Welcome to Part 3 of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to automate traffic to your website using WordPress.
In Part One of this article series, we described 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 website, all you have to do to bring traffic is post new content on a regular basis!)
In Part 2, we focused on critical setup decisions. We helped you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a website yet, how to set things up if you already have a site, and what to do if your existing site has been built using WordPress.
(In Part 2 we show you how to set up a WordPress website on your domain)
In this article, we look at the configuration phase of the WordPress traffic automation system. We explain how a WordPress site should be configured in order to bring new traffic automatically when you add web content to your WordPress site.
WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – Configuration
Being able to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by most business owners as one of the greatest challenges they face online. With business getting so much more competitive on a global scale, it’s worth looking into any and every advantage that can help you increase your own competitiveness online.
Having the ability to generate traffic on demand can provide website owners with a tremendous advantage over other competitors. With an expertly configured website, you have an immediate advantage from the word “go”.
The Difference Is In The Configuration Process
There is a significant difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a website that has been professionally installed and set up by a web-building expert but not necessarily configured to its fullest advantage.
Here’s a simple way to understand the main difference:
With a WordPress site that has been expertly configured you get a professional web presence and an automated online business marketing system!
(An expertly configured website gives you a professional web presence and a built-in automated online business marketing tool!)
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.
Let’s illustrate this with an amusing anecdote.
Knowing Where To Tap
Things are going well in the widget assembly plant when everything grinds to a sudden stop.
As no one can figure out what went wrong, the plant manager decides to call in an expert to fix the problem.
The expert arrives shortly afterward and walks straight towards the control box. After staring at the wires and circuitry for 2 minutes or so, the expert then produces a tiny hammer from his shirt pocket and makes a very gentle tap about three cm from the bottom-right corner of the control unit.
Immediately, everything springs back to life.
The floor manager is relieved as he thanks the expert, who then leaves as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days later, the manager receives a request for payment of $5,000.
Bordering on outrage, the manager calls the expert. Why had he charged them such a ridiculously high fee for less than five minutes work? He then requests an itemized invoice and hangs up.
The next day, an invoice notice arrives and is placed in the manager’s in-tray. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he sees:
The number one challenge most businesses face online is being able to consistently drive web traffic to their sites.
How much money did the gizmo plant stand to lose when the equipment stopped functioning and no one in the business had the expertise required to fix it? Did the expert not have the right to ask to be compensated fairly for having invested years developing the knowledge and expertise that enabled him to avert a crisis?
Similarly, if you could have a blog set up and configured so all you had to do is publish new content and Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and dozens of other web properties would be automatically notified, how much time and money would this save you?
(How much time and money would you save if you could automate the process of attracting new visitors to your website?)
Although many experts often make difficult things look easy, it rarely turns out to be that way.
Knowing how to expertly configure a WordPress site is more than adding some pages with content and configuring a few internal settings. It requires knowing where to tap! In other words, knowing things like:
- Which programs you need to install to get specific functionalities on your site.
- Which services need to be set up to get desired outcomes
- Which internal and external settings need to be configured to make sure things will work as you have imagined, etc.
(Driving web traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires expertise)
Although this part of the WordPress traffic automation system may not seem so technically difficult, it can be quite complicated. It’s not just about installing and configuring a solution, configuring some options and settings in your admin area … it’s all of this and much more.
The configuration phase is a complex process that involves your web server, your site, and a number of external sites …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring a few settings in WordPress)
If we try to flowchart the steps involved in the configuration process, it would look something like this …
(A simplified diagram showing the configuration process)
Let’s examine what’s involved.
Web Hosting
We’re not talking here about the process of configuring your web-hosting account for installation purposes. We’re talking about configuring settings and options in your server specifically for handling web traffic …
(During the configuration phase, your web server settings need to be fine-tuned for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all web traffic is positive traffic. Some of the traffic your business may attract will be unwanted traffic like bot spam, security threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This part of the configuration process, therefore, is about planning for good and unwanted traffic and then adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This could include looking at things like implementing server-level spam protection and preventing security threats, to configuring your domain and email redirections, setting up error page redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your webhosting settings for handling things like email forwarding, page error redirects, etc?)
