Welcome to Part 3 of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to turn a website into an automated traffic generating machine using WordPress.
In Part One of this series, we described the process, and explained why using an expertly configured WordPress site is the key to automating traffic to your site …
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do to automatically start attracting web traffic is publish content on a consistent basis!)
In Part 2, we discussed the setup phase. We helped you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a website yet, how to set things up if you already have a website, and what to do if your website has been built using WordPress.
(In Part 2 we show you where to set up WordPress on your domain)
In this article, we will look at the configuration stage of the traffic system. We explain how a WordPress site should be configured to get new traffic automatically when you start posting web content on your web site.
WordPress Web Traffic Automation System – Configuration
The ability to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by website owners as their greatest challenge online. With business becoming ever more competitive worldwide, it’s worth exploring any and every advantage that can help you get better results online.
Having the ability to generate traffic on demand can be a tremendous competitive advantage. An expertly configured website gives your business a flying start and an immediate advantage online.
The Difference Is In The Way Your Site Is Configured
There is a difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a site that has been professionally set up by a web-building expert but not necessarily configured to take advantage of everything WordPress can offer you.
Here is a simple way to understand the difference:
An expertly configured WordPress site gives you a professional web presence with an automated online business marketing process!
(An expertly configured website gives you a web presence and an automated online business marketing tool!)
Not only are more steps required to build and integrate an automated online business marketing process into your website, but also a special kind of expert knowledge.
To illustrate this point here’s a little story.
Ludicrous Or Fair? You Decide …
All was humming along in the widget-making manufacturing plant when things suddenly stopped working.
No one could figure out what happened and so the plant manager decided to call in an expert to try and fix the problem.
Promptly after arriving, the expert walked immediately towards the control box. After staring silently at the board for about 3 minutes or so, the expert then produced a teeny-weeny hammer from his pocket and made a single tap about 2 inches from the left-hand corner of the unit.
Immediately, everything began working once again.
The manager was grateful and relieved as he thanked the expert, who left as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days later, the manager received a bill for $5,000.
The manager dialled the expert, demanding to know why they had been charged such a ludicrous fee for less than five minutes work. He then requested an itemized invoice before hanging up.
The next day, an invoice notice arrived in the manager’s intray. Upon opening it, this is what he saw:
The main challenge most businesses face online is being able to consistently drive web traffic to their sites.
How much money did the plant stand to lose when the machines stopped working and no one on the factory floor had the expertise to fix it? Did the expert in our story not have the right to demand fair compensation for having invested years acquiring the knowledge, skills and expertise that allowed him to avert a crisis?
Similarly, if you could have a WordPress website set up and configured so all you had to do is publish content to it and Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and dozens of other traffic-generating web properties would be immediately notified, how much time and money would this save you?
(How much time and money would you save if you could automate the process of driving traffic to your website?)
Although the solution to many challenges is often quite easy once implemented, it rarely turns out to be that way.
Expertly configuring a WordPress site is more than installing a website and configuring a few internal settings. It involves knowing where to tap! This includes knowing things such as:
- Which plugins you need to install for certain things to occur on your site.
- Which services need to be set up and activated to achieve desired outcomes
- Which settings you need to configure to ensure that things will function as expected, etc.
(Driving new traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires expertise)
This stage of the WordPress traffic automation system is not so technically challenging, but it’s quite involved. The reason why is because it’s not as simple as installing and configuring a solution, tweaking some options and settings in your dashboard area or clicking on a button or two … it’s all of this and much more.
Expertly configuring your website is a process that involves your web server, your WordPress site, and various external sites and services …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring a few settings in WordPress)
If the configuration process were to be flowcharted, it would look like this …
(A simplified flowchart showing the activities involved in the configuration process)
Let’s examine these areas in more detail.
Server Configuration
We’re not talking here about the process of configuring your web-hosting account for site installation purposes. We’re talking about tweaking settings in your web server specifically for handling all web traffic …
(In the configuration phase, your web server settings need to be fine-tuned for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all traffic is positive traffic. Some of the web traffic your website can attract will be unwanted traffic like bot spam, security threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This area of the configuration process, therefore, is about evaluating your needs, planning for both good and bad traffic and adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This could include looking at things like spam protection and securing server files, to configuring your domain and email redirections, setting up htaccess file redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your webhosting settings for handling things like emails, page error redirections, etc?)
After checking your web server settings and configuring these, the next step of the configuration phase is to set up a number of third-party sites.
Integration With External Services
The idea behind adding external sites is that all of your content is posted to one central location (your site) and from there, it syndicates automatically to other parts of your web traffic generation system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
Once you incorporate these external services into your traffic network, content linked back to your website will be automatically published on these platforms. Your content and website will then receive exposure online, helping you tap into new sources of traffic.
