In Part 1 of this article on ways to build your accounting web presence, we covered the following areas:
- Online Challenges For Accounting Businesses
- Online Opportunities For Accounting Businesses
- Essential Web Pages
- Improve Your Content
In this section, we will continue looking at more ways to grow your accounting business online. Topics covered include:
- Improve Traffic Using WordPress
- Generating Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress
- WordPress Plugins That Can Help Improve Search Engine Optimization, Create Better User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, see the articles below:
- Using WordPress Plugins To Enhance Your Blog’s Capabilities
- WP For Newbies – An Introduction To WP Themes
Improving Web Traffic
Your web traffic is an important part of your business growth. In this section, you will learn ways to improve your accounting or financial services business online with WordPress.
Optimize Your Website For SEO
There are many ways WordPress can help to optimize your accounting or financial services website for search engines:
- URLs – Set the permalinks to use the title of the post.
- Post Tags – WordPress lets you select the keywords that you want your article pages (posts) to be indexed by in the search engines.
- Post Categories – Add categories for your posts and products.
- Excerpts – WordPress lets you compose the description for your posts that will display to search engine users.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your images for improved search results.
- Internal Content Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that lets you easily link internal content
- Pinging – Configure your site to automatically notify (ping) other sites and directories as soon as a new post is published on your site.
How To Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Increase User Engagement And Generate More Traffic Using Plugins
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, the WordPress development community makes available dozens of plugins that will improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your business.
For example, you can use the plugins below to improve your SEO:
- Yoast 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 to improve your SEO)
Other ways to improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more visitors to your site are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social sharing. Here are some useful plugins that can help (many of the plugins described below are also free):
- BuddyPress – This free WordPress plugin lets you set up your own social community on WordPress, with member profiles, messaging, activity streams, user groups, and more.
- bbPress – Use bbPress to set up and manage your own online discussion forum on WordPress.
- E-Newsletter – E-Newsletter allows you to send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard.
- Disqus – Power discussions and increases engagement on your website.
- Monarch – Add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online to your website.
(You can easily add social sharing buttons to your website using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
Generate Leads & Enquiries With WordPress-Based Applications
In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve sales and generate more leads and enquiries for your business.
Provide A Newsletter
Providing a newsletter is an excellent way to build a list of subscribers. Adding newsletters] provides a number of benefits and advantages including:
- Drives targeted traffic
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides updates that can save businesses time and money
- Provides you with a targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to offer special products or services to a select audience
- Increases user interaction
- Provides you with additional ways for your content to be shared around with new potential customers
An effective strategy for attracting subscribers is to provide users with high value content and offer them free gifts or bonus items in exchange for their details. This can be a special report, tips for handling finances, access to tax calculators, discount coupons, access to courses, contests, etc.
Adding A Contact Form
Contact forms make it easy and simple for readers to contact you. A contact form also lets users send feedback, ask questions to specific departments, ask for quotes, and more.
A contact form provides many benefits and advantages including:
- Reduces 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 post or page
- Improves the professional look of your website
- Convenient for visitors
A popular contact form plugin for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 – WordPress Plugin)
This free contact form plugin allows you to add and manage multiple contact forms into any page on your site, customize the forms and the email contents, add fields, and more.
The plugin also supports international languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, spam filtering and so on.
Something else to consider is adding sections to your contact form so visitors can choose which department they want to contact. This will help you to get the comment to the right person.
Maps
Adding a map to your website helps your visitors and clients find you.
Maps are useful tools for several reasons:
- A map helps to improve local SEO
- Customers can better plan their visits and appointments
- Displays location of events
(Adding maps helps your visitors and clients find you)
Popular map plugins for WordPress include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
WordPress Plugins And Themes That Can Help Improve Your Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation
Accounting WordPress Plugins
WordPress makes available a number of plugins you can add to your accounting website that will immediately make available a range of practical tools for users. Here are some of these plugins:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators)
This plugin provides a free collection of over 400 calculators that you can provide to users on your website. It also supports internationalization
Most of them aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are a few you can use for:
- Interest rate
- Payments
- CD
- Debit
- And more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin installs a widget that shows a number of different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many portfolios as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker Plugin)
With this plugin you can place a custom stock ticker on any sidebar, page or post with shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker provides a number of customizable features. You can choose from built-in themes or customize it yourself to match the look and feel of your site. You can also create custom stocks for specific categories.
