In Part 1 of this guide on ways to grow your accounting business presence online, we provided many practical tips and suggestions on the following areas:
- Challenges Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Professional Accountants
- Improve Your Web Pages
- How To Improve Your Web Content
In this section, we continue looking at more ways to grow your accounting business online. Areas covered include:
- Tips For Improving Web Traffic
- Tips For Generating Leads & Enquiries With WordPress-Based Tools
- WordPress Plugins And Themes That Can Help Improve SEO, Create Better User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic To Your Website Generation
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
Your Accounting Website – How To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Traffic Using WordPress Plugins
Web traffic is vital to your business growth. This section will help you improve your web traffic using WordPress.
Optimize Your Site For Search Engines
There are loads of ways WordPress can help to improve SEO:
- Search Engine-Friendly URLs – WordPress lets you set the permalinks to create search engine-optimized web addresses for your content posts.
- Post Tags – Specify the keywords that you want your article pages to be indexed for in the search engines.
- Post Categories – Add SEO-friendly categories for archiving and organizing your content.
- Excerpts – WordPress lets you compose descriptions for your posts that will appear in search results.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your 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
- Pinging – Configure your site to automatically notify (ping) other sites and directories the moment a new post is published on your site.
Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation Using WordPress Plugins
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, the WordPress community makes available various plugins that will improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.
For example, 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 pages and posts for indexing by search engines)
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(Use a plugin like Yoast SEO to improve your SEO)
Other WordPress plugins you can add to improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your business are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social features. Here are some useful plugins that can help (many of the plugins described below can be downloaded at no cost):
- BuddyPress – Run your own social networking community on your website, with member profiles, messaging, user groups, activity streams, and more.
- bbPress – Use bbPress to set up an online community forum on your site.
- E-Newsletter – E-Newsletter lets you send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WP site.
- Disqus – This plugin lets you power discussions and increases engagement on your website or blog.
- Floating Social – Use this WordPress plugin to add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online on your website or blog.
(You can easily add social features to your website using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
Tips For Generating More Leads & Enquiries With WordPress-Based Applications
This section explains ways to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries.
Adding A Newsletter
Adding an email newsletter is a great way to retain and grow your readership. Adding an email newsletter provides many benefits and advantages including:
- Drives targeted traffic
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Keeps readers updated
- Provides a highly targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to provide special services or products to a select audience
- Provides new opportunities for user interaction
- Provides you with additional opportunities for your content to be shared online with other potential clients
A proven way to attract subscribers to your email newsletter is to provide them with valuable information and give them something for free in exchange for their personal details. This could be an exclusive guide, tips for handling finances, access to financial calculators, discount coupons, access to courses, contests, etc.
Add Contact Forms
Contact forms provide an easy and simple way for prospective customers to get in touch with you. A contact form also lets users provide feedback, contact specific departments, request quotes, send suggestions and more.
Contact forms provide a number of benefits, like:
- Reduces spam
- Set up automated responses
- Giving you control over what is sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Contact forms can be added to any page or post
- Looks professional
- Convenient for visitors
A very popular contact form plugin for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7)
Contact Form 7 allows you to add and manage multiple contact forms on your website, customize your form and the email contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, and Akismet spam filtering is supported.
Something else to consider is to segment your contact form so prospective customers can select which topic they are contacting your company about. This ensures that contact form requests reach the right person.
Provide Maps
Maps help your visitors and customers find you.
Integrating maps, such as Google Maps, with your site also provides users with a number of benefits, such as:
- A map increases local SEO
- Visitors can easily find you
- Displays location of events
(Adding a map to your website helps your visitors and customers find you)
Below are some popular plugins that let you embed, customize and display Google maps on your site:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
How To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Traffic Generation With Plugins
WordPress Accounting Plugins
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your accounting website that will immediately add a range of practical tools for your site visitors. Here are just some of these plugins:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin provides 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 specifically on accounting, but there are quite a few you can use for:
- Interest rate
- Rate of return
- Tax
- Credit
- And more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes WordPress Plugin)
This plugin installs a widget that shows a number of different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many portfolios as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker WordPress Plugin)
This free plugin lets you add a custom stock ticker to any page, post, or sidebar with shortcodes.
This plugin comes with loads of customizable features. You can choose to use built-in skins or customize these yourself to match your site. You can also create custom stocks for individual categories.
