In Part 1 of this guide on ways to improve your accounting business online, we covered the following areas:
- Online Challenges For Accounting And Financial Businesses
- Opportunities For Accounting Businesses In The Web Economy
- Improving Your Web Pages
- Improve The Content On Your Site
In this section, we discuss more ways to grow your accounting business online. Topics covered below include:
- Tips For Improving Web Traffic
- Ways To Generate More Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress
- WordPress Plugins & Themes For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increasing User Engagement And Web Traffic Generation
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increasing User Engagement And Generating More Visitors To Your Website
Your web traffic is a vital part of your online business growth. This section will help you improve your web traffic.
Optimizing Your Website For Search Engines (SEO) With WordPress
There are lots of ways that WordPress helps optimize your accounting website for search engines:
- SEO-Friendly – configure the permalinks to use the title of the posts as the URL of your pages.
- Tags – Choose the keywords that you want search engines to index your article pages (posts) for.
- Categories – Create categories for archiving and organizing your content.
- Excerpts – WordPress lets you compose the description for your posts that will show to search engine users.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your content images for better search results.
- Internal Content Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that allows you to easily link your content to other posts and pages on your site
- Pinging – Set up your site to automatically notify (ping) other sites and directories immediately upon publishing a new post on your site.
WordPress Plugins That Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors To Your Site
As well as the built-in features of WordPress, the WordPress community makes available quite a number of plugins that improve your accounting or financial services website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more web traffic to your site.
For example, here are some plugins you can use to improve your SEO:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress sitemap plugin
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin
(A plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your SEO)
Other things you can do to improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your site are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social sharing. Here are a few more plugins that can help (many of the plugins listed below are also free):
- BuddyPress – Run an online social networking community on WordPress.
- bbPress – This free plugin can be used to set up and manage a forum on your WordPress site.
- E-Newsletter – E-Newsletter lets you send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress site.
- Disqus – Power discussions and helps to increase engagement on your site.
- Floating Social – Add social sharing features and buttons on your site.
(You can add social sharing to your website easily with WordPress plugins)
Tips For Generating More Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress-Based Applications
Let’s now discuss how to improve your sales and generate new leads and enquiries online.
Adding An Email Newsletter
Providing an email newsletter is a great way to build a subscriber list. Adding email newsletters] provides several benefits and advantages, like:
- Sends targeted traffic
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides useful updates
- Provides you with a highly targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to provide special products or services to a select audience
- Increases interaction
- Provides another way for your content to be shared around with other prospective customers
One of the best ways to get visitors to subscribe is to provide users with high value information and give them something valuable for free in exchange for their details. This can be a handy guide, tips for handling finances, access to tax calculators, coupons, 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. Contact forms also allow users to report problems, ask questions to specific departments, request quotes, and more.
Contact forms provide a number of benefits including:
- Reduces spam
- Automated response
- Gives you control over what gets sent to you
- You can keep your email address private
- Contact forms can be added to any post or page
- Looks professional
- More convenient for visitors
A very popular contact form plugin for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin)
This plugin allows you to create and manage multiple contact forms, customize your form and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
Supports international languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.
Something else to consider is adding sections to your contact form so prospective customers can choose the topic they are contacting you about. This ensures that visitors’ requests reach the right person.
Provide A Map
Adding a map to your site helps your visitors and customers find you.
Adding maps, such as Google Maps to your site also provides a number of benefits, such as:
- A map helps to improve local SEO
- Visitors can easily find you
- Displays location of events
(Adding a map to your website helps your visitors and clients find you)
Below are just some popular plugins that let you embed, customize and display maps on your website:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
WordPress Plugins & Themes For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Better User Engagement And Generating More Web Traffic
Accounting WordPress Plugins
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your accounting or financial services website to immediately add a range of practical tools for users. Here are some of the plugins you can choose from:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators)
This is a free collection of 400+ calculators. You can embed these into your posts, pages, or sidebars using shortcodes. Internationalization is supported.
Most of them aren’t focused on accounting, but there are quite a few for:
- 401k
- Rate of return
- Leases
- Equity
- And many more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes WordPress Plugin)
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 – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker WP Plugin)
With this plugin you can add custom stock tickers to any page, post, or sidebar with shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker provides several customizable features. Choose from built-in themes or customize it yourself. It’s easy to customize it so it matches your website. You can also add custom stocks to specific categories.
