In Part One of this comprehensive article on ways to build your accounting business web presence, we provided in-depth information on the following topics:
- Challenges Accounting Professionals Face Online
- Online Opportunities For Professional Accountants
- How To Improve Your Web Pages
- How To Improve The Content On Your Site
In this section, we will continue looking at more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Areas covered below include:
- Ways To Improve Traffic
- How To Generate Leads & Enquiries
- WordPress Plugins That Can Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
Tips For Accountants – Improving Your Business Online Using WordPress Plugins and Themes
Web traffic is vital to your online business growth. This section explores how to improve your business online with WordPress.
Optimizing Your Site For Search Engines
There are so many ways WordPress can help to optimize your website for search engines:
- Search Engine-Friendly URLs – Set the permalinks to create search engine-optimized web addresses for your article pages (called posts).
- Post Tags – WordPress lets you select the keywords that you want your posts to be indexed for in the search engines.
- Categories – Add SEO-friendly categories for keeping your content organized and easy to find.
- Excerpts – Set descriptions for your posts that will display in search results.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your images for improved search engine results.
- Content Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that allows you to easily create internal links for better page indexing
- Post Notification – Configure your site to automatically notify (ping) other sites and directories the moment a new post is published on your website.
WordPress Plugins That Can Help To Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation
As well as the built-in features of WordPress, the WordPress development community makes available quite a number of plugins that improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your site.
Here are some plugins you can use to improve your SEO:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin (lists all of your posts and pages for indexing by search engines)
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin
(A plugin like Yoast SEO can improve your site’s search engine optimization)
Other things you can do to improve your accounting site’s SEO, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your website are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social features. Here are some powerful WordPress plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – Set up your own online social networking community on your website.
- bbPress – This free plugin helps you set up your own community forum on your website.
- E-Newsletter – E-Newsletter lets you send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WP dashboard.
- Disqus – This plugin lets you power discussions and increases user engagement on your website or blog.
- Floating Social – Easily add social sharing features on your posts and pages.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing to their website with WordPress plugins)
Tips For Generating Leads & Enquiries With WordPress
This section covers ways to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries online.
Provide A Newsletter
Adding a newsletter is an excellent way to grow and retain your readership. Adding email newsletters] provides several benefits, like:
- Sends targeted traffic
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides updates that can save businesses time and money
- Provides you with a targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to offer special services or products to a select audience
- Provides regular opportunities for improving user interaction
- Provides you with an additional way for subscribers to share your content
An effective strategy for attracting newsletter subscribers is to provide them with valuable information and give them an additional item of value for free in exchange for their details. This could be a time-saving guide, tips for handling tax, access to financial calculators, coupons, membership access to videos, contests, etc.
Add Contact Forms
Contact forms provide an easy and simple way for readers to contact you. A contact form also allows users to send feedback, ask questions to specific departments, request a quote, and more.
A contact form provides several benefits and advantages, like:
- Reducing spam
- Automated response
- Giving you control over what is sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- They can be added to any page or post
- Improves the professional look of your site
- Is convenient for users
One of the most popular WordPress contact form plugins is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 WP Plugin)
Contact Form 7 allows you to create and manage multiple contact forms, customize the forms and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
Contact Form 7 supports international languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.
Something else to consider is to segment your contact form so prospective customers can select the aspect of your business they are contacting your company about. This helps visitors get the comment to the right person.
Provide Maps
Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you.
A map is a very useful tool for several reasons:
- They increase local SEO
- Clients can better plan their meeting or appointments
- Shows location of events
(Adding a map to your website helps your visitors and customers 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 For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increasing User Engagement And Driving More Web Traffic
Financial WordPress Plugins
WordPress provides a number of plugins you can add to your accounting site to immediately add a range of practical tools for site visitors. Here are just some of these:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators)
This is a free collection of over 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 the calculators aren’t focused on accounting, but there are quite a few you can use for:
- Interest rate
- Payments
- Tax
- Debit
- And many more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin)
This plugin installs a widget that displays up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many widgets as you like.
