In Part One of this guide on ways to build your accounting business web presence, we provided in-depth information on the following areas:
- Challenges Accountants Face Online
- Opportunities For Accountants
- Your Web Pages
- How To Improve The Content On Your Site
In this section, we continue looking at more ways to grow your accounting business online. Topics covered below include:
- Ways To Improve Traffic Using WordPress
- Generating More Leads & Enquiries With WordPress-Based Applications
- WordPress Plugins That Can Help Improve SEO, Create Better User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation
For more information about WordPress plugins and themes, see the articles below:
Improving Traffic Using WordPress
Your web traffic is vital to your business growth. This section will help you improve your web traffic.
Optimizing Your Website For SEO With WordPress
There are lots of ways that WordPress helps optimize your accounting website for search engines:
- SEO-Friendly – WordPress lets you set the permalinks to create search engine-optimized web addresses for your articles and posts.
- Post Tags – WordPress lets you specify the keywords that you want your article pages (posts) to be indexed by in the search engines.
- Post Categories – Add categories for keeping your content organized and easy to find.
- Post Excerpts – Create an excerpt that will display to search engine users.
- Images – title images used in your content with keywords for better search results.
- Internal Content Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that allows you to easily create internal links
- Post Notification – Configure your site to automatically notify (ping) other search directories as soon as a new post is published on your site.
WordPress Plugins That Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, the WordPress developer community makes available a number of plugins that improve your accounting website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your website.
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 sitemap plugin (for search engines)
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin (for visitors)
(A plugin like Yoast SEO can improve your website’s SEO)
Other ways to improve your website’s SEO, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your website are to add a forum, newsletters, comments, and social features. Here are a few more powerful plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – This free plugin can be used to set up and manage your own social networking community on your website.
- bbPress – bbPress allows you to run your own community forum on your site.
- E-Newsletter – Use E-Newsletter to send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress dashboard, without requiring third-party subscriptions.
- Disqus – use this plugin to power discussions and increases user engagement on your website or blog.
- Monarch – This plugin lets you add powerful social sharing features to your pages and posts.
(You can add social sharing to your website easily with WordPress plugins)
Tips For Generating New Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress-Based Applications
Let’s discuss now how to improve your sales and generate new leads and enquiries.
Providing A Newsletter
Providing a newsletter is a great way to build a list of subscribers. Adding email newsletters] provides a number of benefits including:
- Drives targeted traffic
- Keeps readers from forgetting about you
- Provides practical tips and advice
- Provides a highly targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to offer special products or services to a select audience
- Increases engagement with your users
- Provides you with other ways for your content to be shared around with others
One of the things you can do to get visitors to subscribe is to provide them with content of high value and offer them free gifts in exchange for their details. This can be a guide, checklists for handling finances, access to tax calculators, coupons, membership access to courses, contests, etc.
Provide Contact Forms
A contact form provides an easy and simple way for prospective clients to contact you. Users can raise concerns, ask questions to specific departments, ask for quotes, give suggestions for new services or products and more.
A contact form provides a number of benefits and advantages including:
- Reduces spam
- Set up automated responses
- Giving you control over what is sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Can be added to any post or page
- Improves the professional look of your website
- Is convenient for site visitors
A popular contact form plugin is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 Plugin For WordPress)
This free contact form plugin is easy to install and set up and lets you insert and manage multiple contact forms into any page or post, customize the forms and the email contents, add fields, and more.
The plugin supports international languages, Ajax-powered submissions, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.
Another option you may want to consider is to add sections to your contact form so prospective customers can choose which topic they are contacting you about. This helps you get the comment to the right person.
Map Integration
Adding a map helps your visitors and customers find you.
Inserting maps, such as Google Maps, into your site also provides users with many benefits, such as:
- Maps increase local SEO
- Helps visitors find your office easily
- Shows location of events
(Maps help your visitors and clients find you)
Popular map plugins include:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation Using Plugins
Accounting WordPress Plugins
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your site that will immediately make available a range of functional tools for your site visitors. Here are some of these:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators Plugin)
This is a free collection of over 400 calculators that you can display on your website and embed into your posts, pages, or sidebars using shortcodes. Internationalization is supported.
Most of the calculators aren’t focused specifically on accounting, but there are a few for:
- 401k
- Loans
- Leases
- Debit
- And lots more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you add a widget that shows a number of 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 Plugin)
With this plugin you can place a custom stock ticker on any sidebar, post or page using shortcodes.
Custom Stock ticker comes with several customizable ticker. Choose from built-in themes or customize it yourself. It’s easy to customize it so it matches your site. You can also create custom stocks for specific categories.
