In Part One of our WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint article series, we explained that the key to creating an automated web traffic generation machine is to use an “expertly configured” WordPress website.
As we also explained, an expertly configured WordPress website or blog is different than a professionally-configured WordPress website or blog. An ”expertly configured” WordPress blog is a website or blog that is not only powered by the WordPress CMS, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take advantage of the tremendous power, ease-of-use and functionality of WordPress and the way it integrates with various services, specifically in areas like SEO, external site syndication and reporting.
(With an expertly configured WordPress site, all you have to do is add great content on a regular basis to bring web traffic!)
Once your WordPress site has been fully set up and expertly configured, all you need to do is add great content regularly to automatically drive more traffic organically.
As outlined in Part One of this article series, the components of this automated web traffic machine are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we look at the “Setup” phase of the blueprint. You will learn the best way to get started if you don’t have a website yet, or if you already have an existing site that may or may not have been built using WordPress.
WordPress Web Traffic Automation Blueprint – Setup Phase
If You Haven’t Got A Web Presence Yet
If you don’t have a web presence yet, it’s quite simple … build a WordPress site!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and the easiest to use content management system available. We provide many articles, tips, and tutorials about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to learn just how popular WordPress has become as a web publishing platform, see this article: Statistics About WordPress
After choosing to build your website with WordPress, the next step is to decide which WordPress platform you will use to run your web presence on.
This step is very important as there are two types of WordPress platforms you can choose from …
Self-Hosted Or Hosted WordPress?
(WordPress.org Or WordPress.com?)
WordPress offers users 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 using your own domain name. This is the “self-hosted” WordPress option.
In the “hosted option”, WordPress hosts your blog for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, a number of limitations to what you can and can’t do with your blog when WordPress.com hosts it for free.
If you are planning 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 you can overcome the limitations of the free hosting options by upgrading to a paid option, but then why not start off with a WordPress site hosted on your own domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Have An Existing Web Site
If you already have an existing web site, first, check if it has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Site And Free WP-Checking Tools
If your existing blog runs on the WordPress CMS platform, 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 website uses a platform technology other than WordPress, then you have to make some decisions.
Take a look at the flowchart below. It will help you decide where to set up WordPress on your domain …
(Use the above diagram to decide how to set up a WordPress website or blog on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing site so that your main website is powered by WordPress, or
- Keep your existing website and add a WordPress 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 site’s settings and customize the design and style of your existing site using a closely-matching theme.
To use WordPress as your main website, install the platform in the “root” directory of your domain name (i.e. www.mydomainname.com).
If you have an existing website, then you will want to install WordPress in a subdirectory of your domain, e.g. www.mydomainname.com/blog (you can name your subdirectory anything you want).
If you already have a site that you don’t want to delete or replace with a WordPress site, you can choose 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 it. This step is covered in the next article in the series.
This is the end of Section Two
To read more, click on the link below:
This article is part of an article series aimed at helping site owners learn how to grow their business online with a WordPress-powered website or blog and proven web marketing methods.
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