In Part One of this step-by-step article on ways to improve your accounting business online, we covered the following areas:
- Challenges Professional Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Professional Accountants
- How To Improve Your Website Pages
- Improve Your Web Content
In this section, we explore more ways to grow your accounting services business online. Areas covered below include:
- Ways Of Improving Web Traffic Using WordPress
- Ways To Generate New Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress
- WordPress Plugins & Themes That Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Generate More Visitors To Your Site
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
- Using WP Plugins – The Easy Way To Extend Your Web Site’s Functionality
- WordPress For Business – An Introduction To Themes
Ways Of Improving Website Traffic
Your web traffic is vital to your online business growth. This section will help you improve your web traffic using WordPress.
Optimizing Your Website For Search Engines
There are loads of ways WordPress can help to optimize your website for search engines:
- Search Engine-Friendly URLs – WordPress lets you set the permalinks to use the title of the posts as the web address of your pages.
- Post Tags – Choose the keywords that you want search engines to index your articles for.
- Categories – Create SEO-friendly categories for archiving and organizing your content.
- Excerpts – WordPress lets you compose an excerpt that will display to search engine users.
- Images – title your images with keywords for improved search engine results.
- Internal Content Linking – WordPress provides a built-in feature that allows you to easily link your content to other posts on your site
- Pinging – Configure your site to automatically notify other sites and directories whenever a new post is published on your website.
Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Web Traffic With WordPress Plugins
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, there are also a number of WordPress plugins that will improve SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your business.
For example, you can install the plugins below to improve your site’s SEO:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin
(Use a plugin like Yoast SEO to improve your website’s SEO)
Other things you can do to improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social sharing features. Here are a few plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – Run a social network on WordPress, with member profiles, messaging, activity streams, user groups, and more.
- bbPress – This free WordPress plugin can be used to set up a forum on WordPress.
- E-Newsletter – E-Newsletter allows you to send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress site.
- Disqus – This plugin lets you power discussions and helps to increase engagement on your website.
- Social Media Feather – Use this plugin to add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online to your website or blog.
(You can add social sharing buttons to your website easily with WordPress plugins)
Ways To Generate More Leads & Enquiries
Let’s now discuss how to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries.
Provide An Email Newsletter
Providing an email newsletter is an excellent way to build a subscriber list. It provides several benefits and advantages including:
- Sends targeted traffic
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides updates
- Provides a targeted marketing channel
- Allows you to offer special services or products to a select audience
- Provides new opportunities for improving user engagement
- Provides another way for your content to be shared around with other prospective customers
A proven strategy for attracting newsletter subscribers is to provide high value content and offer users free gifts or bonus items in exchange for their personal details. This could be a time-saving guide, tips for handling finances, access to financial calculators, discount coupons, membership access to courses, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
Contact forms provide an easy and simple way for readers to get in touch. Contact forms also allow users to provide feedback, ask questions to specific departments, ask for quotes, give suggestions for improvements and more.
Contact forms provide many benefits, like:
- Reduces spam
- Automated response
- Gives you control over what is sent to you
- You can keep your email address private
- Can be added to any post or page
- Looks professional
- Convenience for site visitors
A popular contact form plugin for WordPress is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin)
This plugin allows you to create multiple contact forms, customize the form and the email contents, add fields, and more.
Supports international languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.
Something to consider is to segment your contact form so users can choose which topic they want to discuss. This ensures that contact form requests reach the right person.
Map
Maps help your visitors and customers find you.
Adding maps, such as Google Maps to your site also provides users with many benefits, such as:
- Maps increase local SEO
- Allows customers to better plan their meeting or appointments
- Shows location of events
(A map helps your visitors and customers find you)
Below are just some of the more 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 For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increasing User Engagement And Generating More Visitors
Accounting Plugins For WordPress
WordPress makes available a number of plugins you can add to your accounting or financial services website that will immediately make available a range of functional tools for your site visitors. Here are some of the plugins you can choose from:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators)
This is a free collection of 400+ calculators. You can embed them into your posts, pages, or sidebars using shortcodes. Internationalization is supported.
Note: Most of them aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are a few for:
- Mortgage
- Payments
- Leases
- Credit
- And more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes WP Plugin)
This plugin gives you a widget that shows a number of different stock quotes per portfolio. You can show as many portfolios as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker Plugin)
This plugin lets you add a custom stock ticker to any sidebar, post or page with shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker includes a number of customizable features. You can choose to use built-in themes or customize it yourself to match your website. You can also create custom stocks for individual categories.
