In Part 1 of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series overview, 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 site is different than a professionally-configured WordPress website or blog. An ”expertly configured” WordPress website is a site that is not only driven by the WordPress CMS platform, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take advantage of the enormous power, features and functionality of WordPress and the way it integrates with other sites, specifically in areas like SEO, third-party site syndication and reporting.
(With an expertly configured WordPress site, all you have to do is add content regularly to automatically bring more traffic!)
Once you have your WordPress site expertly configured and fully set up, all you need to do then is publish great content regularly to drive more web traffic organically.
As outlined in Part 1 of this article series, the components of this automated online traffic machine are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we discuss the “Setup” phase of the traffic automation process. The focus of this section is to help you understand the best way to start 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 Web Traffic Automation Blueprint – Setup Phase
If You Have No Web Presence
If you haven’t got a website yet, then it’s really quite simple … get a WordPress site!
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 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: WordPress: How Popular Is It? Some Impressive Facts And Figures About WordPress
After making the choice to build your site with WordPress, the next step is to choose which type of WordPress platform you will use to build your web presence on.
This is important as there are 2 types of WordPress platforms available …
WordPress Hosted vs WordPress Self-Hosted
(WordPress Self-Hosted vs WordPress Hosted)
WordPress provides users with a “self-hosted” and a “hosted” option.
WordPress.org lets you download the full-featured WordPress CMS application at no cost and host a WordPress site or blog under your own domain name. This is the “self-hosted” WordPress option.
With the “hosted option”, WordPress hosts your site for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, a number of limitations to what you can and can’t do with your site when it is hosted for free at WordPress.com.
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 get to have complete control over 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 just start off with a WordPress site hosted on your domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Have An Existing Site
If you already own an existing web site, check if the site has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Blog Runs On WP Software
If your blog was built using WordPress, 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 runs on something other than WP software, then you have some choices to make.
Take a look at the simple flowchart below …
(Use this simple flowchart to help you choose where to set up WordPress on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing website with a WordPress site, or
- Keep your existing website and add a WordPress blog. Your WordPress blog will then be used to drive traffic to your main web site.
If you choose to keep your existing web 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 site using an appropriate WordPress theme.
To use WordPress as your main website, install it in the “root” directory of your domain name (i.e. 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 subfolder whatever you like).
If you have a site 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 series.
This is the end of Part Two
To read the rest of this article, click on the link below:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive article series designed to help small business owners learn how to grow their business online inexpensively with a WordPress-driven website or blog and proven marketing methods that are easy and quick to implement.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)
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