In Part 1 of this guide on ways to improve your accounting web presence, we provided many practical tips and suggestions on the following areas:
- Challenges Accounting & Financial Services Face Online
- Opportunities For The Accounting Profession In The Digital Economy
- Basic Website Pages
- Ways To Improve Your Content
In this section, we discuss more ways to grow your accounting business online. Topics covered include:
- Improve Web Traffic
- Generate New Leads & Enquiries Using WordPress
- How To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation Using WordPress Plugins & Themes
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, go here:
Grow Your Accounting Website – Improve Your Business Online With WordPress Plugins and Themes
Your web traffic is an important part of your online business growth. This section discusses ways to improve SEO, increase user engagement and increase web traffic generation using plugins.
Optimizing Your Site For SEO
There are so many ways that WordPress helps optimize your accounting or financial services website for search engines:
- URLs – configure the permalinks to create search engine-optimized URLS for your article pages.
- Post Tags – Choose the keywords that you want your article pages (posts) to be indexed for in the search engines.
- Post Categories – Create search engine-friendly categories for archiving and organizing your content.
- Excerpts – Create an excerpt that search engines will display.
- Images – title images used in your content with keywords for improved search results.
- Content Linking – WordPress has a built-in feature that lets you easily create internal links
- Pinging – Set up your site to automatically notify (ping) other search directories immediately upon publishing a new post on your site.
WordPress Plugins That Can Help To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Traffic
In addition to the built-in features of WordPress, there are quite a number of plugins that improve SEO, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your site.
For example, you can install the plugins below to improve your SEO:
- Yoast SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin (lists all of your pages and posts for indexing by search engines)
- Page-List – WordPress site map plugin
(A plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your website’s SEO)
Other things you can do to improve your accounting or financial services website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your business are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social sharing features. Here are some more WordPress plugins that can help (many of the plugins described below are also free):
- BuddyPress – Use the BuddyPress plugin to set up and run an online social network on your WordPress website, with member profiles, activity streams, user groups, messaging, and more.
- bbPress – Run your own discussion forum on WordPress.
- E-Newsletter – This plugin lets you send professional email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WordPress site.
- Disqus – use this WordPress plugin to power discussions and helps to increase user engagement on your website.
- Social Media Feather – Use this plugin to add social sharing features and buttons to your website or blog.
(You can easily add social sharing features to your website with free or inexpensive plugins)
Generate Leads & Enquiries With WordPress-Based Tools
In this section we will show you ways to improve sales and generate more leads and enquiries for your accounting or financial services business.
Providing A Newsletter
Adding an email newsletter is an excellent way to build a subscriber list. It] provides a number of benefits and advantages, like:
- Drives targeted traffic
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides practical tips and advice
- Provides a targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to provide special services or products to a select audience
- Provides new opportunities for user engagement
- Provides additional ways for readers to share your content
One of the things you can do to get visitors to become subscribers is to provide users with valuable information and offer them free gifts in exchange for their details. This can be a useful report, checklists for handling tax, access to financial calculators, discount coupons, membership access to courses, contests, etc.
Contact Forms
Contact forms make it easy and simple for readers to get in touch with you. Contact forms also allow readers to send feedback, ask questions to specific departments, ask for quotes, and more.
A contact form provides a number of benefits including:
- Reducing 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
- Convenient for users
One of the most popular contact form plugins is Contact Form 7.
Contact Form 7
(Contact Form 7 WP Plugin)
This free contact form plugin allows you to create multiple contact forms on your posts and pages, customize your forms and the mail contents, add fields, and more.
The plugin supports international languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, spam filtering and so on.
Something to consider is to segment your contact form so users can choose which aspect of your business they are contacting you about. This helps visitors get the comment to the right person.
Map Integration
Adding a map helps your visitors and clients find you.
Adding maps, such as Google Maps to your website also provides visitors with many benefits, such as:
- A map helps to increase local SEO
- Visitors can easily find you
- Show location of events
(Maps help your visitors and clients find you)
Below are some of the more plugins that let you embed, customize and display maps on your website:
- Google Maps
- Advanced Google Maps Plugin for WordPress
- WP Google Maps
- Comprehensive Google Map Plugin
Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Visitors To Your Website Using Plugins
Financial WordPress Plugins
WordPress lets you add a number of plugins to your accounting website that will immediately add a range of practical tools for your site visitors. Here are just some of these:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators – WordPress Plugin)
This is a free collection of 400+ calculators. You can embed these into your pages, posts, or sidebars using shortcodes. The plugin supports internationalization
Note: Most of them aren’t focused on accounting, but there are a few you can use for:
- 401k
- Payments
- CD
- Debit
- And lots more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes)
With this plugin you get a widget that shows up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can show as many portfolios as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker Plugin For WordPress)
This free plugin lets you place custom stock tickers on any post, page or sidebar using shortcodes.