Appearance customization features include colors, speed, symbols, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator)
This free plugin lets your visitors calculate indicative repayments. It’s great for calculating vehicle loans, property loans, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator Plugin – Loan Calculator)
This 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 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.
WP-Invoice lets you integrate billing into WordPress. You can send clients itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand functionality with free and premium add-ons, like business location, electronic signature, PDF creation, quoting, checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into your WordPress user management database to keep track of your clients and their information, and integrates with PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, and many others.
Plugin features include adding custom payments and charges, adding pre-defined line items and discounts, viewing invoice status and progression, filtering and finding invoices, showing invoice receipts and invoice history, creating email notification templates, accessing 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 WP Plugin)
This is a complete business management system that includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with knowledgebase and ticketing system, client relationship management and many added features.
(All In One Business Management Application Plugin – Invoice)
The plugin supports multiple 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)
iBilling is a scalable business software that lets you manage client data and invoicing, track your company’s cash flow and net worth, send single-click payment reminders and payment confirmations, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software Plugin For WordPress – Client Invoicing)
iBilling integrates with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
WordPress Themes - Accounting Businesses
To get the best features and professional look for your website, it’s best to choose a theme specifically for accounting businesses. Below is a list of some of the best themes themes available for accountancy businesses. These themes allow you to own a professional accounting website within minutes.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme is an inexpensive turn-key theme created for accountants and accounting firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, offers several page templates, custom menus, a content composer (gives you an improved WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resizing for images, and lots more.
Accounting Pro can be customized using premium add-ons.
For more details, go here:
Accountancy
(Accountancy WP Theme)
Accountancy offers a variety of built-in 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, SEO friendly, and fast loading. 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.
For more details, go here:
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 header types, a custom admin panel, four color schemes, a custom slider, three different blog types, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). It looks clean and modern and loads fast.
Go here for more details:
Kathryn
(Kathryn Theme For WordPress)
Kathryn is a premium child theme for the Genesis Framework that’s built for accounting services. It allows you to use WordPress as a true CMS and offers a slider, multiple layouts, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, flexible rotator, call to action boxes, author boxes for single or multiple bloggers, various colors, is easy to use, search optimized, and is responsive. Although this theme can easily fit any profession you like, 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 for more info:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was built to exude professionalism within the accounting industry. It features authoritative colors and layout elements specifically designed to help give your accounting website a professional look. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s fully responsive and includes pages for your accounting services, contact details section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials section, and a blog.
Go here for more details:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate – WordPress Theme)
WP Advocate is a corporate theme developed for professional service providers such as accountants and attorneys. You can use the bundled images or upload your own. It also includes a custom post type for employee profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s clean-looking and loads fast.
To learn more about this WordPress theme, go here:
Divi
(Divi Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ collection. You can create a unique, professional website using the page builder or pre-made layouts. You can modify your layout to your heart’s content.
The builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and change the structure of their web pages without touching a single line of code.
(Divi Theme For WordPress – Page Builder)
It comes with 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. These include accordion, blurb, code, email optin, gallery, number counter, person, slider, social media follow, toggle, fullwidth header, fullwidth portfolio, fullwidth post title, and more.. It is responsive and fully customizable. Themes start at $69 per year and includes access to all sleek business themes.
For more information, go here:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme)
This premium theme from Elegant Themes was built specifically to make corporate websites look good.
This theme has a sleek and professional page-based home page design with a nice slider. It also has a blog design. It has 6 unique color schemes. It also comes with multiple page templates that include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Prices start at $69 per year and includes full access to over 80 stunning themes.
Go here to learn more this theme:
Adviser
(Adviser – WordPress Theme)
This one was specifically designed to help those in the financial industry to build trust online with a clean business 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 built-in lease calculator. It includes multiple shortcodes and widgets, and includes the drag-and-drop visual composer.
To learn more about this theme, visit the theme website:
Tax Help
(Tax Help WordPress Theme)
This premium theme was specifically developed for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and businesses offering tax assistance. Tax Help is designed to showcase your services in a professional way and help establish your business reputation. It provides different blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and additional custom shortcodes.
For more details about this theme, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme)
This one was specifically developed for businesses that provide any type of financial service including tax help, consulting, corporate, insurance, finance, accounting, loans, and more. The 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 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 article has helped you learn WordPress plugins & themes that can help improve SEO, increase user engagement and generate more visitors.
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