In Part 1 of this article on ways to build your accounting web presence, we provided in-depth information on the following topics:
- Online Challenges For The Accounting Profession
- Opportunities For The Accounting Profession In The Digital Economy
- Essential Website Pages
- Tips For Improving The Content On Your Website
In this section, we explore more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Topics covered include:
- Tips For Improving Web Traffic With WordPress
- Generating More Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress-Based Tools
- WordPress Plugins & Themes For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Generating More Visitors
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
- Add New Features And Functionality To Your Web Site With WP Plugins
- A Basic Guide To WordPress Themes
Grow Your Accounting Website – WordPress Plugins That Can Help Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Traffic
Web traffic is vital to your online business growth. In this section, you will learn ways of improving search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your accounting website using plugins.
Optimizing Your Website For Search Engines (SEO) With WordPress
There are lots of ways that WordPress helps improve your accounting or financial services website’s SEO:
- Search Engine-Friendly URLs – configure the permalinks to create search engine-optimized URLS for your content posts.
- Tags – Choose the keywords that you want your articles to be indexed for in the search engines.
- Post Categories – Create search engine-friendly categories for archiving and organizing your content.
- Post Excerpts – Set descriptions for your posts that will display in search results.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your content images for improved search results.
- Internal Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that allows you to easily link your content to other posts
- Pinging – Set up your site to automatically notify (ping) other sites and directories immediately upon publishing a new post on your website.
WordPress Plugins For Improving Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Better User Engagement And Traffic Generation
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, the WordPress developer community makes available also a number of plugins that will improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your site.
Here are some plugins you can use to improve your SEO:
- Yoast SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress sitemap plugin (for search engines)
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(A plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your website’s search engine optimization)
Other things you can do to improve your site’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more web traffic to your site are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social features. Here are a few powerful plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – This free plugin allows you to set up a social network on your WordPress site.
- bbPress – Use this WordPress plugin to set up and manage your own discussion forum on WordPress.
- E-Newsletter – Send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WP dashboard, without third-party subscriptions.
- Disqus – use this WordPress plugin to power discussions and helps to increase user engagement on your website.
- Social Media Feather – Use this WordPress plugin to add powerful social sharing features on your posts and pages.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing buttons to their website with free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
Tips For Generating Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress
In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your sales and generate leads and enquiries.
Provide A Newsletter
Adding a newsletter is an excellent way to build a list of subscribers. It] provides several benefits and advantages, like:
- Sends targeted traffic
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides updates
- Provides you with a targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to provide special services or products to a select audience
- Increases user engagement
- Provides an additional way for subscribers to share your content
An effective way to attract subscribers to your newsletter is to provide high value information and offer users free gifts in exchange for their personal details. This can be a guide, tips for handling tax, access to tax calculators, discount coupons, access to courses, contests, etc.
Add Contact Forms
Contact forms provide an easy and simple way for readers to get in touch. A contact form also allows readers to send feedback, contact specific departments, ask for a quote, send suggestions for new services or products and more.
A contact form provides several benefits including:
- Reduces spam
- Automated response
- 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
- Improves the professional look of your site
- Convenience for users
A popular contact form plugin is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7)
Contact form 7 is a free plugin that is easy to install and configure and lets you create and manage multiple contact forms into any post or page, customize your forms and the email contents, add fields, and more.
Contact Form 7 supports international languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, spam filtering and so on.
Something to consider is to add sections to your contact form so prospective customers can select which topic they want to discuss. This ensures that visitors’ requests reach the right person.
Adding Maps
A map helps your visitors and customers find you.
A map is a very useful tool for several reasons:
- They improve local SEO
- Allows customers to better plan their meeting and appointments
- Shows location of events
(Adding maps helps your visitors and clients find you)
Popular Google Maps plugins include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
WordPress Plugins That Can Help To Improve Your SEO, Increase User Engagement And Increase Traffic To Your Accounting Services Business Generation
WordPress Plugins
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your accounting website that will immediately add a range of practical tools for 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 them into your pages, posts, or sidebars using shortcodes. It also supports internationalization
Most of the calculators aren’t focused on accounting, but there are quite a few for:
- Interest rate
- Payments
- Leases
- Debit
- And many more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin lets you add a widget that shows up to 20 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 – WordPress Plugin)
This free plugin lets you add custom stock tickers to any post, page or sidebar with shortcodes.
This plugin provides a number of customizable features. You can choose to use built-in skins or customize these yourself. It’s easy to customize it so it matches your website. You can also create custom stocks for specific categories.
