In Part One of this step-by-step article on ways to improve your accounting business online, we provided practical tips and suggestions on the following topics:
- Challenges Accounting Businesses Face Online
- Opportunities For Accountants
- Basic Web Pages
- Ways To Improve The Content On Your Website
In this section, we discuss more ways to grow your accounting business online. Areas covered include:
- How To Improve Web Traffic
- Generating New Leads & Enquiries
- Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Visitors To Your Site Using Plugins
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
- Adding New Features And Functionality To Your Website With Plugins
- WP For Beginners – An Introduction To WP Themes
Your Accounting Website – How To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Visitors To Your Website With WordPress Plugins & Themes
Web traffic is vital to your business growth. In this section, you will learn WordPress plugins for improving search engine optimization, better user engagement and driving more web traffic.
Optimizing Your Website For Search Engines With WordPress
There are many ways WordPress can help to optimize your accounting website for search engines:
- SEO-Friendly – Set the permalinks to use the title of the posts as the URL of your pages.
- Tags – WordPress lets you choose the keywords that you want search engines to index your articles for.
- Categories – Add SEO-friendly categories for keeping your content organized and easy to find.
- Post Excerpts – WordPress lets you compose descriptions for your posts that visitors will see in the search engine results.
- Images – title your images with keywords for improved search results.
- Internal Content Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that allows you to easily create internal links
- Post Notification – WordPress can be set up to automatically notify (ping) other sites and directories whenever a new post is published on your site.
WordPress Plugins That Can Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors To Your Website
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, the WordPress developer community makes available a number of plugins that improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more visitors to your business.
For example, you can install the plugins below to improve your website’s search engine optimization:
- Yoast SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress sitemap plugin (for search engines)
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin
(A plugin like Yoast SEO (formerly known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your SEO)
Other things you can do to improve your accounting or financial services website’s SEO, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your site are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social sharing. Here are some more useful plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – Run your own online social network on your WordPress website.
- bbPress – Set up a community forum on your website.
- E-Newsletter – Use this plugin to send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard.
- Disqus – Disqus lets you power discussions and helps to increase user engagement on your website or blog.
- Social Media Feather – Use this plugin to add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online on your site.
(You can add social sharing buttons to your website easily using WordPress plugins)
How To Generate New Leads & Enquiries
Let’s now take a look at how to improve sales and generate more leads and enquiries online.
Providing A Newsletter
Providing a newsletter is an excellent way to grow and retain your readership. It provides many benefits including:
- Sends targeted traffic
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides updates that can save businesses time and money
- Provides a targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to provide special services or products to a select audience
- Increases user interaction
- Provides an additional way for your content to be shared with others
A proven way to attract subscribers is to provide high value information and give users free gifts in exchange for their details. This could be an exclusive report, tips for handling tax, access to financial calculators, coupons, access to videos, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
A contact form makes it easy and simple for readers to contact you. Readers can report problems, ask questions to specific departments, request a quote, and more.
Contact forms provide many benefits including:
- Reducing spam
- Automated response
- Giving you control over what is sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Different forms can be added to any page or post
- Improves the professional look of your site
- Is convenient for visitors
A very popular contact form plugin for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 – WordPress Plugin)
This free contact form plugin is easy to install and configure and allows you to add and manage multiple contact forms into any page on your site, customize your forms and the email contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, and Akismet spam filtering is also supported.
Something to consider is to add sections to your contact form so prospective customers can choose the aspect of your business they are contacting you about. This helps visitors get the comment to the right person.
Add Maps
Maps help your visitors and customers find you.
A map is a great tool for several reasons:
- A map increases local SEO
- Visitors can easily find you
- Shows location of events
(Adding a map to your website helps your visitors and customers find you)
Popular Google Maps plugins for WordPress include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
Improving Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Generate More Visitors To Your Website Using Plugins
Financial WordPress Plugins
WordPress provides a number of plugins you can add to your accounting or financial services website that will immediately make available a range of practical tools for visitors. Here are some of these:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators)
This is a free collection of over 400 calculators that you can provide to users on your website and embed into your pages, posts, or sidebars using shortcodes. It supports internationalization
Most of them aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are quite a few for:
- Mortgage
- Payments
- Tax
- Credit
- And many more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin installs a widget that displays a number of different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many portfolios as you like.