After fine-tuning your web server settings and configuring these, the next step of the configuration phase is to set up various third-party sites and services.
External Sites
The purpose of adding external sites is that all of your content will be published to a central location (your WordPress site) and from there, it will get distributed automatically to other parts of your traffic system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
After incorporating these external platforms into your network, content linked back to your website will be automatically syndicated to these platforms. Your site will be exposed to new audiences and new sources of traffic.
Some of these third-party sites and services will need to have accounts set up before configuring your site’s settings to help speed up the configuration 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:
Google Webmasters
(Google Webmaster Tools)
Google Webmaster Tools lets you inform Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for automatic page indexing, and provides site owners with important information, SEO tools, and reports about their website.
Once your Google Webmasters account and site details are set up, this information can be used with traffic-related settings in WordPress and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your site’s performance, SEO, marketing campaigns, and more, by tracking all user behavior, pages visited, keywords searched for, social media referrals, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account has been set up, you can add traffic tracking code to WordPress using a simple Google Analytics plugin and feed data instantly to many other useful applications.
Bing Data And Tools
(Bing Webmaster Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmasters. After setting up your account, this information can be used to automate web traffic-related settings in WordPress and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As discussed in Part 2, WordPress offers both the option of a hosted vs self-hosted website. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress platform if you plan to grow a professional web presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides a number of useful tools, which can be accessed by various WordPress plugins. We recommend setting up an account with WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll show you how to integrate these features into your automated traffic generation system in Part Four of this series.
Social Media
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media pages and drive new traffic to your site)
You will need to have already set up your social accounts in order to configure these as part of your traffic generation system.
Once you have set up and configured everything, you will be able to syndicate your content automatically to your social media accounts and bring new visitors to your site.
You should set up profiles with all the leading social networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, etc.
There are loads of social bookmarking sites you can set up. You don’t need to create accounts with all of them, just choose those that will work with your setup and/or content syndication tools (we will look at some of these tools in greater detail further below and during the Automation phase).
(There are many social bookmarking sites you can post your content to. Image source ShareThis.com)
Additional Services, Content Aggregators, Etc.
There are a number of emerging platforms and RSS aggregators that can serve as secondary-level traffic generation sources. Some are free or provide free access levels, and some offer a range of pricing plans.
For example, here is a content aggregator site that allows you to add your WordPress site feed …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Publishing platform for distributed content)
RebelMouse is a news aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your website.
There are various sites and platforms you can incorporate into your own traffic system. Please feel free to contact us if you need assistance exploring some of these further, or to discuss a strategy to suit your needs.
After you have configured your server settings and set up external site accounts, it’s time to configure your WordPress settings.
WordPress Traffic Configuration
The first step in configuring your WordPress site for traffic is to make sure that its global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some key areas.
Global WordPress Settings
By default, all WordPress installations include a Settings menu that allows you to modify your site’s global settings …
(WordPress dashboard menu – Settings)
General Settings
Content entered into fields like Site Title and Tagline affect traffic by influencing your site’s SEO, search listings, etc …
(Settings Menu – General Settings)
Writing
The Writing Settings area contains an important and frequently overlooked built-in traffic notification system …
(Settings Menu – Writing Settings Screen)
As stated in this section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you have purposely chosen to prevent search engines from indexing your site, then your site will automatically notify the services entered into the Update Services field
By default, when WordPress is installed, only one service is available …
(Update Services – A Powerful Traffic Feature)
You can notify dozens of update services automatically …
(WordPress lets you notify dozens of update services automatically!)
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 Settings
This section affects how your content gets seen by readers 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 text vs summaries of your post, affects how your content appears in RSS readers and RSS email campaigns, and could play a part in someone’s choice to explore your content further, and whether or not they will visit your site to get the rest of the content from a partial feed, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
As far as traffic is concerned, however, the main setting here is whether the Search Engine Visibility check box is ticked or not.