Some sites will need to have accounts set up before configuring your settings to help save time and some will need to be done later, during the automation phase.
For example, you will want to set up the following accounts before configuring your site:
Google Webmasters
(Google Search Console)
Google Webmasters lets you notify Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for faster page indexing, and provides site owners with a range of important information, SEO tools, and reports about their website.
After setting up your account with Google Search Console, this information can be used with traffic-related settings in WordPress (e.g. using plugins like Yoast SEO – see further below) and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your site’s results, SEO, marketing efforts, and more, by tracking all user behavior, pages visited, keywords searched for, organic referrers, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account has been set up, traffic monitoring information can be added to WordPress using a plugin and automatically sent to many other useful applications and reporting tools.
Bing Webmaster Tools
(Drive more traffic with Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmasters. After setting up your account with Bing Webmaster Tools, you can use this information to integrate and automate traffic settings and notifications in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO (see further below) and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As discussed in Part Two, WordPress offers users a hosted (WordPress.com) and a self-hosted (WordPress.org) option. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress version if you are planning to build a professional web presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great features, which can be accessed by various WordPress plugins. We recommend setting up an account at WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll explain how to integrate this into your web traffic generation system in Part 4 of this series.
Social Media
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media and social bookmarking accounts and drive new traffic to your site)
You will need your social media and social bookmarking accounts set up in order to configure these as part of your traffic generation system.
Once you have set up and configured everything, you will be able to syndicate your content automatically to your social media sites and social bookmarking accounts and get new traffic to your site.
Make sure you have pages set up with all the well-known social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.
There are loads of social bookmarking sites you can syndicate your content to. You don’t need to create accounts with all of them, just pick the ones that will work well with your setup and/or content sharing tools (we will review some of these tools in greater detail when we discuss the Automation phase).
(There are lots of social bookmarking sites you can post your content to. Image source ShareThis.com)
Additional Services, RSS Aggregators, Etc.
There are many online web platforms and RSS aggregators that can serve as secondary sources of traffic. Some are free or provide free access levels, and some offer a range of pricing plans to suit different user types.
For example, here is a content aggregator that allows you to add your WordPress blog feed …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse)
RebelMouse is a news aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and users can follow your website.
There are many different sites and platforms you can add to your traffic blueprint. Please contact us if you need assistance exploring some of these further, or to discuss a strategy to suit your needs.
After you have configured your web server and set up third-party site accounts, it’s time to configure WordPress.
WordPress Configuration
The first step in configuring your site for traffic is to make sure that its global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some of the important areas.
Global WordPress Settings
By default, all WordPress installations include a Settings section that allows you to modify your site’s global settings …
(WordPress settings menu)
General Settings
Sections like Site Title and Tagline can affect your site’s SEO, search listings, etc …
(Global Settings – General Settings)
Writing Settings
The Writing Settings area contains an important and frequently overlooked automated traffic notification system …
(Settings Menu – Writing Settings Section)
As stated in this section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you have specifically configured your settings to prevent search engines from indexing your site, then your site will automatically ping the update services entered into the Update Services text area
By default, when WordPress is installed, only one service is available …
(Update Services – A Powerful Traffic Feature)
WordPress lets you notify dozens of update services automatically – just add a list of update services to this section …
(You can notify dozens of update services automatically!)
Download A Comprehensive List Of Ping Services For Your WordPress Site!
Click the link below to download a comprehensive list of reliable and authoritative ping services for your WordPress site or blog:
Download A List Of Ping Services For Your WordPress Site
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Note: If you need help setting up the list of ping services on your site, we recommend using a professional web services provider. You can find professional WordPress service providers in our WordPress Services Directory.
Reading Settings
This section affects how your content gets seen by visitors when they visit your home page and blog pages.
The syndication settings in this section can have an influence traffic. For example, choosing to display the full text vs a summary of your post, affects how your content appears in RSS feeds and RSS email campaigns, and could impact someone’s choice to explore your site further, and whether or not they will visit your website or blog to view the rest of the content from a partial feed, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
As far as your traffic system is concerned, however, the most important setting here is whether the Search Engine Visibility feature is ticked or not.