Customize the appearance by changing width, height, background color, opacity, scrolling speed, number of stocks displayed at one time, font size, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress)
This free plugin allows your users to calculate indicative repayments. This is a great tool for calculating repayments on automotive loans, property loans, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator WP Plugin – Loan Calculators)
The Finance Calculator plugin also contains an application form that sends a message to the email address you specify.
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)
WP-Invoice is ideal for WordPress business users with clients to bill.
WP-Invoice lets you integrate billing into WordPress. You can send clients itemized invoices. It also allows you to set up recurring billing. It can be expanded through both free and premium add-ons that let you manage business, accept electronic signatures from clients, create PDF invoice versions, 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 payment processors like PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, 2Checkout, USAePay, and others.
You can add custom payments and charges, insert pre-defined line items and discounts, view invoice status and progression, filter and find invoices, show invoice receipts and invoice history, create e-mail notification templates, view 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 complete business management system includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with ticket system, CRM and many more features.
(All In One Business Management Application – WordPress Plugin – Client 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)
iBilling is a scalable business software that lets you manage customer data and invoices, tracks your company’s net worth and cash flow, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software Plugin For WordPress – Client Invoicing)
It integrates with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
WordPress Themes For Accountants
To get the most benefit out of growing your business online with WordPress, it’s best to choose a theme specifically suited for accounting. Below is a list of some of the best accounting themes available. 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 WordPress theme is an inexpensive turn-key theme built for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s responsive, has a drag-and-drop page-builder, has several page templates, custom menus, a content composer (which improves on the standard WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, performs auto resizing for images, and a whole lot more.
Accounting Pro can be expanded using premium add-ons.
More info:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme)
This theme has a variety of styles and layouts that helps give your accounting site a professional look and feel.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, and more. It’s lightweight, search engine optimized, fast loading, and fully responsive. It provides what your business needs without bloating your theme. Free updates and 1 year of support is included in your purchase.
More information:
Accounting
(Accounting)
Accounting includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your site any way you want. It also provides unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different header types, a custom administration panel, four color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). Accountancy is a clean-looking, modern and fast loading theme.
More info:
Kathryn
(Kathryn Theme For WordPress)
This one is a premium child theme for the Genesis Framework that’s built specifically for accountants. It has multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, flexible rotator, call to action boxes, author boxes for single or multiple bloggers, many color choices, is easy to use, SEO friendly, and is fully responsive. Although this theme could easily suit any profession, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy plugin and is a separate purchase from the Genesis Framework.
Go here for more details:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was built to enhance professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., is specifically designed to give your accounting business website a professional look while not looking dull. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s fully responsive (mobile-friendly) and includes pages for your services, contact form section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials, and a blog.
More info:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate Theme)
This 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. WP Advocate includes a custom post type for staff profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s clean-looking and fast-loading.
Visit the theme site to learn more about using this theme:
Divi
(Divi Theme For WordPress)
Divi is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire theme collection. Divi lets you create any type of professional site you want using the page builder or pre-made layouts. You can change your layout to your heart’s content.
The builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and easily redesign the structure of their page without editing a single line of code.
(Divi WordPress Theme – Page Builder)
Divi has 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. This includes bar counter, blurb, circle counter, email optin, gallery, login, person, shop, tabs, video slider, fullwidth header, fullwidth portfolio, fullwidth slider, and more.. It is responsive and fully customizable. Prices start at $69 per year and includes access to all themes.
For more information, go here:
The Corporation
(The Corporation)
This premium theme for WordPress from Elegant Themes was specifically designed to make corporate sites look good.
This theme has a sleek and professional page-based home page design with a prominent slider. It also has a blog design and features that toggle on and off. It comes with 6 different color schemes. It also comes with multiple page templates which include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to over 80 professional themes.
Go here for more details about using this WordPress theme:
Adviser
(Adviser)
This one was designed to help finance professionals build trust with a clean business design. It’s ideal for those that provide services like investing advice or tax help. Adviser includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications, lease calculator, multiple shortcodes and widgets, and the drag-and-drop visual composer..
More information:
Tax Help
(Tax Help Theme For WordPress)
This one was designed specifically for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and those providing tax services. This theme is designed to show your services in a professional way to help build 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 additional custom shortcodes.
For more information, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme was built specifically for organizations that provide financial services such as consulting, tax help, insurance, corporate, finance, loans, accounting, and more. It 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 the custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page settings, color management, animations, and a lot more.
For more information, 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
We hope that you have found this comprehensive guide on WordPress plugins that improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic useful.
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