Welcome to Part Three of our Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to create an automated traffic machine using the WordPress CMS platform.
In Part One of this article series, we provided an overview of the process, and explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website or blog is the key to generating automated web traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do is add fresh content on a consistent basis to begin bringing more traffic!)
In Part 2, we discussed the setup phase of the automation process. We helped you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a website yet, how to set everything up if you already have a site, and what to do if your website was built with WordPress.
(In Part two we show you where to set up a WordPress site on your domain)
In this section of the series, we will look at the configuration phase of this process. We will show you how a WordPress site should be configured to drive new traffic automatically just by regularly adding fresh content to your site.
WordPress Traffic Blueprint – Configuration Phase
Finding ways to drive more traffic to one’s website is often cited by website owners as the greatest challenge they face online. With competition making business survival increasingly more difficult businesses are looking for any advantage they believe will help them get better results online.
The ability to generate traffic on demand can provide website owners with a huge advantage. For WordPress users, an expertly configured website allows their business to get off to a flying start as soon as their site is launched.
Configuration Is The Difference
There is a difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a site that has been professionally installed and set up by a website-building expert but not necessarily configured to take advantage of everything WordPress has to offer.
Here is a simple way to describe the difference:
An expertly configured WordPress site gives you a web presence and online business marketing automation!
(An expertly configured website gives you a professional web presence and an automated online business marketing process!)
Not only is more labor required to build and integrate an automated online business marketing process into your website, but also a special type of expert knowledge.
Allow me to illustrate this point with an amusing story.
Are Experts Worth The Money They Charge?
Everything is humming along in the gizmo-making factory when things suddenly comes to a halt.
No one can figure out what’s happened and so the manager decides to call in an expert to fix the problem.
The expert arrives shortly after being summoned and, without uttering a word, heads straight towards the control box. After staring silently at the control unit for 2 minutes or less, the expert then takes out a tiny little hammer from his pocket and makes a single tap near the left-hand edge of the unit.
Immediately, the assembly line springs back to life.
The plant manager is relieved as he thanks the expert, who leaves as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days later, the factory manager receives a request for payment of $5,000.
With great anger, the factory manager picks up the phone and dials the expert. Why were they charged such an exorbitant fee for so little time delivering a minimal amount of work? He then requests an itemized invoice and hangs up.
The next day, a bill of payment arrives in the manager’s intray. Upon opening it, this is what he sees:
The main challenge most businesses face online is driving new visitors to their sites.
How much money did the plant stand to lose when production ground to a halt and no one on the business was able to get things up and running again? Did the expert in our story not have every right to be compensated fairly for investing years developing the knowledge, skills and expertise that enabled him to assess and avert a serious crisis?
Similarly, if you could have your WordPress blog set up and configured so all you ever had to do is publish content to it and search engines, social followers from Facebook and Twitter and dozens of other web properties would be instantly notified, how much time and money would you save?
(How much better would your business be if you could automate the process of attracting new visitors to your website?)
Although the solution to many problems is often quite easy once implemented, it rarely is that simple or easy.
Expertly configuring a WordPress site requires more than just installing a website and configuring basic settings. It also involves knowing where to tap! This includes knowing things like:
- Which programs you need to install to get certain functionalities on your site.
- Which third-party accounts you need to set up and activate to achieve certain outcomes
- Which options you need to configure in order to ensure that processes will run as expected, etc.
(Generating traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires expertise)
Although this stage of the traffic automation system may not seem so technically difficult, it can be quite involved. The reason why is because it’s not as simple as installing one or two plugins, clicking on a button or two … it’s all this and so much more.
Expertly configuring your website involves the integration of different components including your web server, your web site, and a number of external sites and services …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring some settings in WordPress)
If we were to create a simplified flowchart of the steps involved in the configuration process, it would look like this …
(A simplistic diagram showing the activities involved in the configuration phase)
Let’s examine what’s involved in more detail.
Web Hosting
We’re not talking about the process of configuring your web hosting account for installation purposes (this is normally done during the Setup phase). We’re talking about configuring settings and options in your server specifically for handling all web traffic …
(In the configuration stage, your web server settings need to be checked for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all traffic is welcome traffic. Some of the traffic your website can attract will be unwanted traffic like spam, security threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This area of the configuration process, therefore, is all about evaluating your needs, planning for bad and good traffic and then adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This could include looking at things like spam protection and security threat prevention, to configuring your domain and email redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your webhosting settings for handling things like emails, page errors, etc?)
Once your server settings have been fine-tuned and configured (if required), the next step of the configuration phase is to set up a number of third-party sites and online services.
