In Part 1 of this guide on ways to build your accounting web presence, we provided in-depth information on the following areas:
- Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For The Accounting Profession In The Digital Economy
- Ways To Improve Your Web Pages
- How To Improve Your Web Content
In this section, we explore more ways to grow your accounting business online. Areas covered include:
- Ways Of Improving Web Traffic With WordPress
- How To Generate New Leads & Enquiries
- WordPress Plugins That Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
Online Business Tips For Accountants – How To Improve Your Business Online With WordPress Themes And Plugins
Your web traffic is an important part of your business growth. In this section we explore ways to help you improve your web traffic using WordPress.
Optimize Your Site For Search Engines (SEO)
There are loads of ways WordPress can help to improve SEO:
- SEO-Friendly – Set the permalinks to use the title of the post.
- Post Tags – WordPress lets you specify the keywords that you want your articles to be indexed for in the search engines.
- Post Categories – Add SEO-friendly categories for archiving and organizing your content.
- Excerpts – Set the description for your posts that visitors will see in the search engine results.
- Images – title images used in your content with keywords for improved search results.
- Content Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that lets you easily create internal links
- Pinging – Configure your site to automatically notify other search directories whenever a new post is published on your site.
How To Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, there are dozens of plugins that improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your website.
Here are some plugins you can use to improve your SEO:
- Yoast 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)
(A plugin like Yoast SEO can improve your website’s SEO)
Other ways to improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your site are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social sharing features. Here are a few fantastic WordPress plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – BuddyPress allows you to set up a social networking community on your WordPress site.
- bbPress – This plugin allows you to set up and run your own discussion forum on your website.
- E-Newsletter – This plugin lets you send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WP dashboard, without requiring 3rd-party subscriptions.
- Disqus – This plugin lets you power discussions and increases engagement on your website.
- Floating Social – Easily add powerful social sharing features on your website or blog.
(You can easily add social sharing buttons to your website with free or inexpensive plugins)
Generating More Leads & Enquiries With WordPress
In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your sales and generate new leads and enquiries for your business.
Provide A Newsletter
Adding a newsletter is a great way to build a list of subscribers. It provides many benefits, like:
- Drives targeted traffic
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides updates that could save businesses time and money
- Provides a targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to offer special products or services to a select audience
- Provides regular opportunities for increasing user engagement
- Provides you with an additional way for readers to share your content
A proven way to entice visitors to subscribe to your newsletter is to provide them with high value content and give them something valuable for free in exchange for their personal details. This could be an exclusive report, tips for handling tax, access to financial calculators, discount coupons, membership access to subscriber-only content, contests, etc.
Provide Contact Forms
A contact form provides an easy and simple way for prospective clients to get in touch with you. Visitors can raise problems, ask questions to specific departments, request quotes, and more.
Contact forms provide several benefits, like:
- Reduces 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 post or page
- Looks professional
- Convenience for site visitors
One of the most popular WordPress contact form plugins is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 WP Plugin)
This free plugin is easy to install and configure and allows you to insert and manage multiple contact forms on your pages and posts, customize your form and the email contents, add fields, and more.
Supports international languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.
Something to consider is to add sections to your contact form so prospective customers can choose the topic they are contacting your company about. This ensures that contact form requests reach the right person.
Adding Maps
Adding maps helps your visitors and clients find you.
Maps are a great tool for several reasons:
- Maps help to increase local SEO
- Clients can better plan their visits and appointments
- Shows location of events
(A map 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 That Improve Your SEO, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors To Your Website
WordPress Financial Plugins
WordPress makes available a number of plugins you can add to your website that will immediately make available a range of functional tools for users. Here are some of these:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators)
This is a free collection of over 400 calculators. You can embed them into your pages, posts, or sidebars using shortcodes. The plugin supports internationalization
Most of the calculators aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are a few for:
- 401k
- Rate of return
- Tax
- Credit
- And more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes)
This free plugin gives you a widget that displays up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many portfolios as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker Plugin For WordPress)
This free plugin lets you place custom stock tickers on any page, post, or sidebar using shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker comes with loads of customizable ticker. You can choose to use built-in skins or customize it yourself to match your website. You can also create custom stocks for specific categories.
Appearance customizations include colors, size, text, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin)
This free calculator allows users to calculate indicative repayments. It’s great for vehicle loans, property loans, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator WordPress Plugin – Loan Calculators)
The plugin also contains an application form that sends a notification message to the email address you specify.