(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 custom stock tickers on any sidebar, post or page using shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker comes with several customizable features. Choose from built-in skins or customize it yourself to match the look and feel of your website. You can also add custom stocks to individual categories.
Customize the appearance by changing height, width, background color, opacity, scroll speed, number of stocks displayed at one time, font family, font size, text color, 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 automotive loans, real estate, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator WP Plugin – Loan Calculators)
This plugin also contains an application form that sends a notification message to a specified email address.
Other features of this plugin include displaying 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 users with clients to bill.
WP-Invoice lets you integrate 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, quoting, 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 many 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 notification email templates, display 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 – WordPress Plugin)
This complete business management system includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, helpdesk with knowledgebase and ticket management system, client relationship management and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin – Client Invoice)
All In One Business Management Application supports multiple languages, is fully customizable and provides powerful tools such as document management, notice board, 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 and communicate with clients, tracks your company’s cash flow and net worth, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software – Client Invoice)
iBilling allows you to get paid faster by integrating with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting – WordPress Themes
To benefit the most from using WordPress to grow your business online, we recommend choosing a theme specifically suited for accounting businesses. Below is a list of some of the best WordPress themes available for accountancy firms. These themes allow you to have a professional accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro – WordPress Theme)
Accounting Pro is an inexpensive turn-key theme developed for accountants and accounting 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, auto-resized images, and lots more.
You can easily expand this theme by installing premium add-ons.
More information:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme)
This one offers a variety of styles and layouts that helps make your accounting website look and feel professional.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, and more. It’s lightweight, search engine optimized, fast loading, and fully responsive. Accountancy Theme provides what you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. Your purchase includes free updates and 1 year of support.
To learn more about about using this WordPress theme, go here:
Accounting
(Accounting – WordPress Theme)
Accounting Theme includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your site any way you want. The theme also has unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom administration panel, four color schemes, a custom slider, three different blog types, and is mobile-friendly. It is a clean-looking, modern and fast loading theme.
Go here to learn more this WordPress theme:
Kathryn
(Kathryn – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was designed for accountants. It allows you to use WordPress as a true content management system and 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 engine optimized, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). Although it can easily fit 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.
For more details, go here:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WP Theme)
This premium theme was created with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. It features authoritative colors and elements designed specifically to help make your accounting website 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 details section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials section, and a blog.
More info:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate WP Theme)
WP Advocate is a corporate theme built for professionals 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. It’s a clean and fast-loading theme.
More info:
Divi
(Divi WP Theme)
Divi is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection of WordPress themes. Divi lets you create any kind of professional website you want using the page builder or beautiful pre-made layouts. You can modify your layout as much as you need.
The builder transforms elements into visual building blocks, allowing anyone to understand and edit the structure of their pages without editing a single line of code.
(Divi WP Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
Divi comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. This includes multiple layouts, a slider, you can place pricing tables, testimonials, call-to-action, and lots more. Divi is fully responsive and fully customizable. Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to all professional themes.
Go here for more details:
The Corporation
(The Corporation WordPress Theme)
The Corporation from Elegant Themes was specifically created to create great-looking corporate websites.
This theme has a sleek page-based home page design with a nice slider, blog design, 6 unique color schemes, multiple page templates that include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Prices start at $69 per year and includes access to all themes.
Visit the theme site to learn more this theme:
Adviser
(Adviser WordPress Theme)
Adviser was specifically developed to help finance industry professionals build trust online through clean web design. It’s perfect for those that provide services such as investment advice 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 Theme)
This one was specifically built for financial organizations, tax and financial advisors, and businesses offering tax services. Tax Help is designed to show your services professionally and help build your professional reputation. It has different blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and many custom shortcodes.
More info:
Finance Business
(Finance Business WordPress Theme)
Finance Business was designed specifically for firms that provide any type of financial service including consulting, tax help, insurance, corporate, finance, accounting, loans, and more. It includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin. It also has around one hundred shortcodes that includes charts and financial content. It also includes a custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page settings, color management features, animations, and a whole lot more.
More information:
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 guide on ways of improving search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic with WordPress plugins helpful.
Subscribe below to receive 101+ useful WordPress tips that will help you grow your business …
***
"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group
***