In Part One of this step-by-step guide on ways to grow your accounting business presence online, we provided in-depth information on the following topics:
- Online Challenges For Accountants
- Online Opportunities For Accountants
- Your Website Pages
- Tips For Improving Your Web Content
In this section, we explore more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Topics covered include:
- How To Improve Web Traffic
- Ways To Generate More Leads & Enquiries
- Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Visitors Using WordPress Plugins & Themes
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
- WordPress Plugins – The Easy Way To Enhance Your Blog’s Features And Functionality
- Understanding Themes
Online Business Tips For Accountants – How To Improve Your Business Online Using WordPress
Your web traffic is an important part of your business growth. This section discusses how to improve SEO, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your site with WordPress plugins and themes.
Optimize Your Website For Search Engines
There are lots of ways that WordPress helps improve SEO:
- URLs – WordPress lets you set the permalinks to use the title of the post.
- 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 your posts and products.
- Excerpts – Set descriptions for your posts that search engines will display.
- Images – add search-optimized titles to your content images for improved search results.
- Internal Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that lets you easily create internal links
- Pinging – Set up your WordPress site to automatically notify (ping) other sites and directories whenever a new post is published on your website.
WordPress Plugins That Can Help Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Improve User Engagement And Increase Traffic To Your Site Generation
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, there are also a number of plugins for WordPress that will improve your accounting or financial services website’s SEO, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your website.
For example, you can install the plugins below 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 can improve your site’s SEO)
Other things you can do to improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more web traffic to your website are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social sharing features. Here are some more plugins that can help (many of the plugins described below are also free):
- BuddyPress – Run your own social networking community on your site.
- bbPress – Use the bbPress plugin to set up and manage your own online forum on your website.
- E-Newsletter – E-Newsletter allows you to send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard, without requiring third-party subscriptions.
- Disqus – Power discussions and helps to increase user engagement on your website.
- Social Media Feather – Use this plugin to add powerful social sharing features and buttons on your pages and posts.
(WordPress users can easily add social features to their site with free or inexpensive plugins)
Generate More Leads & Enquiries
This section will show you ways to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries.
Add An Email Newsletter
Providing a newsletter is an excellent way to retain and grow your readership. It provides several benefits and advantages including:
- Drives targeted traffic to your website
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Keeps readers updated
- Provides you with a highly targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to provide special products or services to a select audience
- Provides new opportunities for improving engaging with users
- Provides you with additional opportunities for subscribers to share your content
A proven strategy for attracting subscribers is to provide high value content and offer users additional items of value for free in exchange for their details. This can be a special report, tips for handling finances, access to financial calculators, coupons, access to videos, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
A contact form makes it easy and simple for prospective customers to get in touch with you. Readers can report issues, ask questions to specific departments, request a quote, and more.
Contact forms provide many benefits and advantages, like:
- Reducing spam
- Automated response
- Giving you control over what is sent to you
- You can keep your email address private
- Different forms can be added to any post or page
- Looks professional
- Is convenient for visitors
One of the most popular contact form plugins for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin)
This free contact form plugin allows you to add multiple contact forms into any page on your site, customize your forms and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
Supports international languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, spam filtering and so on.
Something to consider is to segment your contact form so prospective customers can choose which topic they are contacting your company about. This ensures that visitors’ requests reach the right person.
Map Integration
Maps help your visitors and clients find you.
Adding maps (e.g. Google Maps) to your website also provides users with a number of benefits, such as:
- Maps increase local SEO
- Visitors can easily find you
- Show location of events
(Maps help your visitors and customers find you)
Some of the most popular Google Maps plugins for WordPress include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Traffic Generation Using Plugins
Accounting – WordPress Plugins
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your accounting website that will immediately make available a range of functional tools for site visitors. Here are some of these:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators – WordPress 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 on accounting, but there are a few for:
- Interest rate
- Loans
- Tax
- Equity
- And lots more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes WP Plugin)
This plugin installs a widget that shows up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many widgets as you like.
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker – WordPress Plugin)
This free plugin lets you place custom stock tickers on any sidebar, post or page with shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker includes loads of customizable ticker. You can choose from built-in skins or customize it yourself to match your website. You can also add custom stocks to individual categories.