Customize the appearance by changing size, symbols, colors, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator)
This free plugin lets your users calculate indicative repayments. This is a useful financial tool for calculating repayments on auto loans, property loans, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator – Loan Calculator)
The Finance Calculator plugin also contains an application form that sends a notification message to a specified email address.
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)
WP-Invoice lets you send itemized invoices to clients.
WP-Invoice integrates 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 clients and their information, and integrates with payment processors like 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, filter and find invoices, see invoice receipts and invoice history, create email notification 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 complete business management solution includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, helpdesk with support ticketing management system, CRM and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application WP Plugin – Invoicing)
The plugin supports international 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 Plugin For WordPress)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage client data and invoices, track your company’s net worth and cash flow, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software Plugin For WordPress – Invoice)
iBilling Accounting and Billing Software integrates with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
WordPress Themes
To benefit the most from using WordPress to grow your business online, we recommend choosing a theme specifically suited for accounting. Below is a list of some of the best WordPress themes available for accountancy businesses. These themes allow you to have a professional accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress is an inexpensive turn-key theme built for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, offers several page templates, custom menu features, a content composer (which improves on the standard WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resizing for images, and lots more.
You can customize Accounting Pro using premium add-ons.
More info:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme)
This inexpensive theme has a variety of built-in styles and layouts to give your accounting website a professional look and feel.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, and more. It’s lightweight, search engine friendly, fast loading, and fully responsive. Accountancy Theme provides the features you need without bloating your theme. Your purchase price includes free updates and one year of support.
For more details, go here:
Accounting
(Accounting WP Theme)
This one includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can design your website any way you want. The theme also has unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom administration panel, different color schemes, custom slider, three different blog types, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). It looks clean and modern and loads fast.
For more details, go here:
Kathryn
(Kathryn Theme)
Kathryn is a child theme for the Genesis Framework that’s developed specifically for accounting services. The theme allows you to use WordPress as a true content management system and offers multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, author boxes for single or multiple bloggers, various color options, is easy to use, search optimized, and is 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 must be purchased separately from the Genesis Framework.
More info:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
Accounting WordPress Theme was developed with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., is designed specifically to help give your accounting business site a professional look. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s fully responsive and includes pages for your services, contact form section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials section, and a blog.
More information:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate – WordPress Theme)
This is a free corporate theme developed for professional service providers such as accountants and attorneys. Use the bundled images or upload your own. WP Advocate includes a custom post type adding employee profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s a clean and fast-loading theme.
More info:
Divi
(Divi)
Divi is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection. You can create any style of professional website you want using its page builder or pre-made layouts. You can modify your layout as much as you need.
Divi’s page builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and 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 audio player, blurb, contact form, countdown timer, filterable portfolio, login, portfolio, sidebar, testimonial, text, fullwidth header, fullwidth menu, fullwidth slider, and more.. Divi is fully responsive and fully customizable. Prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to over 80 professional themes.
Go here for more details:
The Corporation
(The Corporation – WordPress Theme)
The Corporation WordPress Theme was built specifically to make corporate websites look great.
The Corporation has a sleek and professional page-based home page design with a prominent slider, blog design, six unique 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+ sleek business themes.
More information:
Adviser
(Adviser Theme)
Adviser was designed specifically to help finance industry professionals build trust online through clean design. It’s perfect for businesses that provide services such as investing or tax help. The theme includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications. It also includes a built-in lease calculator. It includes widgets and multiple shortcodes, and includes the drag-and-drop visual composer.
More info:
Tax Help
(Tax Help Theme)
Tax Help was designed for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and those that provide tax assistance. Tax Help is designed to show your services in a professional way to help grow your business reputation. It has a range of 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 Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme was built specifically for businesses that provide any type of financial service such as tax help, consulting, insurance, finance, corporate, loans, accounting, and more. It includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around one hundred shortcodes that let you add charts and financial content, a custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page options, color management, animations, and lots more.
To learn more about this theme, visit this site:
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 guide has helped you learn ways to improve your accounting business online using WordPress themes and plugins.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
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