Configuring External Sites
The purpose of setting up external sites is that all of your content will be published from a central location (your site) and from there, it will be distributed automatically to other components of your web traffic generation system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
Once these external platforms have been added to your network, content pointing back to your site gets automatically published on these platforms. Your content and website will be exposed to new audiences and new sources of traffic.
Some external sites and solutions will need to have accounts set up before configuring your settings to help speed up the process and some will need to be done later, during the automation phase.
For example, here are just some of the accounts you will need to have set up before configuring your site’s settings:
Google Webmasters
(Google Webmaster Tools)
Google Webmasters lets you inform Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for automatic page indexing, and provides site owners with useful information, tools, and reports about their website.
After setting up your account and entering site details, use your information to automate traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your site’s traffic performance, SEO, user engagement, marketing activities, and more, by tracking all user engagement, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine referrers, etc.
After setting up your up your Google Analytics account and entered your site details, you can add visitor tracking information to all of your web pages in WordPress using a Google Analytics plugin and send data instantly to other useful applications.
Bing Webmaster Tools
(Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Search Console. Once your Bing Webmaster Tools account and site data have been set up, use this information with traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress (e.g. using plugins like Yoast SEO) and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As discussed in Part Two, WordPress offers users a self-hosted (WordPress.org) and a hosted (WordPress.com) option. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress option if you plan to build a professional online presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides a number of useful tools, which various WordPress plugins can access. We recommend setting up an account at WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll show you how to integrate these features into your traffic generation system in Part Four of this article series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media and social bookmarking accounts and attract new traffic to your site)
You will need your social accounts set up before you can integrate these with your traffic generation system.
After setting up and configuring everything, you will be able to syndicate your content automatically to your social media and social bookmarking accounts and drive new traffic to your site.
Make sure you have accounts and profiles set up with all the popular social networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, etc.
There are lots of social bookmarking sites you can set up. You don’t need to go crazy, just select the ones that will work with your system and/or content syndication tools (we will look at some of these tools in more detail in the Automation phase).
(You can syndicate your content to lots of social sites. Image: ShareThis.com)
Additional Sites, Content Aggregators, Etc.
There are a number of new online web platforms and content aggregators that can serve as secondary sources of traffic. Some are free or provide free access levels, and some are paid services.
For example, here is a content aggregator that allows you to add an RSS feed from your website …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Publishing platform for distributed content)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your social profiles and RSS feeds. Your content is displayed in a Pinterest-like format and users can follow your RebelMouse social feed.
There are many different sites and platforms you can add to your own traffic system. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to explore some of these further and discuss a configuration plan to suit your needs.
After you have configured your web server and set up accounts with third-party sites, it’s time to configure your site.
Configuring WordPress For Traffic
The first step in configuring your WordPress site for traffic is to ensure that its global settings have been correctly set up.
Let’s go over some key areas.
Global WordPress Settings
Your WordPress dashboard area contains a Settings menu that allows you to modify your site’s global settings …
(WordPress settings section)
General Settings
Fields like Site Title and Tagline can affect your site’s SEO, search indexing, etc …
(Settings Menu – General Settings Screen)
Writing
The Writing Settings section contains one of the most powerful and often overlooked traffic notification systems available to website owners …
(WordPress Settings – Writing Settings Area)
As stated in the Update Services section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you have purposely chosen to discourage search engines from indexing your site, then your site will automatically notify the list of services entered into the Update Services section
With an ‘out of the box’ WordPress installation, this section includes only one entry …
(Update Services – A Powerful Traffic Feature Of WordPress)
WordPress lets you notify dozens of update services automatically …
(Notify dozens of update services automatically with WordPress!)
Download A Comprehensive List Of Ping Services For Your WordPress Site!
Click the link below to download a comprehensive list of reliable and authoritative ping services for your WordPress site or blog:
Download A List Of Ping Services For Your WordPress Site
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Note: If you need help setting up the list of ping services on your site, we recommend using a professional web services provider. You can find professional WordPress service providers in our WordPress Services Directory.
Reading
This section affects how visitors will see your content when they visit your home page and blog pages.
The syndication settings on this page can influence web traffic. For example, choosing to display the full content vs a summary of your post, affects how your content shows up in RSS feeds and RSS email campaigns, and could impact someone’s decision to explore your content further, and whether or not they will visit your website to read the rest of the content from excerpts, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
As far as traffic is concerned, however, the most important setting in this section is whether the Search Engine Visibility feature is enabled or not.