Generally, you want to encourage search engines to visit your site. Leaving this box unchecked enables WordPress to automatically ping various update services when a new post is published (see Writing Settings above). Unless there is a specific reason to discourage search engines from visiting your site, make sure this box is left unchecked …
(Global Settings – Reading Settings)
Discussion
Although discussion settings are mostly concerned with how users engage with content on your site, you have the option to allow notifications to sites linked to from your posts, and to allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks). This can work for you, but it can also drive bad traffic in the form of SPAM comments …
(WordPress Settings – Discussion Settings Screen)
Permalink Settings
Your Permalink settings allow your site to publish posts with SEO-friendly URLs …
(Global Settings – Permalink Settings Section)
The examples below show some of the options for configuring your SEO-friendly URLs …
(Configuring SEO-friendly URLs)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using WP permalinks here: Setting Up WordPress Permalinks
Configuring WordPress Traffic Plugins
WordPress provides users with thousands of plugins that can add just about every kind of functionality imaginable to your website, including plugins that add traffic generation capabilities.
Let’s take a brief look at some types of plugin categories that affect traffic and plugin examples
Blog Defender Security Plugin
Once again, it’s important to configure your WordPress site for handling both good traffic and bad traffic. Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot afford to ignore the importance of website security.
(Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your blog invisible to hackers and bots.
More information:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
SEO plugins help drive more traffic by making your web pages more search engine friendly …
(Yoast SEO – WordPress SEO Plugin)
Use a powerful plugin like Yoast SEO to improve your site’s SEO. Properly configured, this plugin not only makes your website easier for search engines like Google to index, it also lets you specify how your content will show up in Google’s search results and social media pages, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
WordPress Social Plugins
Allowing visitors to easily share your content with others online can help drive more traffic to your site, especially if you publish content that adds value to readers.
(You can add social sharing buttons to your website easily with free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
You can add social sharing buttons to your site easily with free or inexpensive plugins.
Many social share plugins allow you to choose which sites visitors can share your content to, embed social buttons into your content, set up default update notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of likes), etc. Some social plugins even allow you to set up protected content sections on your site which users can unlock by sharing your page.
Configuring Settings – Themes
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that help grow your site’s traffic.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring the design and layout of your site, some themes also give you built-in options for improving search optimization and site navigation structure for better indexing, easily add analytics code, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WordPress themes have built-in traffic optimization features)
With many themes, adding social sharing buttons and features to your pages is as easy as clicking a button …
(Many WordPress themes have built-in social sharing features that can be easily turned on with the click of a button)
Configuring Other WordPress Settings For Improved Traffic
Last but not least in the traffic configuration process, are the areas that need to be set up outside of the global settings.
These include:
Website Compliance Pages
Once again, when preparing your website for an increase in visitor numbers, it’s important to plan not only for both bad and good traffic but also for all the situations that can seriously affect your business when more and more people begin to visit your website.
If you do any kind of business online (or are planning to), it’s important that your website remains compliant with all regulations.
(Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With The Law?)
To learn more about how to quickly and easily add legal pages to your website, go here:
WordPress Post Tags & Categories
Post categories & tags help improve traffic by allowing search engines to classify and index your pages.
(WordPress post categories help search engines classify and index your pages, which improves traffic.)
As we recommend in this article, it’s best to discuss and set up your website’s post tags and categories during the Website Planning Stage.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that the categories and tags you have set up.
HTML Site Map
A site map that lists all of your site’s pages and posts to visitors is not only a useful navigation tool for users, it can also help external tools discover more of your website content …
(Site Map – great for visitors and beneficial for traffic too!)
An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are different things. An HTML site map is a web page that links to all other content on your site, while an XML sitemap is mostly filled with code that only search engines can understand. Although Google will index your site just from an XML sitemap (which plugins like Yoast SEO will create for you – see earlier section), allowing visitors to find more pages on your site can result in increased traffic.
Your WordPress 404 Page
When visitors searching online for your site enter the wrong URL into their browser or click on an invalid hyperlink, they are greeted with a 404 error page …
(A WordPress 404 Error Page)
Configuring your 404 Not Found page allows you to recover web traffic that may otherwise be lost. …
(Configuring your 404 Not Found error page allows you to redirect web traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 page can be set up on your web server, there are several WordPress plugins that let you easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress admin area.
WordPress Traffic Automation System: Configuration Stage – Summary
Once your website has been expertly configured and fully set up, all you have to do then is post new content consistently to automatically begin bringing new web traffic organically.
The process of expertly configuring a WordPress site, however, can be quite involved and requires the configuration and integration of various elements and web properties …
(Traffic System – Configuration Checklist)
The kind of skills and knowledge required to perform the configuration stage of the traffic automation process can take many website professionals a long time to acquire.
Once you have expertly configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate as much of the process as you can. This step is addressed in the next section of the WordPress Traffic Automation System series.
This is the end of Part 3
To read more, click on the link below:
This article is part of a comprehensive series of articles aimed at helping website owners learn how to grow their business online inexpensively with a WordPress website or blog and proven web marketing strategies.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum
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