In Part 1 of this comprehensive article on ways to build your accounting business online, we provided in-depth information on the following topics:
- Challenges Accounting & Financial Businesses Face Online
- Online Opportunities For Professional Accountants
- Basic Pages
- Tips On How To Improve Your Content
In this section, we discuss more ways to grow your accounting business online. Topics covered below include:
- Ways Of Improving Traffic Using WordPress
- Generate Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress-Based Tools
- WordPress Plugins & Themes That Can Improve SEO, Create Better User Engagement And Drive More Traffic
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
Improving Traffic
Your web traffic is an important part of your business growth. In this section, you will learn ways to improve your accounting business online with WordPress.
Optimize Your Website For Search Engines (SEO) Using WordPress
There are loads of ways that WordPress helps optimize your accounting website for search engines:
- URLs – WordPress lets you set the permalinks to use the title of the posts as the web address of your pages.
- Post Tags – Choose the keywords that you want your article pages (posts) to be indexed by in the search engines.
- Post Categories – Add SEO-friendly categories for keeping your content organized and easy to find.
- Post Excerpts – Create descriptions for your posts that will show to search engine users.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your content images for improved search results.
- Internal Content Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that allows you to easily create internal links
- Pinging – Set up your site to automatically notify (ping) other search directories immediately upon publishing new content on your site.
Improving SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins
As well as the built-in features of WordPress, there are a number of plugins that improve your accounting or financial services website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more visitors to your site.
For example, here are some plugins you can use to improve your site’s SEO:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress sitemap plugin
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin
(Use a plugin like Yoast SEO to improve your SEO)
Other WordPress plugins you can use to improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social sharing features. Here are a few more fantastic WordPress plugins that can help (many of the plugins listed below are also free):
- BuddyPress – BuddyPress helps you run a social community on WordPress.
- bbPress – Run an online community forum on your WordPress site.
- E-Newsletter – Use this WordPress plugin to send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WP dashboard, without 3rd-party subscriptions.
- Disqus – Disqus lets you power discussions and increases engagement on your website or blog.
- Monarch – Use this WordPress plugin to add powerful social sharing features on your website.
(You can add social sharing buttons to your site easily using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
Generating More Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress-Based Tools
Let’s now discuss ways to improve your sales and generate leads and enquiries online.
Adding A Newsletter
Adding a newsletter is an excellent way to build a list of subscribers. Adding email newsletters] provides many benefits and advantages including:
- Drives targeted traffic to your website
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides useful updates
- Provides you with a targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to offer special services or products to a select audience
- Increases user interaction
- Provides you with an additional way for readers to share your content
An effective way to attract subscribers to your newsletter is to provide high value content and give users something for free in exchange for their details. This could be an exclusive guide, checklists for handling finances, access to tax calculators, discount coupons, membership access to subscriber-only content, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
A contact form makes it easy and simple for readers to get in touch with you. Users can raise problems, contact specific departments, request a quote, and more.
Contact forms provide several benefits and advantages including:
- Reduces spam
- Set up automated responses
- Giving you control over what gets sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- They can be added to any page or post
- Looks professional
- Convenience for visitors
A popular WordPress contact form plugin is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 WP Plugin)
This free plugin lets you add multiple contact forms into any post or page, customize the form and the email contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, and spam filtering is supported.
Another feature to consider is adding sections to your contact form so prospective customers can select which department they want to contact. This helps you get the comment to the right person.
Adding A Map
Adding a map helps your visitors and clients find you.
Inserting maps, such as Google Maps, into your site also provides users with many benefits, such as:
- They help to improve local SEO
- Visitors can find your office easily and helps clients can plan their trips better
- Displays location of events
(Adding maps helps your visitors and customers find you)
Popular map plugins include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Generate More Web Traffic Using Plugins
WordPress Financial Plugins
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your accounting website that will immediately add a range of functional tools for site visitors. Here are some of these plugins:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators WP Plugin)
This is 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. Internationalization is supported.
Most of the calculators aren’t focused on accounting, but there are a few you can use for:
- 401k
- Rate of return
- CD
- Credit
- And more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes)
This plugin installs a widget that displays a number of different stock quotes per portfolio. You can show as many portfolios as you like.
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker Plugin)
This free plugin lets you place custom stock tickers on any sidebar, post or page using shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker comes with loads of customizable ticker. You can choose from built-in skins or customize it yourself to match the look and feel of your site. You can also create custom stocks for individual categories.
