In Part 1 of this article on ways to build your accounting business web presence, we provided in-depth tips and suggestions on the following topics:
- Online Challenges For Accounting Businesses
- Opportunities For Accountants In The Online Economy
- Essential Website Pages
- Improve Your Web Content
In this section, we continue exploring more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Topics covered below include:
- How To Improve Web Traffic
- Generating New Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress-Based Tools
- WordPress Plugins That Can Help Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
Tips For Improving Web Traffic
Web traffic is vital to your online business growth. This section discusses WordPress plugins for improving SEO, better user engagement and driving more visitors to your accounting or financial services site.
Optimize Your Website For Search Engines Using WordPress
There are so many ways that WordPress helps improve your accounting website’s SEO:
- Search Engine-Friendly URLs – WordPress lets you set the permalinks to use the title of the post.
- Tags – WordPress lets you choose the keywords that you want search engines to index your posts for.
- Post Categories – Add categories for your posts and products.
- Excerpts – Create descriptions for your posts that visitors will see in the search engine results.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your content images for improved search engine results.
- Internal Content Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that allows you to easily create internal links
- Post Notification – WordPress can be configured to automatically notify other search directories the moment a new post is published on your site.
Improving Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, the WordPress developer community makes available a number of plugins that will improve your website’s SEO, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your website.
For example, you can use the plugins below to improve your SEO:
- Yoast SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress sitemap plugin
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(Use a plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your SEO)
Other things you can do to improve your accounting site’s SEO, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your website are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social features. Here are a few fantastic WordPress plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – BuddyPress can be used to set up a social networking community on your site, with member profiles, messaging, activity streams, user groups, and more.
- bbPress – Use the bbPress plugin to set up a forum on WordPress.
- E-Newsletter – This plugin lets you send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard.
- Disqus – use this plugin to power discussions and helps to increase engagement on your website.
- Monarch – Use this plugin to add powerful social sharing features and buttons on your website.
(You can add social features to your website easily with free or inexpensive plugins)
Generate New Leads & Enquiries
Let’s now take a look at how to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries.
Adding An Email Newsletter
Providing a newsletter is an excellent way to build a subscriber list. It] provides a number of benefits including:
- Sends targeted traffic
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Keeps readers updated
- Provides a highly targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to provide special products or services to a select audience
- Increases user engagement
- Provides other ways for readers to share your content
One of the things you can do to get visitors to subscribe to your email newsletter is to provide them with high value information and give them free gifts in exchange for their personal details. This could be a time-saving guide, checklists for handling finances, access to tax calculators, coupons, membership access to courses, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
A contact form provides an easy and simple way for readers to get in touch. A contact form also allows users to raise problems, ask questions to specific departments, ask for a quote, send suggestions for new services or products and more.
Contact forms provide a number of benefits, like:
- Reducing 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 page or post
- Looks professional
- Convenient for visitors
One of the most popular contact form plugins is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7)
Contact Form 7 is easy to install and configure and allows you to create and manage multiple contact forms on your website, customize the form and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
Contact Form 7 supports international languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.
Something else to consider is to segment your contact form so prospective clients can choose the department they want to contact. This helps you get the comment to the right person.
Provide A Map
A map helps your visitors and clients find you.
A map is a great tool for several reasons:
- A map increases local SEO
- Clients can better plan their visits or appointments
- Shows location of events
(A map helps your visitors and clients find you)
Below are some 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
WordPress Plugins And Themes For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increasing User Engagement And Traffic Generation
Accounting WordPress Plugins
WordPress makes available a number of plugins you can add to your website that will immediately add a range of practical tools for visitors. Here are some of the plugins you can choose from:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators WP Plugin)
This is a free collection of 400+ calculators that you can provide to users on your website. Internationalization is supported.
Most of the calculators aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are quite a few for:
- 401k
- Loans
- Leases
- Equity
- And more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin)
This plugin lets you add a widget that displays a number of 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 – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin lets you add custom stock tickers to any sidebar, post or page with shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker provides a number of customizable features. Choose from built-in themes or customize it yourself to match your website. You can also create custom stocks for specific categories.
Customize the appearance by changing height, width, background color, opacity, scroll speed, number of stocks displayed simultaneously, text color, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator)
This free plugin lets your site visitors calculate indicative repayments online. This is a useful tool for calculating auto loans, property, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator Plugin – Loan Calculators)
This plugin also contains an application form that sends a message to a specified email address.
