded by installing premium add-ons.
Go here for more information:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme For WordPress)
This theme comes with a variety of built-in styles and layouts to make your accounting site look and feel professional.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, and more. It’s lightweight, SEO friendly, fast loading, and is responsive. Accountancy Theme provides the features you need without bloating your theme. Free updates and 1 year of support is included with your purchase.
For more details, go here:
Accounting
(Accounting Theme)
Accounting Theme includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your site any way you want. The theme also provides unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different header types, a custom admin panel, different color schemes, custom slider, three different blog types, and is fully responsive. Accountancy looks clean and modern and is fast to load.
Visit this site to learn more this WordPress theme:
Kathryn
(Kathryn – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme was created specifically for accounting businesses. Kathryn provides multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, flexible rotator, call to action boxes, author boxes for single or multiple bloggers, a variety of color choices, is easy to use, search optimized, and is responsive. Although this theme can easily fit 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 theme, go here:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
This theme was created to exude professionalism within the accounting industry. It features an authoritative color scheme and layout elements specifically designed to help make your accounting website 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 section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials section, and a blog.
For more information, go here:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate WordPress Theme)
This is a corporate theme developed specifically for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. Use the bundled images or upload your own. It includes a custom post type for employee profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is clean and fast-loading.
Go here for more details:
Divi
(Divi – WordPress Theme)
This theme is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection. Divi lets you create any type of professional website you want using the page builder or beautiful and unique pre-made layouts. You can modify your layout as much as you need.
Divi’s page builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing anyone to understand and change the structure of their pages without editing any code.
(Divi WP Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
Divi has 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. These modules include multiple layouts, a slider, you can place pricing tables, testimonials, call-to-action, and lots more. It is mobile-friendly and fully customizable. Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to all beautifully-designed themes.
For more information, go here:
The Corporation
(The Corporation)
This premium theme for WordPress was specifically designed to make corporate websites look good.
This theme has a sleek page-based home page design with a nice slider, blog design, six different different color schemes, 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 all themes.
Visit the theme site to learn more about this WordPress theme:
Adviser
(Adviser WP Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was specifically designed to help finance industry professionals build trust online with a clean business design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services like investing 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.
Visit this website to learn more about this theme:
Tax Help
(Tax Help – WordPress Theme)
This one was built specifically for financial companies, tax and financial advisors, and those that provide tax services. This theme is designed to showcase your services professionally and help establish your business reputation. It comes with a range of blog styles, uses the drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and many custom shortcodes.
More information:
Finance Business
(Finance Business WP Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was built for organizations that provide any type of financial service including consulting, tax help, insurance, corporate, finance, loans, accounting, and more. It 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 features, animations, and lots more.
For more details, go here:
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, this guide has helped you learn how to improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more traffic using plugins.
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