In Part 1 of this guide on ways to improve your accounting business web presence, we provided in-depth information on the following topics:
- Online Challenges For The Accounting Profession
- Online Opportunities For Accounting Services
- Improving Your Website Pages
- Tips For Improving The Content On Your Site
In this section, we will continue looking at more ways to grow your accounting business online. Topics covered below include:
- Improving Traffic With WordPress
- Tips For Generating More Leads & Enquiries
- Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Traffic With WordPress Plugins
To learn more about WordPress plugins and themes, see these articles:
Grow Your Accounting Website – How To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Traffic To Your Business Generation With WordPress Plugins And Themes
Your web traffic is vital to your online business growth. In this section we explore ways to help you improve your web traffic using WordPress.
Optimize Your Site For Search Engines (SEO)
There are loads of ways that WordPress helps optimize your accounting website for search engines:
- URLs – Set the permalinks to use the title of the post.
- Tags – Choose the keywords that you want your article pages (posts) to be indexed by in the search engines.
- Categories – Add SEO-friendly categories for keeping your content organized and easy to find.
- Excerpts – Set an excerpt that will show to search engine users.
- Images – title images used in your content with keywords for better search 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 (ping) other search directories immediately upon publishing new content on your website.
WordPress Plugins For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Driving More Visitors To Your Website
As well as the built-in features of WordPress, the WP community makes available quite a number of plugins that will improve your website’s SEO, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your website.
Here are some plugins you can use to improve your website’s search engine optimization:
- All in One SEO – WordPress SEO plugin
- Google XML Sitemaps – WordPress XML sitemap plugin (for search engines)
- WP Tree – WordPress site map plugin
(A plugin like Yoast SEO (formerly known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your SEO)
Other things you can do to improve your website’s SEO, increase engagement and drive more traffic to your website are to add a forum, newsletters, commenting, and social features. Here are some plugins that can help:
- BuddyPress – BuddyPress can be used to set up your own social network on your site, with member profiles, messaging, user groups, activity streams, and more.
- bbPress – Set up your own online community forum on your site.
- E-Newsletter – Use E-Newsletter to send email newsletters, track results and manage subscribers from your WP dashboard.
- Disqus – Disqus lets you power discussions and helps to increase user engagement on your website.
- Floating Social – Add social buttons and features that allow visitors to share your content online to your posts and pages.
(WordPress users can easily add social features to their site using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
Ways To Generate More Leads & Enquiries With WordPress-Based Tools
In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve sales and generate leads and enquiries online.
Adding An Email Newsletter
Providing an email newsletter is an excellent way to build a list of subscribers. Adding email newsletters] provides a number of benefits and advantages including:
- Drives targeted traffic to your website
- Keeps your business at the forefront of your reader’s minds
- Provides updates
- Provides a highly targeted marketing channel
- It’s a way to provide special services or products to a select audience
- Provides new opportunities for interaction
- Provides you with additional ways for subscribers to share your content
A proven strategy for attracting newsletter subscribers is to provide high value information and offer users something valuable for free in exchange for their details. This can be a handy guide, tips for handling tax, access to financial calculators, discount coupons, membership access to subscriber-only content, contests, etc.
Adding A Contact Form
A contact form provides an easy and simple way for readers to get in touch. Contact forms also allow visitors to raise problems, ask questions to specific departments, ask for quotes, and more.
A contact form provides several benefits and advantages, like:
- Reduces spam
- Automated response
- Giving you control over what is sent to you
- Allows you to keep your email address private
- Can be added to any page or post
- Improves the professional look of your website
- Convenient for users
A popular WordPress 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 allows you to insert and manage multiple contact forms to your website, customize the forms and the email contents, add fields, and more.
International languages, Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, and Akismet spam filtering is supported.
Another feature you may want to consider is to segment your contact form so prospective customers can select the aspect of your business they are contacting your company about. This helps you get the comment to the right person.
Provide Maps
Maps help your visitors and clients find you.
Integrating maps, such as Google Maps, with your site also provides visitors with many benefits, such as:
- A map helps to increase local SEO
- Customers can better plan their meeting or appointments
- Shows location of events
(Maps help your visitors and clients find you)
Popular Google Maps plugins for WordPress include:
- 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 Web Traffic Generation
Financial Plugins For WordPress
WordPress provides a number of plugins you can add to your accounting website to immediately add a range of functional tools for site visitors. Here are just some of the plugins you can choose from:
Calculator Pro Calculators
(Calculator Pro Calculators)
This plugin provides 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 quite a few you can use for:
- Interest rate
- Rate of return
- Tax
- Debit
- And lots more
For more details, go here}:
Show Stock Quotes
(Show Stock Quotes – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin installs a widget that shows up to 20 different stock quotes per portfolio. You can display as many portfolios as you want.
(Show Stock Quotes – Stock Portfolio)
For more details, go here}:
Custom Stock Ticker
(Custom Stock Ticker – WordPress Plugin)
With this plugin you can place custom stock tickers on any sidebar, page or post using shortcodes.
The plugin offers a number of customizable ticker. Choose from built-in skins or customize these yourself. It’s easy to customize it so it matches your site. You can also create custom stocks for individual categories.
Appearance customization features include width, height, scroll speed, opacity, background color, number of stocks displayed simultaneously, font size, font family, text color, etc.
For more details, go here}:
Finance Calculator
(Finance Calculator)
This free calculator lets users calculate indicative repayments. This is a useful tool for calculating repayments on automotive loans, property, or other large loans.