Other features of this plugin include displaying payment protection, calculating 12 to 60 months loans and creating a form that can be placed in any page or post.
For more details, go here}:
WP-Invoice
(WP-Invoice)
WP-Invoice is ideal for WordPress users with clients to bill.
WP-Invoice integrates billing into WordPress. You can send itemized invoices. It even allows you to set up recurring billing. It can be expanded through both free and premium add-ons that let you manage locations, accept electronic signatures from clients, create PDF invoice versions, provide quotes, create single-page checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into your WP user management database to keep track of your clients and their information, and integrates with payment processors like PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, and others.
The plugin gives you the ability to add custom payments and charges, insert pre-defined line items and discounts, quickly view invoice status and progression, easily filter and find invoices, see invoice receipts and invoice history, create notification email templates, display 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, helpdesk with support ticket management system, client relationship management and many added features.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin For WordPress – Client Invoicing)
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 – WordPress Plugin)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage and communicate with customers, track your company’s cash flow and net worth, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software Plugin – Invoicing)
It lets you get paid faster online by integrating with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting And Financial Services Themes For WordPress
To get the best features and professional look for your website, we recommend choosing a theme specifically for accounting. Below is a list of some of the best accountancy themes available. With the themes listed below you can have a professional accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro Theme)
This is an inexpensive turn-key theme developed for accountants and accounting firms. It’s responsive, has 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-resized images, and a whole lot more.
Accounting Pro can be expanded with premium add-ons.
More info:
Accountancy
(Accountancy)
This premium WordPress theme comes in a variety of styles and layouts to give your accounting website a professional look and feel.
This fully responsive (mobile-friendly) theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, it’s lightweight, search engine friendly, and loads fast. Accountancy provides the flexibility you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. The cost of purchase includes free updates and one year of support.
More info:
Accounting
(Accounting Theme For WordPress)
Accounting Theme includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can design your website any way you want. The theme also has unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different header types, a custom administration panel, four color schemes, custom slider, three different blog types, and is mobile-friendly. Accountancy is a clean-looking, modern and fast loading theme.
To learn more about this theme, visit this website:
Kathryn
(Kathryn WordPress Theme)
This one is designed for accounting businesses. Kathryn 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, a variety of color choices, is easy to use, inexpensive, search engine optimized, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). Although this theme could easily suit any profession, 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.
Go here to learn more this theme:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This premium theme was designed with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., is specifically designed to make your accounting business site look professional while not looking dull. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s responsive and includes pages for your accounting services, contact details section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials section, and a blog.
For more details, go here:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate – WordPress Theme)
This is a corporate theme specifically designed for professional service providers such as accountants and attorneys. You can use the bundled images or upload your own. It includes a custom post type adding employee profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s a clean and fast-loading theme.
More info:
Divi
(Divi Theme For WordPress)
This is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection of WordPress themes. Divi lets you create any type of professional site you want using the page builder or beautiful and unique pre-made layouts. You can change your layout to your heart’s content.
Divi’s page builder transforms elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and easily redesign the structure of their web pages without touching code.
(Divi Theme – Page Builder)
Divi comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. This includes audio player, blurb, contact form, divider, gallery, login, post title, pricing table, testimonial, text, fullwidth header, fullwidth map, fullwidth slider, and more.. Divi is mobile-friendly and completely customizable. Themes start at $69 per year and includes access to 80+ sleek business themes.
Go here for more info:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme)
This one was created specifically to make corporate websites look good.
The Corporation has a page-based home page design with a nice slider. It also has a blog design. It has 6 color schemes. It also has multiple page templates which include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to 80+ themes.
More information:
Adviser
(Adviser Theme)
Adviser was specifically designed to help those in the financial industry to build trust online with a clean business design. It’s ideal for those that provide services like investing or tax advice. 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 info:
Tax Help
(Tax Help)
Tax Help WordPress Theme was built for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and firms offering tax services. The theme is designed to showcase your services professionally and help grow your business reputation. It comes with a range of blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and many custom shortcodes.
Go here for more info:
Finance Business
(Finance Business – WordPress Theme)
Finance Business was developed for organizations that provide any type of financial service including consulting, tax help, insurance, finance, 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, animated elements, and lots more.
More info:
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 comprehensive guide on ways of improving your business online with WordPress useful.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum
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