In Part 1 of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series overview, we explained that the key to turning your site into an automated web 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 site. An expertly configured WordPress blog is a blog that is not only driven by the WordPress CMS, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take full advantage of the tremendous power, ease-of-use and built-in functionality of WordPress and the way it can be integrated with various sites, specifically in areas like SEO, external site notification and reporting.
(With an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, all you have to do to automatically drive more web traffic is add great content on a regular basis!)
Once you have your WordPress site expertly configured and fully set up, all you then need to do to automatically generate traffic is publish 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 look at the “Setup” phase of the automation process. You will learn 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 Automation System – Setup
If You Don’t Have A Web Presence
If you don’t have a web presence yet, it’s quite simple … build a WordPress site!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and the easiest to use content management system on the planet. We provide loads of articles, tips, and tutorials 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, see this article: WordPress: Statistics And Market Share
After making the choice to build your web presence with WordPress, the next step is to choose which WordPress platform you will use to build your web presence on.
This step is important as there are 2 types of WordPress platforms available …
WordPress Self-Hosted vs WordPress Hosted
(Self-Hosted Or Hosted WordPress Site?)
WordPress offers users a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
The “self-hosted” option allows you to download the full-featured WordPress software for free from WordPress.org and host a WordPress site or blog under your own domain name.
With the “hosted option”, WordPress hosts your blog for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, some limitations on 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 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 platform by upgrading to a paid option, but then why not just start off by hosting a WordPress site on your own domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Already Have An Existing Web Site
If you already own an existing web site, check first if it has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Web Site Runs On WordPress Software
If your web site 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 website is not powered by WordPress, you have some choices to make.
Take a look at the simple diagram below …
(Use this simple diagram to help you decide how to set up a WordPress web site on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing site so that your main website is powered by WordPress, or
- Keep your existing site and add a WordPress blog. This blog will then be used to drive traffic to your main site.
If you choose to keep your existing web site and add a WordPress-driven blog, make sure to use the self-hosted version of WordPress, which requires your own 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 for WordPress.
To use WordPress as your main website, install it in the “root” folder of your domain name (e.g. 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 the subdirectory anything you want).
If you have an existing website that you don’t want to delete or replace with a WordPress site, you can choose 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 it. This step is explained in the next article in the WordPress Traffic Blueprint series.
This is the end of Section 2
To continue reading, click on the link below:
This tutorial is part of an tutorial series designed to help you learn how to grow your business and drive traffic sustainably with a WordPress-driven website and proven online marketing methods.
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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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