Appearance customizations include width, height, background color, scrolling speed, opacity, number of stocks displayed simultaneously, text color, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress)
This free calculator allows your users to calculate indicative repayments. This is a great tool for calculating repayments on car loans, property loans, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator WP Plugin – Loan Calculator)
The Finance Calculator plugin also contains an application form that will send a message to the email address you specify.
It will display 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 lets WordPress blog owners send itemized invoices to their clients.
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, like business location, electronic signature, PDF creation, quote creation, single-page 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 several others.
You can add custom payments and charges, create pre-defined line items and discounts, view invoice status and progression, easily filter and find invoices, see invoice receipts and invoice history, create notification e-mail templates, view 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)
This is a complete business management system that includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, helpdesk with knowledgebase and support ticket management system, CRM and many more features.
(All In One Business Management Application – WordPress Plugin – Client Invoice)
The plugin supports international 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 cash flow and net worth, send single-click payment reminders and payment confirmations, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software WordPress Plugin – Invoicing)
iBilling Accounting and Billing Software lets you get paid faster by integrating with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting Themes For WordPress
To benefit the most from using WordPress, we recommend choosing a theme specifically suited for accounting businesses. Here is a look at some of the best accounting themes available. These themes allow you to have a professional-looking accounting website within minutes and save hundreds to thousands of dollars on the cost of web design.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro)
Accounting Pro is a turn-key theme built for accountants and accounting firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, offers several page templates, custom menus, a content composer (which improves on the standard WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resizing for images, and lots more.
You can easily expand this theme through premium add-ons.
For more details about using this theme, go here:
Accountancy
(Accountancy WP Theme)
Accountancy has a variety of styles and layouts that helps give your accounting website a professional look and feel.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, and more. It’s lightweight, SEO friendly, fast loading, and fully responsive. It provides the flexibility you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. Free updates and 1 year of support is included in the cost of purchasing.
More information:
Accounting
(Accounting – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your site any way you want. It also provides unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom admin panel, different color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). It looks clean and modern and is fast to load.
More information:
Kathryn
(Kathryn WP Theme)
This premium theme was built specifically for accounting services. It comes with multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, various colors, is easy to use, inexpensive, search 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 WordPress responsive slider plugin and must be purchased separately from the Genesis Framework.
Go here to learn more about this theme:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was designed with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. It features authoritative colors and layout elements specifically designed to help 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 details section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials section, and a blog.
More info:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate Theme For WordPress)
This is a free corporate theme designed specifically for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. You can use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. It includes a custom post type for staff profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is clean-looking and loads fast.
For more information, go here:
Divi
(Divi WP Theme)
This theme is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection of WordPress themes. You can create a professional website using the page builder or pre-made layouts. You can modify your layout to your heart’s content.
The builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and edit the structure of their web pages without touching any code.
(Divi – WordPress Theme – Page Builder)
It 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. Divi is mobile-friendly and completely customizable. Themes start at $69 per year and includes full access to over 80 stunning themes.
More information:
The Corporation
(The Corporation WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was specifically created to create great-looking corporate sites.
This theme has a sleek and professional page-based home page design with a nice slider. It also has a blog design. It has six unique color schemes. It also comes with multiple page templates that include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Themes start at $69 per year and includes full access to all stunning themes.
Go here for more information:
Adviser
(Adviser)
This premium theme was built specifically to help finance industry professionals build trust through clean design. It’s perfect for businesses that provide services such as investing advice or tax advice. Adviser includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications, lease calculator, widgets and multiple shortcodes, and a drag-and-drop visual composer..
More info:
Tax Help
(Tax Help Theme For WordPress)
This one was built for financial organizations, tax and finance advisors, and firms providing tax services. It’s designed to showcase your services professionally to help establish your professional reputation. It has a range of blog styles, uses the drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and additional custom shortcodes.
More info:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme For WordPress)
Finance Business was developed for businesses that provide financial services including consulting, tax help, corporate, insurance, finance, accounting, loans, and more. Finance Business includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around one hundred shortcodes that includes charts and financial content, custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page settings, color management, animations, and a whole lot more.
To learn more about using this theme, visit this website:
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 guide on how to improve SEO, improve user engagement and generate more visitors to your accounting site using plugins and themes helpful.
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