Customize the appearance by changing height, width, background color, scroll speed, opacity, number of stocks displayed simultaneously, font family, font size, text color, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator)
This free plugin allows your users to calculate indicative repayments. It’s great for car loans, property, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator – Loan Calculator)
Finance Calculator also contains an application form that sends a message to the email address you specify.
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 WordPress blog owners send itemized invoices to their clients.
This plugin lets you integrate billing into WordPress. You can send itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand functionality with free and premium add-ons, like business location, electronic signature, PDF creation, quote creation, single-page 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, 2Checkout, Interkassa, and others.
Plugin 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 e-mail notification templates, accessing 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 – WordPress Plugin)
This is a complete business management system that includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with knowledgebase and ticket management system, CRM and many more features.
(All In One Business Management Application – WordPress Plugin – Invoice)
All In One Business Management Application supports multiple 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 Plugin For WordPress)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage client data and invoicing, tracks your company’s cash flow and net worth, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software – WordPress Plugin – Invoice)
iBilling integrates with several payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
WordPress Financial Themes
To get the most benefit out of growing your business online with WordPress, we recommend choosing a theme specifically suited for accounting. Below is a list of some of the best accountancy themes available. These themes allow you to own a professional-looking accounting website within minutes and save hundreds to thousands of dollars on the cost of website design.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro)
This is an inexpensive turn-key theme designed for accountants and accountancy 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.
You can customize this theme using premium add-ons.
Go here for more information:
Accountancy
(Accountancy WordPress Theme)
This one comes with a variety of built-in styles and layouts that helps give your accounting website a professional look and feel.
This fully responsive theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, it’s lightweight, search engine optimized, and loads fast. Accountancy provides what you need without bloating your theme. Your purchase price includes free updates and 1 year of support.
For more details, go here:
Accounting
(Accounting Theme For WordPress)
Accounting includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your website any way you want. It also provides unlimited sidebars with custom widgets, four different header types, a custom administration panel, different color schemes, custom slider, three different blog types, and is fully responsive. It is a clean-looking, modern and fast loading theme.
To learn more about about using this theme, visit the theme site:
Kathryn
(Kathryn)
This premium theme for WordPress was created for accounting businesses. The theme comes with multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, many color choices, is easy to use, inexpensive, search engine optimized, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). Although it could easily suit any profession you like, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy plugin and must be purchased separately from the Genesis Framework.
Visit this site for more details about using this WordPress theme:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was created with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. It features authoritative colors and layout elements specifically designed to help make your accounting website look professional while not looking dull. It’s a turn-key installation but you can still modify it if you want. It’s fully responsive (mobile-friendly) and includes pages for your services, contact form section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials section, and a blog.
More information:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate Theme For WordPress)
WP Advocate is a free corporate theme specifically designed for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. Use the bundled images or upload your own. WP Advocate also includes a custom post type adding staff profiles. It will also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. It’s a clean and fast-loading theme.
More info:
Divi
(Divi Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ entire collection of WordPress themes. Divi lets you create a professional website using the 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 anyone to understand and redesign the structure of their page without touching a single line of code.
(Divi WordPress Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
It has 40 content modules that you can drag and drop anywhere you want. It has bar counter, blurb, circle counter, email optin, image, number counter, person, slider, testimonial, video slider, fullwidth image, fullwidth portfolio, fullwidth slider, and more.. It is mobile-friendly and fully customizable. Prices start at $69 per year and includes access to over 80 themes.
Go here to learn more about using this WordPress theme:
The Corporation
(The Corporation – WordPress Theme)
The Corporation from Elegant Themes was specifically created to create great-looking corporate sites.
It 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. Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to 80+ themes.
Go here to learn more this WordPress theme:
Adviser
(Adviser WordPress Theme)
This premium theme for WordPress was specifically built to help those in the financial industry to build trust through clean design. It’s ideal for businesses that provide services like investments or tax help. 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..
For more details, go here:
Tax Help
(Tax Help Theme)
This one was specifically developed for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and businesses providing tax assistance. Tax Help is designed to show your services professionally and help grow your business reputation. It comes with a range of blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and many custom shortcodes.
To learn more about about this WordPress theme, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was developed for organizations that provide any type of financial service including tax help, consulting, corporate, insurance, finance, accounting, loans, and more. This theme includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin, around 100 shortcodes that includes charts and financial content, custom drag-and-drop composer, two premium sliders, page settings, color management features, animations, and a whole lot more.
To learn more about this theme, go here:
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 guide has helped you learn how to improve your business online with WordPress plugins and themes.
Subscribe below to receive 101+ useful WordPress tips that will help you grow your business …
***
"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum
***