Appearance customizations include colors, size, speed, text, and symbols, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin)
This free plugin lets your site visitors calculate indicative repayments. It’s great for car loans, property loans, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin – Loan Calculators)
This plugin also contains an application form that sends a message to a specified email address.
It will show 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 Plugin)
WP-Invoice lets you send itemized invoices to clients.
This plugin lets you integrate billing into WordPress. You can send itemized invoices. It even allows you to set up recurring billing. WP-Invoice can be expanded through both free and premium add-ons, like business location, electronic signature, PDF creation, quoting, single-page checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into the WordPress user management database to keep track of clients and their information, and integrates with payment processors like PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, and many 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, display reports (collected vs uncollected invoices, ten 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)
This complete business management solution includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, helpdesk with knowledgebase and ticketing system, CRM and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin For WordPress – Invoicing)
The plugin supports different languages, is fully customizable and provides additional tools like 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 and communicate with customers, 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 – Client Invoicing)
iBilling lets you get paid faster by integrating with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
WordPress Themes - Accounting Services
To get the most benefit out of growing your business online with WordPress, it’s best to choose a theme specifically for accounting. Here is a list of some of the best themes themes available for accounting. With these themes you can own a professional-looking accounting website within minutes and save hundreds to thousands of dollars on the cost of web design.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro Theme For WordPress)
Accounting Pro is an inexpensive turn-key theme for accountants and accountancy 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-resized images, and lots more.
You can customize Accounting Pro through premium add-ons.
For more information, go here:
Accountancy
(Accountancy WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress comes in a variety of styles and layouts to help make your accounting website look and feel professional.
This mobile-friendly theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, it’s lightweight, search engine optimized, and loads fast. It provides what your business needs without bloating your theme. Free updates and one year of support is included in the price.
More information:
Accounting
(Accounting – WordPress Theme)
This one includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your site any way you want. It also provides unlimited sidebars and 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). Accountancy looks clean and modern and loads fast.
More information:
Kathryn
(Kathryn – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme was built for accounting businesses. Kathryn comes with multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, flexible rotator, many color options, is easy to use, search engine friendly, 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 WordPress responsive slider plugin and must be purchased separately from the Genesis Framework.
To learn more about using this theme, visit this site:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WP Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was designed to exude professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., is designed specifically to give your accounting website 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 accounting services, contact details section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials section, and a blog.
More information:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate Theme)
WP Advocate is a corporate theme developed for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. Use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. It includes a custom post type adding employee profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is clean-looking and fast-loading.
Go here for more information:
Divi
(Divi Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ entire theme collection. You can create a professional site using the page builder or pre-made layouts. You can change your layout to your heart’s content.
The builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing anyone to understand and easily redesign the structure of their pages without touching code.
(Divi Theme For WordPress – Flexible Page Builder)
It has 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. Modules include bar counter, blog, code, divider, filterable portfolio, map, person, slider, testimonial, text, fullwidth image, fullwidth portfolio, fullwidth slider, and more.. It is mobile-friendly and fully customizable. Themes start at $69 per year and includes full access to 80+ beautifully-designed themes.
For more details, go here:
The Corporation
(The Corporation – WordPress Theme)
This theme was specifically developed to make corporate websites look great.
It has a sleek and professional page-based home page design with a prominent, flashy slider. It also has a blog design. It comes with 6 color schemes. It also has multiple page templates which 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 80+ professional themes.
Visit this website to learn more about using this theme:
Adviser
(Adviser – WordPress Theme)
Adviser was specifically developed to help those in the financial industry to build trust online with a clean business design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services like investing or tax advice. It includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications, lease calculator, multiple shortcodes and widgets, and a drag-and-drop visual composer..
Visit this website to learn more about this theme:
Tax Help
(Tax Help Theme For WordPress)
This one was developed for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and those offering tax services. It’s designed to showcase your services professionally to help build your professional reputation. It provides a range of blog styles, uses the drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and additional custom shortcodes.
To learn more about about using this theme, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme was specifically designed for businesses that provide financial services such as consulting, tax help, finance, insurance, corporate, loans, accounting, and more. This theme includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin. It also has around one hundred shortcodes that let you add charts and financial content. It also includes a custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page options, color management features, animated elements, and a lot more.
Go here for more information about using this 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, this comprehensive guide has helped you learn WordPress plugins and themes for improving SEO, increasing user engagement and driving more visitors to your site.
Subscribe below to receive 101+ useful WordPress tips that will help you grow your business …
***
"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum
***