In Part One of our Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, we explained that the key to creating an automated 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 web site is a blog that is not only built with the WordPress CMS platform, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take full advantage of the enormous power, features and functionality of WordPress and how it integrates with other services, specifically in areas like SEO, 3rd-party site syndication and reporting.
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do to automatically bring more traffic is add content on a regular basis!)
Once you have your WordPress site fully set up and expertly configured, all you then need to do to automatically bring traffic is publish great content regularly.
As outlined in Part One of this article series, the components of this automated website traffic blueprint are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we discuss the “Setup” phase of the blueprint. The focus of this section is to help you understand 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 Web Traffic Blueprint – Setup Phase
If You Don’t Have A Web Presence Yet
If you haven’t got a web presence yet, it’s quite simple … build a WordPress website!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and the easiest to use content management system on the planet. 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 is with businesses, see this article: WordPress Statistics
After choosing to build your website with WordPress, the next step is to choose which WordPress platform you will build your web presence on.
This is important because there are two types of WordPress platforms available …
WordPress.org vs WordPress.com
(Self-Hosted Or Hosted WordPress?)
WordPress offers a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
WordPress.org allows you to download the full-featured WordPress application for free and self-host a WordPress site or blog using 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, some limitations on what you can and can’t do with your site when WordPress.com hosts it at no cost.
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 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 Site
If you already own an existing site, check if the website has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Web Site And Free WP-Checking Tools
If your existing website runs on the WP 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 existing blog was built using something other than WordPress software, you have some choices to make.
Take a look at the flowchart below …
(Use this simple diagram to help you choose where to set up WordPress on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing website so that your main website is built with WordPress, or
- Keep your existing site and add a WordPress-powered blog. Your WordPress blog will then be used to drive traffic to your main web site.
If you choose to keep your existing website and add a WordPress blog, make sure to use the self-hosted version of WordPress, which requires a domain name and webhosting, but allows you to fully configure your site’s settings and customize the look and feel of your existing website using a suitable theme.
To use WordPress as your main site, install the software in the “root” directory of your domain (i.e. http://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 your subdirectory anything you want).
If you already 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 blog
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 Section 2
To keep reading this article, click on the link below:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive article series aimed at helping website owners learn how to grow their business online cost-effectively and drive traffic automatically with a WordPress-driven website or blog and proven online marketing methods.
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