In Part One of this comprehensive article on ways to improve your accounting business presence online, we provided in-depth tips and suggestions on the following areas:
- Challenges Accounting Services Face Online
- Online Opportunities For Professional Accountants
- Your Web Pages
- Tips On How To Improve Your Content
In this section, we discuss more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Topics covered include:
- Ways Of Improving Traffic
- Ways To Generate More Leads & Enquiries With WordPress-Based Applications
- WordPress Plugins That Can Improve Search Engine Optimization, Create Better User Engagement And Generate More Visitors To Your Site
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
Ways Of Improving Traffic Using WordPress
Your web traffic is vital to your online business growth. In this section, we explore ways of improving your business online with WordPress.
Optimize Your Site For Search Engines With WordPress
There are lots of ways WordPress can help to optimize your website for search engines:
- SEO-Friendly – WordPress lets you set the permalinks to use the title of the posts as the web address of your pages.
- Tags – WordPress lets you select the keywords that you want your article pages to be indexed for in the search engines.
- Categories – Create search engine-friendly categories for your posts and products.
- Post Excerpts – Set descriptions for your posts that will display in search results.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your images for better search engine results.
- Content Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that lets you easily link your content to other posts on your site
- Pinging – Set up your WordPress site to automatically notify other sites and directories the moment a new post is published on your site.
How To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation Using WordPress Plugins
As well as the built-in features of WordPress, the WP community makes available quite a number of plugins that will improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.
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 (lists all of your posts and pages for indexing by search engines)
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(Use a plugin like Yoast SEO (previously known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your SEO)
Other things you can do to improve your accounting or financial services site’s SEO, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your website are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social features. Here are a few more powerful plugins that can help (many of the plugins described below can be downloaded at no cost):
- BuddyPress – Use the BuddyPress plugin to set up and run an online social network on WordPress.
- bbPress – Use the bbPress WordPress plugin to run a forum on your website.
- E-Newsletter – This plugin lets you send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard, without a 3rd party subscription.
- Disqus – Disqus lets you power discussions and increases engagement on your website.
- Monarch – This plugin lets you add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online to your site.
(You can add social sharing to your site easily with free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
Tips For Generating More Leads & Enquiries
Let’s take a look now at ways to improve your sales and generate new leads and enquiries.
Adding An Email Newsletter
Providing a newsletter is a great way to build a subscriber list. Adding email 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 a targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to provide special products or services to a select audience
- Increases user interaction
- Provides additional ways for subscribers to share your content
An effective way to entice your visitors to subscribe is to provide high value information and offer users something for free in exchange for their personal details. This can be a special report, tips for handling tax, access to tax calculators, coupons, access to videos, contests, etc.
Provide A Contact Form
A contact form makes it easy and simple for readers to get in touch with you. Contact forms also allow visitors to send feedback, contact specific departments, request a quote, give suggestions and more.
A contact form provides many benefits including:
- Reduces spam
- Set up automated responses
- Giving you control over what gets sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Contact forms can be added to any post or page
- Looks professional
- Is convenient for users
One of the most popular contact form plugins is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin For WordPress)
This free contact form plugin is easy to install and configure and lets you add and manage multiple contact forms to your posts and pages, customize your forms and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, and spam filtering is supported.
Something else to consider is to segment your contact form so users can choose which topic they want to discuss. This helps you get the comment to the right person.
Maps
Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you.
A map is a very useful tool for several reasons:
- A map improves local SEO
- Visitors can easily find you
- Show location of events
(Maps help your visitors and clients 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
Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Visitors To Your Accounting Website Generation With WordPress Plugins
Accounting And Financial Services Plugins For WordPress
WordPress makes available a number of plugins you can add to your site that will immediately make available a range of practical tools for your site visitors. Here are just some of the plugins you can choose from:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin provides a free collection of over 400 calculators. You can embed these into your pages, posts, or sidebars using shortcodes. Internationalization is supported.
Most of the calculators aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are quite a few for:
- 401k
- Rate of return
- Tax
- Equity
- And more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress)
This free plugin gives you 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 – WordPress Plugin)
This free plugin lets you add custom stock tickers to any sidebar, page or post using shortcodes.
