In Part 1 of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series, we explained that the key to turning your site into an automated traffic generation machine is to use an “expertly configured” WordPress website.
As we also explained, an expertly configured WordPress web site is not the same as a professionally-configured WordPress web site. An expertly configured WordPress website or blog is a site that is not only driven by WordPress, 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 functionality of WordPress and the way it integrates with other sites, specifically in areas like SEO, external site notification and reporting.
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do to automatically generate more traffic is publish content regularly!)
Once you have your WordPress site expertly configured and fully set up, all you need to do to start driving web traffic is add great content on a regular basis.
As outlined in Part One of this article series, the components of this automated online traffic system are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we discuss the “Setup” phase of the blueprint. You will learn the best way to start 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 Traffic Blueprint – Setup
If You Have No Web Presence Yet
If you don’t have a website yet, then it’s really quite simple … get WordPress!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and easy-to-use content management system on the planet. We provide many articles, tips, and tutorials on this site about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to learn just how popular WordPress has become around the world, see this article: Some Facts And Figures About WordPress
After making the choice to build your web presence with WordPress, the next step is to decide which WordPress platform you will build your web presence on.
This step is very important because there are two types of WordPress platforms available …
Self-Hosted Or Hosted WordPress Site?
(WordPress – Hosted Or Self-Hosted?)
WordPress offers website owners a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
With the “self-hosted” option you can download the full-featured WordPress software at no cost from WordPress.org and host a WordPress site or blog using your own domain name.
With the “hosted option”, WordPress will host your site for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, some limitations on what you can and can’t do with your site when WordPress.com hosts it for free.
If you plan to build a professional business presence online and you want to set up the traffic system described here, then you should choose the “self-hosted” WordPress platform. The benefits of choosing the “self-hosted” option (WordPress.org) far outweigh those of hosting a free site at WordPress.com. You get to have complete control over 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 Site
If you already have an existing site, check first if the web site has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Web Site Was Built Using The WP CMS Platform
If your existing website is a WordPress web site, 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 site was built using something other than WordPress, you have some choices to make.
Take a look at the simple flowchart below …
(Use the above diagram to decide how to set up WordPress on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing web site with a WordPress website, or
- Keep your existing website and add a WordPress blog. Your WordPress blog will then be used to drive traffic to your main website.
If you choose to keep your existing site and add a WordPress-driven blog, make sure to use the self-hosted version of WordPress, which requires a domain name and web hosting, but allows you to fully configure your blog’s settings and customize the look and feel of your existing web site using a closely-matching theme for WordPress.
To use WordPress as your main website, install the platform in the “root” folder of your domain name (e.g. http://www.mydomainname.com).
If you already have an existing website, then you will want to install WordPress in a subfolder of your domain, e.g. www.mydomainname.com/blog (you can name your 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 site
Once you have set up your WordPress site, the next step is to configure its internal settings. This step is explained in the next article in the WordPress Traffic Blueprint series.
This is the end of Section 2
To continue reading about this topic, click on the link below:
This article is part of a comprehensive series of tutorials designed to help you learn how to grow your business online inexpensively and drive traffic organically using a WordPress-powered website or blog and proven marketing methods that are easy to implement.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now
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