Normally, you want search engines to visit your site. Leaving this box unchecked enables your site to automatically notify all the update services you have listed whenever new posts are published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason to discourage search engines from visiting your site, leave this box unchecked …
(Global Settings – Reading Settings)
Discussion
Although the settings in this section are mostly concerned with how users engage with content on your site, you have the option to allow notifications to sites linked to from your content, and to allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks). This can work for you, but it can also drive bad traffic in the form of SPAM comments …
(Global Settings – Discussion Settings Section)
Permalinks
Your Permalink settings allow your site to display posts with SEO-friendly URLs …
(Global Settings – Permalinks)
The examples below show some of the options for configuring your SEO-friendly URLs …
(Configuring SEO-friendly URLs)
For a detailed tutorial about setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here: Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks
Configuring WordPress Plugin Settings For Traffic Generation
WordPress provides users with plugins that can add almost every kind of functionality to your website, including many plugins that improve traffic generation.
Let’s look at some types of plugin categories that affect traffic and plugin examples
Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin
Once again, it’s important to configure your website for handling both good traffic and bad traffic. Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot afford to ignore the importance of securing your website or blog.
(Security Plugins stop bad traffic from causing your website harm)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets.
More information:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive more traffic by making your web pages more search engine friendly …
(WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast SEO help increase traffic by making your website more search engine friendly)
Use a powerful plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your SEO. Once properly configured, the Yoast SEO plugin not only makes your website easier for search engines like Google to index, it also gives you control over how your content is displayed to Google’s search results and social media pages, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
Social Sharing Plugins
Allowing visitors to share your content with their social networks can help drive more traffic to your site, especially if your site provides great content that adds real value to readers.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing features to their website using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
WordPress users can easily add social sharing features to their website using free or inexpensive plugins.
Most social plugins let you specify which social sites visitors can share your content to, embed social buttons into your content, set up custom update notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of followers), etc. Some social share plugins even allow you to set up protected content areas on your site which visitors can unlock by sharing your page.
Themes
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that can help grow your site’s traffic.
For example, as well as options and settings for configuring the design and layout of your website, many themes also include built-in features that let you improve search optimization and site linking structure for better indexing, easily add analytics, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WordPress themes come with built-in traffic optimization features)
With a number of themes, adding social sharing features to your site is as easy as selecting the option to enable this functions …
(Many WordPress themes provide users with built-in social sharing features that can be easily enabled on with the click of a button)
Configuring Other WordPress Sections
Last (but by no means least) in the web traffic system configuration process, are the things that need to be set up outside of the global settings.
These include the following:
Legal Web Pages
Once again, when preparing your website for a growth in traffic, it’s important to plan not only for both good and bad traffic but also for all the situations that can seriously affect your business when more and more people start finding and visiting your website.
If you engage in any form of commercial activity online, you need to make sure that your site stays compliant with regulatory agencies.
(Does Your Website Comply With All Legal Requirements?)
If you need help understanding the importance of having a compliant website, go here:
WordPress Post Tags & Categories
WordPress post categories and tags help search engines better organize and index your website, which helps you get more traffic.
(Categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better classify and index your website.)
As we recommend in this article, it’s best to discuss and set up your website’s tags and categories earlier on, during the Website Planning Stage.
When configuring your web site to automate and improve web traffic, you will want to review and make sure that the post tags and post categories you have set up.
Add A Site Map
A site map that displays all of your posts and pages to visitors is not only a useful navigation tool for users, it can also help external sites discover more of your site’s content …
(A site map is not just great for visitors, but for web traffic too!)
An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are two different things. Only search engine bots can understand XML sitemaps. Although search engines like Google can index your site just from an XML sitemap (which plugins like Yoast SEO will create for you – see earlier section), allowing visitors to find more pages on your site results in increased traffic.
Your 404 Error Page
When visitors searching online for your site type in the wrong URL or click on a dead hyperlink, they will typically be greeted with an error – page not found message (known as a 404 page) …
(A WordPress 404 Error Page)
A 404 Not Found error page can be configured to funnel visitors to your functional pages …
(Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to redirect traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 page can be set up in your web server, there are several plugins for WordPress that let you easily configure your 404 page from your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress Traffic Blueprint: Configuration Stage – Summary
Once you have your website or blog fully set up and expertly configured, all you then have to do to automatically start generating more web traffic is post content on a consistent basis.
The process of expertly configuring your WordPress site, however, can be quite involved and elaborate and requires the configuration and integration of a number of different components and web properties …
(WP Traffic System – Configuration Checklist)
The kind of skills and knowledge required to perform this stage of the traffic automation process can take some website developers months to learn.
Once you have expertly configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate as much of the process as can be automated. This step is addressed in the next section of our series.
This is the end of Section 3
To read the rest of this article, click on the link below:
This article is part of a comprehensive series of articles aimed at helping you learn how to grow your business online and drive traffic organically with a WordPress-powered website and proven marketing methods that are easy to implement.
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