This plugin includes several customizable ticker. You can choose from built-in themes or customize these yourself. It’s easy to customize it so it matches your website. You can also create custom stocks for individual categories.
Appearance customizations include width, height, background color, scrolling speed, opacity, number of stocks displayed at one time, text color, font family, font size, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin)
This free plugin lets your site visitors calculate indicative repayments. This is a great tool for calculating vehicle loans, property loans, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator – Loan Calculators)
The plugin also contains an application form that sends a notification 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 WordPress Plugin)
WP-Invoice lets you send itemized invoices to clients.
This plugin lets you integrate billing into WordPress. You can send out itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand functionality with 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 payment processors like PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, 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, 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 support ticketing system, client relationship management and many added features.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin – Client Invoicing)
All In One Business Management Application supports international languages, is fully customizable and provides additional tools like document management, to do app, and more.
For more details, go here}:
iBilling – Accounting And Billing Software
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software WP Plugin)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage customer data and invoicing, 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 – Client Invoice)
iBilling Accounting and Billing Software integrates 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 suited for accounting businesses. Here is a list of some of the best accounting themes available. These themes allow you to own a professional-looking accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro)
Accounting Pro is an inexpensive turn-key theme for accountants and accounting firms. It’s responsive, has 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, auto-resizing for images, and a whole lot more.
You can expand this theme with premium add-ons.
More information:
Accountancy
(Accountancy WP Theme)
This premium theme has a variety of styles and layouts to make your accounting website look and feel professional.
This fully responsive theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, it’s lightweight, search engine optimized, and fast loading. 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 in your purchase.
To learn more about this theme, go here:
Accounting
(Accounting)
Accounting includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your site any way you want. The theme also has unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom administration panel, different color schemes, custom slider, 3 blog types, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). It is a clean-looking, modern and fast loading theme.
Go here for more information:
Kathryn
(Kathryn Theme For WordPress)
This one is developed for accountants. It has multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, various color options, is easy to use, inexpensive, search engine optimized, and is mobile-friendly. Although this theme could easily suit any profession, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy WordPress slider plugin and must be purchased separately from the Genesis Framework.
Go here to learn more about using this theme:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – Theme For WordPress)
This one was built to enhance professionalism within the accounting industry. It features an authoritative color scheme and elements designed specifically to make your accounting 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 section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials section, and a blog.
More info:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate Theme)
This is a corporate theme built specifically for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. Use the bundled images or upload your own. It also includes a custom post type for staff profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is clean and fast-loading.
Go here for more info:
Divi
(Divi)
This theme is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection. You can create a professional website using the page builder or pre-made layouts. You can change your layout as much as you need.
Divi’s page builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing anyone to understand and redesign the structure of their web pages without editing code.
(Divi Theme For WordPress – Page Builder)
Divi comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. Modules include multiple layouts, a slider, you can place pricing tables, testimonials, call-to-action, and lots more. It is responsive and fully customizable. Prices start at $69 per year and includes access to all beautifully-designed themes.
Go here for more info:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme For WordPress)
The Corporation from Elegant Themes was designed specifically to create great-looking corporate sites.
The Corporation has a sleek page-based home page design with a eye-catching slider. It also has a blog design. It comes with six color schemes. It also has 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 beautifully-designed themes.
Go here for more info:
Adviser
(Adviser)
This theme was specifically built to help finance industry professionals build trust online with a clean business design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services such as investments or tax help. The Adviser theme includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications, a built-in lease calculator, multiple shortcodes and widgets, and the drag-and-drop visual composer..
Visit the theme website to learn more this WordPress theme:
Tax Help
(Tax Help Theme)
This premium theme was built for financial organizations, tax and financial advisors, and firms offering tax assistance. The theme is designed to showcase your services in a professional way to help build your business reputation. It provides different blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and additional custom shortcodes.
More information:
Finance Business
(Finance Business WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was developed specifically for firms that provide any type of financial service such as tax help, consulting, finance, insurance, corporate, loans, accounting, and more. Finance Business includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin. It also has around one hundred shortcodes that includes charts and financial content. It also includes the custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page settings, color management, animations, and a whole lot more.
Visit the theme site to learn more this WordPress 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, you have found this article on ways of improving your website with WordPress useful.
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