Normally, you would want search engines to visit your site. Leaving the box unchecked allows WordPress to automatically ping various update services when new posts get published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason why search engines should not visit your site, do not check this box …
(Settings Menu – Reading Settings Screen)
Discussion
Although this section is mostly concerned with how users engage with content on your site, you have the option to allow notifications to sites linked to from your posts, 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 …
(WordPress Settings – Discussion Settings Screen)
Permalink Settings
Your Permalink settings allow you to publish posts with search engine-friendly URLs …
(Settings Menu – Permalink Settings)
The examples below show some of the options for configuring your site’s permalinks …
(Configuring post permalinks)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks in WordPress here: Setting Up WordPress Permalinks
WP Plugin Settings
WordPress provides users with plugins that help to add almost every type of functionality to your site, including many plugins that improve traffic generation.
Here are some types of plugin categories that affect traffic and plugin examples
Blog Defender Security Plugin
Once again, it’s important to configure your WordPress site for dealing with the effects of 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 simply cannot ignore the importance of securing your website.
(Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from causing your website harm)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your website invisible to malicious attacks from hackers and bots.
More information:
SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive more traffic by making your web pages easy for search engines to index …
(SEO plugins like Yoast SEO help increase traffic by improving your website’s SEO)
Use a plugin like Yoast SEO to improve your SEO. Once properly configured, this plugin not only makes your site 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 sites Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
WordPress Social Plugins
Allowing your visitors to share your content with their social networks can help boost traffic to your site, especially if you publish great content that adds real value to readers.
(You can easily add social sharing to your site with WordPress plugins)
WordPress users can easily add social sharing to their site with WordPress plugins.
Most social share plugins allow you to choose which 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 likes), etc. Some plugins even allow you to set up protected content areas on your pages which visitors can unlock by linking or tweeting your page.
WordPress – Themes
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that help grow your traffic.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring the design and layout of your site, many themes also give you built-in features that let you improve search optimization and site linking structure for better indexing, easily add analytics code, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many themes like Graphene (a free theme) come with built-in traffic optimization features)
With many themes, adding social sharing features to your website is as easy as clicking a button …
(Many WordPress themes have built-in social sharing features)
Other Areas To Configure
Last but not least in the web traffic configuration process, are the elements that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
This includes the following:
Legal Pages
Once again, when preparing your website for a growth in traffic, it’s important to plan not only how to handle good and bad traffic but also for all the things that can go wrong when more and more people start finding and visiting your website.
If you do any kind of business online, you need to ensure that your website stays compliant with regulatory agencies.
(Does Your Website Comply With The Law?)
If you need help understanding how to quickly add all necessary legal pages to your website or blog, refer to this article:
Categories & Tags
Tags & post categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better index your pages.
(Categories help search engines classify and index your web pages, which helps you get more traffic.)
As we strongly recommend in this article, your site’s post tags and post categories should be set up during the Website Planning Stage.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that the tags and categories that have been set up.
Visitor Site Map
A site map that lists all of your pages and posts to visitors is not only a useful navigation tool, it can also help external applications find more of your web content …
(Site Map – great for visitors and beneficial for traffic too!)
It’s important to note that an HTML site map and an XML sitemap are different things. Although search engines like Google can index your pages just from an XML sitemap (which a plugin like Yoast SEO can provide – see earlier section), allowing visitors to find more pages on your site can result in increased traffic.
Your Site’s 404 Page
When visitors enter the wrong URL or click on a dead hyperlink, they are presented with a 404 page …
(Default WordPress 404 Not Found error page)
A 404 Not Found error page can be configured to redirect confused visitors to your functional web pages …
(Configuring your 404 page allows you to recover traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 page can be set up in your web server, there are several WordPress plugins that allow you to easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress Traffic System: Configuration Stage – Summary
Once you have your site expertly configured and fully set up, all you have to do then is post fresh content on a consistent basis to automatically attract more traffic.
The process of expertly configuring your WordPress site, however, can be quite involved , requiring the configuration and integration of different components and external web properties …
(WP Traffic Blueprint – Configuration Phase Checklist)
The skills and knowledge required to perform the configuration stage of the traffic automation process can take many web professionals months to acquire.
Once you have expertly configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the aspects of the process that can be automated. This step is covered in the next article in our WordPress Traffic System series.
This is the end of Part Three
To read more, click on the link below:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive series of tutorials designed to help you learn how to grow your business online cost-effectively and drive traffic sustainably using a WordPress website and proven online marketing methods.
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