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker – WordPress Plugin)
With this plugin you can add a custom stock ticker to any sidebar, page or post with shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker comes with a number of customizable features. Choose from built-in skins or customize these yourself to match the look and feel of your site. You can also add custom stocks to individual categories.
Customize the appearance by changing colors, speed, symbols, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator)
This free calculator allows users to calculate indicative repayments. This is a great financial tool for calculating repayments on automotive loans, real estate loans, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin – Loan Calculator)
Finance Calculator also contains an application form that will send a message to the email address you specify.
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 – WordPress Plugin)
WP-Invoice is ideal for WordPress site owners with clients to bill.
WP-Invoice integrates billing into WordPress. You can send clients itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand functionality with both free and premium add-ons that let you manage locations, accept electronic signatures, create PDF versions of invoices, create quotes, create single-page 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, and others.
The plugin lets you add custom payments and charges, insert pre-defined line items and discounts, quickly view invoice status and progression, easily filter and find invoices, see invoice receipts and invoice history, create email notification templates, display 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 complete business management system includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, helpdesk with knowledgebase and support ticketing system, client relationship management and many additional features.
(All In One Business Management Application – WordPress Plugin – Invoicing)
All In One Business Management Application supports different 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)
iBilling is a scalable business software that lets you manage and communicate with clients, tracks your company’s cash flow and net worth, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software WordPress Plugin – Client Invoice)
iBilling Accounting and Billing Software lets you get paid faster by integrating with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting WordPress Themes
To get the best features and professional look for your website, we recommend choosing a theme specifically suited for accounting businesses. Here 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 Theme)
This premium theme is an inexpensive turn-key theme created 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 customize this theme by installing premium add-ons.
More info:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme for WordPress comes in a variety of styles and layouts that helps make your accounting website look and feel professional.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, and more. It’s lightweight, search engine optimized, loads fast, and fully responsive. Accountancy Theme provides the flexibility you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. Free updates and one year of support is included with your purchase.
For more information, go here:
Accounting
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This theme includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can design your site any way you want. The theme also provides unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different header types, a custom administration panel, different color schemes, a custom slider, 3 blog types, and is mobile-friendly. Accountancy is a clean-looking, modern and fast loading theme.
Go here for more info:
Kathryn
(Kathryn – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was built for accounting businesses. It has a slider, multiple layouts, multiple sidebars, a variety of colors, is easy to use, inexpensive, SEO friendly, and is fully responsive. 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.
To learn more about this theme, visit this site:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This theme was designed with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., was specifically designed to help give your accounting site a professional look. 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, and a blog.
Go here for more info:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate WP Theme)
WP Advocate is a free corporate theme developed specifically for professional service providers such as accountants and attorneys. You can use the bundled images or upload your own. WP Advocate also includes a custom post type for staff profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is clean-looking and fast-loading.
More info:
Divi
(Divi Theme)
This theme is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire theme collection. Divi lets you 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.
The builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and easily redesign the structure of their web pages without touching code.
(Divi Theme – Page Builder)
Divi has 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. It has multiple layouts, a slider, you can place pricing tables, testimonials, call-to-action, and lots more. It is responsive and completely customizable. Prices start at $69 per year and includes access to all themes.
More info:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme)
This one was designed specifically to create great-looking corporate sites.
This theme has a sleek and professional page-based home page design with a nice slider, blog design, six 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 80+ professional themes.
For more details, go here:
Adviser
(Adviser Theme For WordPress)
This one was specifically developed to help finance professionals build trust through clean web design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services such as investments or tax advice. The theme includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications, a lease calculator, multiple shortcodes and widgets, and the drag-and-drop visual composer..
For more information, go here:
Tax Help
(Tax Help WordPress Theme)
Tax Help was developed for financial organizations, tax and financial advisors, and businesses that offer tax assistance. It’s designed to showcase your services in a professional way and help build 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 – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was specifically developed for businesses that provide financial services such as consulting, tax help, corporate, finance, insurance, 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, 2 premium sliders, page options, color management, animated elements, and a lot more.
Go here to learn more about using this 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
Hopefully, this article has helped you learn WordPress plugins and themes for improving SEO, increasing user engagement and generating more visitors to your accounting or financial services site.
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