In Part One of our Website 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 is different than a professionally-configured WordPress website or blog. An ”expertly configured” WordPress website or blog is a blog 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 full advantage of the enormous power, ease-of-use and functionality of WordPress and how it can be integrated with other sites, specifically in areas like SEO, content syndication and analytics.
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do is add content regularly to drive more web traffic!)
Once you have your WordPress site fully set up and expertly configured, all you need to do to automatically start driving traffic is publish content on a regular basis.
As outlined in Part 1 of this article series, the components of the automated online 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 Web Presence
If you don’t have a web presence yet, it’s quite simple … get WordPress!
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 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: Surprising Statistics About WordPress Usage
After choosing to build your web presence with WordPress, the next step is to decide which type of WordPress platform you will use to run your web presence on.
This step is very important because there are 2 types of WordPress platforms you can choose from …
WordPress – Hosted Or Self-Hosted?
(Hosted vs Self-Hosted WordPress)
WordPress offers both a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
With the “self-hosted” option you can download the full-featured WordPress application for free 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, a number of limitations to what you can and can’t do with your blog when it is hosted for free at WordPress.com.
If you are planning to build a professional business presence online and you want to set up the traffic system described here, then choose the “self-hosted” WordPress platform. 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 platform by upgrading to a paid option, but then why not just start off with a WordPress site hosted on your own domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Have An Existing Website
If you already own an existing site, first, check if your website has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Website Runs On The WP CMS Platform
If your website is powered by 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 was built using something other than WordPress, you have to make some choices.
Take a look at the simple flowchart below. It will help you choose how to set up a WordPress website on your domain …
(Use this simple flowchart to decide how to set up a WordPress web site 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 blog. Your WordPress blog will then be expertly configured and used to drive traffic to your main web site.
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 design and style of your existing web site using a closely-matching theme.
To use WordPress for your main site, install it in the “root” folder of your domain (i.e. http://mydomainname.com).
If you already 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 the subdirectory whatever you want).
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 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 Part Two
To keep reading this article, click on the link below:
This article is part of a comprehensive series of articles aimed at helping you learn how to grow your business online cost-effectively and drive traffic automatically using a WordPress website or blog and proven web marketing strategies.
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