Appearance customizations include colors, speed, symbols, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin)
This free plugin allows users to calculate indicative repayments online. It’s great for calculating car loans, property, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator – Loan Calculators)
Finance Calculator also contains an application form that will send a message to a specified email address.
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 is ideal for WordPress site owners with clients to bill.
WP-Invoice lets you integrate billing into WordPress. You can send clients itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand functionality with both free and premium add-ons that let you manage locations, accept electronic signatures from clients, create PDF invoices, create quotes, create 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.
The plugin gives you the ability to add custom payments and charges, add pre-defined line items and discounts, quickly view invoice status and progression, filter and find invoices, see invoice receipts and invoice history, create notification e-mail templates, access 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, help desk with ticketing system, client relationship management and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin – Client Invoice)
The plugin supports international languages, is fully customizable and provides powerful tools like document management, notice board, and more.
For more details, go here}:
iBilling – Accounting And Billing Software
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software WP Plugin)
iBilling is a scalable business software that lets you manage and communicate with customers, tracks your company’s cash flow and net worth, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software Plugin For WordPress – Invoicing)
iBilling lets you get paid faster online by integrating with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
WordPress Themes
To benefit the most from using WordPress to grow your business online, it’s best to choose a theme specifically for accounting businesses. Here is a look at some of the best themes themes available for accounting. 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 an inexpensive turn-key theme created for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, offers several page templates, a custom menu feature, 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 customized through premium add-ons.
More information:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme offers a variety of styles and layouts that helps make your accounting site look and feel professional.
This fully responsive (mobile-friendly) theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, it’s lightweight, SEO friendly, and fast loading. It provides the features your business needs without bloating your theme. Free updates and one year of support is included in your purchase.
Go here for more information:
Accounting
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This one includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can design your site any way you want. It also provides unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom admin panel, four color schemes, a custom slider, three different blog types, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). It is a clean-looking, modern and fast-to-load theme.
More info:
Kathryn
(Kathryn Theme)
Kathryn is built specifically for accounting businesses. Kathryn comes with a slider, multiple layouts, multiple sidebars, call to action boxes, a variety of color choices, is easy to use, SEO friendly, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). 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 is a separate purchase from the Genesis Framework.
For more information, go here:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was designed to enhance 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 site a professional look. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s responsive (mobile-friendly) and includes pages for your services, contact details section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials, and a blog.
More information:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate WordPress Theme)
This is a corporate theme built for professional service providers such as accountants and attorneys. You can use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. WP Advocate also includes a custom post type adding staff profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is a clean-looking and fast-loading theme.
For more details, go here:
Divi
(Divi – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection. Divi lets you create a professional website using its page builder or beautiful and unique pre-made layouts. You can change your layout to your heart’s content.
Divi’s page builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and change the structure of their page without touching any code.
(Divi – WordPress Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
Divi comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. It has accordion, blurb, circle counter, divider, image, map, portfolio, sidebar, social media follow, video, fullwidth header, fullwidth map, fullwidth slider, and more.. Divi is mobile-friendly and fully customizable. Elegant Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to all sleek business themes.
To learn more about this WordPress theme, visit the theme site:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme For WordPress)
This one from Elegant Themes was specifically created to create great-looking corporate sites.
The Corporation has a sleek and professional page-based home page design with a nice slider, blog design, 6 unique different 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 full access to all stunning themes.
For more details, go here:
Adviser
(Adviser)
The Adviser Theme was built specifically to help professionals in the financial industry to build trust with a clean business design. It’s perfect for businesses that provide services like investing advice or tax help. The theme includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications. It also includes a lease calculator. It includes multiple shortcodes and widgets, and includes the drag-and-drop visual composer.
To learn more about about this theme, visit the theme website:
Tax Help
(Tax Help Theme)
This theme was built for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and those that provide tax services. It’s designed to show your services professionally to help build your business reputation. It comes with 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)
Finance Business was specifically built for firms that provide financial services including consulting, tax help, insurance, finance, corporate, accounting, loans, and more. Finance Business includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around 100 shortcodes that includes charts and financial content, the custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page options, color management features, 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, this comprehensive guide has helped you learn ways of improving your business online with WordPress themes and plugins.
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