This plugin comes with loads of customizable ticker. Choose from built-in skins or customize these yourself to match your site. You can also create custom stocks for specific categories.
Customize the appearance by changing colors, size, speed, text, and symbols, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator)
This free plugin lets users calculate indicative repayments online. It’s great for calculating car loans, property loans, or any other large loan.
(Finance Calculator Plugin For WordPress – Loan Calculator)
The plugin also contains an application form that sends a notification message to a specified email address.
It will display payment protection, calculate 12 to 60 months loans and create a form 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 integrates billing into WordPress. You can send out itemized invoices. It also 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 from clients, create PDF invoice versions, provide quotes, create checkout forms, and more.
The plugin ties into the WordPress 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 several others.
WP-Invoice lets you add custom payments and charges, add pre-defined line items and discounts, quickly view invoice status and progression, easily filter and find invoices, see invoice receipts and invoice history, create notification email templates, view 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 Plugin)
This is a complete business management system that includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with support ticket management system, client relationship management and many added features.
(All In One Business Management Application – Invoicing)
The plugin 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)
This is a scalable business software that lets you manage customer data and invoicing, track your company’s net worth and cash flow, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software WP Plugin – Client Invoice)
iBilling Accounting and Billing Software integrates with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
Accounting And Financial Services Themes For WordPress
To get the best features and professional look for your website, it’s best to choose a theme specifically for accounting businesses. Here is a list of some of the best themes themes available for accounting. These themes allow you to own a professional accounting website within minutes and save hundreds to thousands of dollars on the cost of web design.
Accounting Pro
(Accounting Pro Theme For WordPress)
This premium WordPress theme is an inexpensive turn-key theme developed for accountants and accounting firms. It’s responsive, has a drag-and-drop page-builder, has several page templates, custom menus, a content composer (which improves on the standard WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, auto-resized images, and a whole lot more.
You can customize Accounting Pro by installing premium add-ons.
For more information, go here:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme)
This theme comes with a variety of built-in styles and layouts to give your accounting website a professional look and feel.
It includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, and more. It’s lightweight, search optimized, loads fast, and is responsive. It provides the features you need without bloating your theme. Free updates and 1 year of support is included with your purchase.
To learn more about using this WordPress theme, visit the theme site:
Accounting
(Accounting Theme)
This one includes a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to design your website any way you want. It also provides unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom administration panel, four color schemes, a custom slider, three different blog types, and is responsive. Accountancy looks clean and modern and is fast to load.
Go here for more details:
Kathryn
(Kathryn WP Theme)
This premium WordPress theme was built for accounting services. It allows you to use WordPress as a true CMS and provides a slider, multiple layouts, multiple sidebars, a variety of color options, is easy to use, inexpensive, search engine optimized, and is fully responsive (mobile-friendly). Although this theme can easily fit any profession, 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 – WP Theme)
This theme was designed with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. It features authoritative colors and elements specifically designed to 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 fully responsive and includes pages for your accounting services, contact section with consultation requests (downloadable as CSV), testimonials, and a blog.
Go here for more information:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate Theme)
This is a free corporate theme designed specifically for professionals such as accountants and attorneys. You can use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. It includes a custom post type for employee profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is a clean and fast-loading theme.
To learn more about about using this theme, visit the theme site:
Divi
(Divi)
This theme is one of the most flexible themes in Elegant Themes‘ collection. You can create a unique, professional site using the page builder or beautiful pre-made layouts. You can modify your layout as much as you need.
The builder transforms web elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and easily change the structure of their pages without editing a single line of code.
(Divi Theme – Flexible Page Builder)
It comes with 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. Divi is mobile-friendly and completely customizable. Elegant Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to 80+ beautifully-designed themes.
More information:
The Corporation
(The Corporation Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme for WordPress was specifically created to make corporate sites look good.
It has a page-based home page design with a nice slider. It also has a blog design and features that toggle on and off. It has six unique color schemes. It also has multiple page templates which include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Themes start at $69 per year and includes access to over 80 themes.
Go here for more information:
Adviser
(Adviser)
This premium WordPress theme was designed to help finance professionals build trust online with a clean business design. It’s ideal for those that provide services such as investing or tax help. The theme includes a recruitment page with hiring announcements and where to send applications, a lease calculator, multiple shortcodes and widgets, and a drag-and-drop visual composer..
For more information, go here:
Tax Help
(Tax Help WordPress Theme)
Tax Help Theme was built for financial companies, tax and finance advisors, and firms providing tax assistance. The theme is designed to showcase your services professionally to help establish your business reputation. It has a range of blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and additional custom shortcodes.
For more details, go here:
Finance Business
(Finance Business)
This premium theme was built for businesses that provide financial services including consulting, tax help, finance, corporate, insurance, accounting, loans, and more. Finance Business 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 the custom drag-and-drop composer, 2 premium sliders, page settings, color management, animations, and a lot more.
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, this comprehensive guide has helped you learn how to improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic with WordPress plugins and themes.
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