In Part One of our WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint article series overview, we explained that the key to turning your website into an automated web traffic generation machine is to use an “expertly configured” WordPress website.
As we also explained, an expertly configured WordPress web site is different than a professionally-configured WordPress web site. An ”expertly configured” WordPress website or blog is a website that is not only driven by the WordPress CMS, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take advantage of the enormous power, ease-of-use and built-in functionality of WordPress and its integration with various sites, specifically in areas like search engine optimization, content syndication and analytics.
(With an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, all you have to do to bring more web traffic is publish content on a regular basis!)
Once you have your WordPress site fully set up and expertly configured, all you need to do to start driving web traffic is add great content regularly.
As outlined in Part One of this article series, the components of the automated website traffic machine are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we look at the “Setup” phase of the traffic automation process. We will help you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a web presence yet, or if you already have an existing site that may or may not have been built using WordPress.
WordPress Traffic Blueprint – Setup Phase
If You Don’t Have A Website
If you don’t have a web presence yet, then it’s really quite simple … build a WordPress website!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and the easiest to use content management system available. We provide many articles, tutorials, and tips on this site about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to see just how popular WordPress has become as a content publishing platform, see this article: WordPress: How Popular Is It? Surprising Statistics About WordPress
After choosing to build your web presence with WordPress, the next step is to choose which WordPress platform you will run your web presence on.
This is important as there are two types of WordPress platforms available …
Self-Hosted vs Hosted WordPress
(WordPress Self-Hosted vs WordPress Hosted)
WordPress offers website owners a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
WordPress.org lets you download the full-featured WordPress application for free and host a WordPress site or blog under your own domain name. This is the “self-hosted” WordPress option.
In the “hosted option”, WordPress hosts your site for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, some limitations to what you can and can’t do with your site when WordPress.com hosts it for free.
If you plan to build a professional web presence and you want to set up the traffic system described here, then you should choose the “self-hosted” WordPress version. The benefits of choosing the “self-hosted” option (WordPress.org) far outweigh those of hosting a free blog at WordPress.com. You can fully customize your web presence and avoid the limitations of the hosted option. Keep in mind that the free hosting limitations can be overcome by upgrading to a paid option, but then why not start off by hosting a WordPress site on your own domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Have An Existing Web Site
If you already own an existing web site, check to see if the site has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: How To Tell If Your Web Site Is A WordPress Web Site
If your website runs on WordPress software, move to the next step, and make sure that your site’s internal settings have been properly configured. We cover this step in more detail in another tutorial.
If your existing website was built using something other than the WP CMS platform, then you will need to make some choices.
Take a look at the simple diagram below …
(Use this simple diagram to decide where to set up a WordPress website on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing web site with a WordPress website, or
- Keep your existing web site and add a WordPress-driven blog. Your WordPress blog will then be expertly configured and used to drive traffic to your main site.
If you choose to keep your existing site and add a WordPress blog, make sure to use the self-hosted version of WordPress, which requires your own domain name and webhosting, but allows you to fully configure your blog’s settings and customize the design and style of your existing website using an appropriate WordPress theme.
To use WordPress for your main website, install the platform in the “root” folder of your domain (e.g. www.mydomainname.com).
If you already have a website, then you will want to install WordPress in a subdirectory of your domain, e.g. www.mydomainname.com/blog (you can name the subdirectory anything you want).
If you already have an existing website that you don’t want to delete or replace with a WordPress site, the other option you have is to set up your WordPress site or blog on an entirely different domain.
This way:
- mydomainname.com – goes to your existing website
- myotherdomain.com – goes to your WordPress blog
Once you have set up your WordPress site, the next step is to configure its internal settings. This step is covered in the next article in the WordPress Traffic Blueprint series.
This is the end of Section 2
To continue reading about this topic, click here:
This article is part of a comprehensive series of tutorials aimed at helping small business owners learn how to grow their business online cost-effectively with a WordPress-powered website or blog and proven online marketing methods.
Subscribe To WPCompendium.org And Get Notified Of New WordPress Tutorials!
***
"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
***