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 Plugin For WordPress)
WP-Invoice lets you send itemized invoices to clients.
WP-Invoice lets you integrate billing into WordPress. You can send out itemized invoices. It even allows you to set up recurring billing. WP-Invoice can be expanded through both free and premium add-ons that let you manage locations, accept electronic signatures, create PDF invoices, provide quotes, create 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, 2Checkout, Interkassa, and many others.
Plugin features include adding custom payments and charges, creating pre-defined line items and discounts, viewing invoice status and progression, easily filtering and finding invoices, seeing invoice receipts and invoice history, creating email notification templates, accessing 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 is a complete business management system that includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with ticket management system, client relationship management and many more features.
(All In One Business Management Application – WordPress Plugin – Invoice)
The plugin 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)
iBilling is a scalable business software that lets you manage and communicate with clients, track your company’s cash flow and net worth, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software WordPress Plugin – Invoicing)
iBilling Accounting and Billing Software integrates with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting And Financial Services – WordPress Themes
To benefit the most from using WordPress to grow your business online, we recommend choosing a theme specifically for accounting businesses. Below is a list of some of the best WordPress themes available for accountancy firms. These themes allow you to have a professional accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro WordPress Theme)
Accounting Pro is an inexpensive turn-key theme built for accountants and accounting firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, has several page templates, a custom menu feature, a content composer (which improves on the standard WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resized images, and lots more.
Accounting Pro can be customized by installing premium add-ons.
For more details, go here:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme)
Accountancy Theme comes in a variety of styles and layouts to help make your accounting site look and feel professional.
This responsive (mobile-friendly) theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, it’s lightweight, search engine optimized, and loads fast. Accountancy Theme provides the flexibility you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. The cost of purchasing includes free updates and one year of support.
For more information, go here:
Accounting
(Accounting – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your site any way you want. It also has unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom administration panel, four color schemes, a custom slider, 3 blog types, and is fully responsive. It looks clean and modern and loads fast.
For more information, go here:
Kathryn
(Kathryn – WordPress Theme)
This one is designed for accounting services. The theme allows you to use WordPress as a true CMS and comes with a slider, multiple layouts, multiple sidebars, many color options, is easy to use, search optimized, and is mobile-friendly. Although this theme can easily fit any profession you want it to, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy responsive slider plugin and is a separate purchase from the Genesis Framework.
More information:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was developed to enhance professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., was specifically designed to give your accounting site a professional look without looking dull. 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 CSV), testimonials section, and a blog.
Visit the theme website to learn more about this WordPress theme:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate Theme)
This is a corporate theme built for professionals 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 for employee profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s a clean-looking and fast-loading theme.
To learn more about this theme, visit the theme site:
Divi
(Divi WordPress Theme)
This premium theme is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ collection. Divi lets you create a professional website using its page builder or beautiful 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 you to understand and easily change the structure of their page without editing code.
(Divi – WordPress Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
It has 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. These include multiple layouts, a slider, you can place pricing tables, testimonials, call-to-action, and lots more. It is responsive and completely customizable. Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to over 80 themes.
For more information, go here:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme For WordPress)
This premium WordPress theme was specifically created to create good-looking corporate sites.
The Corporation has a sleek page-based home page design with a nice slider. It also has a blog design and features that toggle on and off. It has 6 color schemes. It also has multiple page templates which include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Prices start at $69 per year and includes access to 80+ beautifully-designed themes.
To learn more about this WordPress theme, visit this site:
Adviser
(Adviser WP Theme)
This premium theme was specifically developed to help those in the financial industry to build trust online through clean web design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services like investments or tax advice. The theme 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..
Go here for more info:
Tax Help
(Tax Help WP Theme)
This premium theme was specifically developed for financial organizations, tax and financial advisors, and businesses providing tax assistance. This theme is designed to showcase your services professionally to help grow 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.
For more information, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme for WordPress was built specifically for businesses that provide financial services such as consulting, tax help, insurance, corporate, finance, accounting, loans, and more. The theme 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 options, color management, animated elements, and a whole lot more.
Visit the theme site to learn more about using 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
We hope that you have found this article on how to improve your accounting business online with WordPress helpful.
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