(Finance Calculator – WordPress Plugin – Loan Calculator)
The plugin also contains an application form that will send a notification message to a specified email address.
It will show 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 Plugin)
WP-Invoice is ideal for WordPress users with clients to bill.
WP-Invoice integrates billing into WordPress. You can send out itemized invoices, set up recurring billing and expand plugin functionality with free and premium add-ons, like business location, electronic signature, PDF creation, quoting, 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, and others.
Plugin features include adding custom payments and charges, creating 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, displaying 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 WP Plugin)
This is a complete business management system that includes accounting management, invoicing, order management, help desk with knowledgebase and support ticketing management system, CRM and many additional features.
(All In One Business Management Application – WordPress Plugin – Invoicing)
The plugin supports multiple languages, is fully customizable and provides additional tools such as document management, to do app, 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 client data and invoices, track your company’s net worth and cash flow, and lots more.
(iBilling – Accounting and Billing Software WP Plugin – Client Invoice)
It integrates with several online payment gateways.
For more details, go here}:
WordPress Accounting Themes
To benefit the most from using WordPress to grow your business online, we recommend choosing a theme specifically for accounting businesses. Here is a look at some of the best accounting 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 – WordPress Theme)
This premium WordPress theme is an inexpensive turn-key theme for accountants and accountancy firms. It’s a responsive theme with a drag-and-drop page-builder, offers several page templates, custom menu features, a content composer (gives you an improved WordPress editor), a sidebar manager, performs auto resizing for images, and lots more.
You can easily customize this theme by installing premium add-ons.
More info:
Accountancy
(Accountancy Theme)
Accountancy Theme comes in a variety of styles and layouts that helps make your accounting site look and feel professional.
This responsive theme includes a custom slider, a featured testimonial, it’s lightweight, search engine friendly, and fast loading. Accountancy provides the features your business needs without bloating your theme. The cost of purchasing includes free updates and one year of support.
To learn more about this theme, visit the theme website:
Accounting
(Accounting – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme includes a drag-and-drop builder so you can design your site any way you want. It also has unlimited sidebars and custom widgets, four different types of headers, a custom admin panel, four color schemes, a custom slider, three different blog types, and is responsive (mobile-friendly). Accountancy looks clean and modern and is fast to load.
Go here for more info:
Kathryn
(Kathryn – WordPress Theme)
This premium theme was built specifically for accountants. The theme allows you to use WordPress as a true CMS and provides multiple layouts, slider, multiple sidebars, widgetized home page, flexible rotator, call to action boxes, author boxes for single or multiple bloggers, various color options, is easy to use, inexpensive, search optimized, and is mobile-friendly. Although it can easily fit any profession you like, it builds a great looking accounting theme. It includes a license for the Soliloquy plugin and is a separate purchase from the Genesis Framework.
To learn more about using this theme, go here:
Accounting WordPress Theme
(Accounting WordPress Theme – Theme For WordPress)
This one was built with the idea of professionalism within the accounting industry. Every color, layout element, icon, menu item, page structure, call-to-action, etc., is designed specifically to help give your accounting business website 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 accounting services, contact details section with consultation requests (downloadable as a CSV file), testimonials section, and a blog.
Go here for more information:
WP Advocate
(WP Advocate)
WP Advocate is a corporate theme designed specifically for professional service providers such as accountants and attorneys. You can use the theme’s bundled images or upload your own. It also includes a custom post type for staff profiles and can also integrate with BeSpoke profile templates. WP Advocate is clean and loads fast.
For more information, go here:
Divi
(Divi WP Theme)
This premium WordPress theme is the most flexible theme in Elegant Themes‘ collection. You can create a professional site using its page builder or pre-made layouts. You can change your layout to your heart’s content.
The builder transforms elements into visual building blocks, allowing you to understand and edit the structure of their web pages without touching 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 modules include multiple layouts, a slider, you can place pricing tables, testimonials, call-to-action, and lots more. Divi is responsive and fully customizable. Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to over 80 sleek business themes.
Visit the theme website to learn more this theme:
The Corporation
(The Corporation WP Theme)
This theme was specifically created to make corporate sites look great.
The Corporation has a sleek page-based home page design with a eye-catching slider, blog design, six different color schemes, multiple page templates that include contact pages, blog feeds, sitemaps, search page, gallery page, and more. Elegant Theme prices start at $69 per year and includes access to 80+ beautifully-designed themes.
Go here for more information:
Adviser
(Adviser)
This theme was specifically built to help finance professionals build trust through clean design. It’s perfect for those that provide services such as investments or tax help. The theme 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.
For more information, go here:
Tax Help
(Tax Help)
This premium theme was built specifically for financial organizations, tax and financial advisors, and those that provide tax assistance. This theme is designed to showcase your services in a professional way and help establish your business reputation. It provides a range of blog styles, uses a drag-and-drop visual composer, includes a shortcode builder, the Revolution Slider, and many custom shortcodes.
Go here to learn more about using this WordPress theme:
Finance Business
(Finance Business Theme For WordPress)
This premium theme was specifically designed for organizations that provide financial services including consulting, tax help, finance, insurance, corporate, accounting, loans, and more. It includes a custom CMSMasters Visual Content Composer plugin. It also has around 100 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 features, animations, and a whole lot more.
Go here for more details:
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 how to improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and increase web traffic generation using WordPress plugins and themes.
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