Appearance customization features include colours, size, speed, text, and symbols, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator Plugin)
This free calculator allows your visitors to calculate indicative repayments online. It’s great for calculating repayments on vehicle loans, property, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator WordPress Plugin – Loan Calculators)
Finance Calculator also contains an application form that will send a 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 WordPress Plugin)
WP-Invoice lets WordPress blog owners send itemized invoices to their clients.
This plugin lets you integrate billing into WordPress. You can send out itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand plugin functionality with both free and premium add-ons that let you manage locations, accept electronic signatures from clients, create PDF invoices, provide 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.
WP-Invoice features include adding custom payments and charges, adding pre-defined line items and discounts, quickly viewing invoice status and progression, filtering and finding invoices, showing invoice receipts and invoice history, creating email notification templates, viewing 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 Plugin)
This is a complete business management system that includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, helpdesk with knowledgebase and ticket management system, CRM and lots more.
(All In One Business Management Application – WordPress Plugin – Client Invoicing)
The plugin supports different languages, is fully customizable and provides powerful tools like document management, to do app, 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 customer data and invoicing, tracks your company’s net worth and cash flow, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software – Invoicing)
iBilling allows you to get paid faster online by integrating with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Financial WordPress Themes
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. These themes allow you to own a professional-looking accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro Theme)
This is an inexpensive turn-key theme for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, has 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 easily customize Accounting Pro through premium add-ons.
For more information about using this theme, go here:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme For WordPress)
This inexpensive theme comes in a variety of styles and layouts to make your accounting website look and feel professional.
This fully responsive (mobile-friendly) theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial section, it’s lightweight, search optimized, and loads fast. Accountancy Theme provides the flexibility you need without bloating your theme with features you don’t need. Free updates and one year of support is included in your purchase.
More information:
Accounting
(Accounting Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your site any way you want. The theme also provides unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom admin panel, four color schemes, custom slider, three different blog types, and is fully responsive. It is a clean-looking, modern and fast-to-load theme.
To learn more about this theme, visit the theme site:
Kathryn
(Kathryn Theme)
Kathryn is a premium WordPress child theme for the Genesis Framework that’s designed specifically for accounting businesses. Kathryn comes with a slider, multiple layouts, multiple sidebars, flexible rotator, various color options, is easy to use, inexpensive, search engine optimized, and is mobile-friendly. Although this theme 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 information:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was designed to exude professionalism within the accounting industry. It features authoritative colors and elements specifically designed to help make your accounting business site look professional 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 accounting services, contact form section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials section, and a blog.
Visit the theme site to learn more this WordPress theme:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate WordPress Theme)
WP Advocate is a corporate theme built specifically 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 for employee profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is a clean-looking and fast-loading theme.
Go here for more details:
Divi
(Divi)
This is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ collection. You can create a professional website using the page builder or pre-made layouts. You can modify your layout as much as you need.
The builder transforms elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and redesign the structure of their page without editing any code.
(Divi WP Theme – Page Builder)
Divi has 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. Modules include bar counter, call to action, contact form, email optin, filterable portfolio, login, post title, shop, social media follow, video slider, fullwidth code, fullwidth portfolio, fullwidth slider, and more.. Divi is fully responsive and completely customizable. Themes start at $69 per year and includes full access to over 80 stunning themes.
To learn more about using this WordPress theme, go here:
The Corporation
(The Corporation WP Theme)
This premium theme from Elegant Themes was specifically created to create great-looking corporate websites.
It has a page-based home page design with a eye-catching slider. It also has a blog design. It comes with six color schemes. It also comes with 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 access to all themes.
Go here for more information:
Adviser
(Adviser)
This theme 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 advice. Adviser includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications. It also includes a lease calculator. It includes widgets and multiple shortcodes, and includes the drag-and-drop visual composer.
Go here to learn more about using this WordPress theme:
Tax Help
(Tax Help Theme For WordPress)
This theme was specifically developed for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and businesses providing tax services. Tax Help is designed to showcase your services professionally and help build your professional reputation. It provides different blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and additional custom shortcodes.
To learn more about this theme, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme)
Finance Business Theme was developed for businesses that provide financial services including tax help, consulting, corporate, finance, insurance, loans, accounting, and more. Finance Business 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, two premium sliders, page settings, color management features, animated elements, and a lot more.
Go here for more information:
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 guide on how to improve SEO, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your accounting or financial services site using plugins & themes helpful.
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