In Part One of our WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint article series overview, we explained that the key to turning your website into an automated web 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. An ”expertly configured” WordPress website or blog is a web site that is not only powered 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 its integration with various sites, specifically in areas like SEO, content syndication and analytics.
(With an expertly configured WordPress site, all you have to do is publish great content regularly to automatically start driving traffic!)
Once you have your WordPress site expertly configured and fully set up, all you then need to do to bring more web traffic is publish great content regularly.
As outlined in Part 1 of this article series, the components of this automated web traffic system 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 Traffic Automation Blueprint – Setup Phase
If You Have No Website
If you don’t have 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 loads of 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 is, see this article: WordPress: Useful Facts And Statistics
After making the choice to build your site with WordPress, the next step is to decide which WordPress platform you will use to run your web presence on.
This is important as there are 2 types of WordPress platforms you can choose from …
Hosted Or Self-Hosted WordPress?
(WordPress Self-Hosted Or WordPress Hosted?)
WordPress provides users with a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
With the “self-hosted” option you can download the full-featured WordPress CMS application at no cost 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 site when WordPress.com hosts it for free.
If you plan 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 domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Already Have An Existing Website
If you already own an existing site, first check to see 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 The WP CMS Platform
If your web site runs on WP software, 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 is not a WP website, then you have some decisions to make.
Take a look at the flowchart below. It will help you decide where to set up WordPress on your domain …
(Use this simple flowchart to help you choose where to set up a WordPress web site 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 website and add a WordPress blog. This blog will then be expertly configured and used to drive traffic to your main web site.
If you choose to keep your existing website 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 site’s settings and customize the look and feel of your existing web site using a suitable WordPress theme.
To use WordPress for your main site, install the software 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 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 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 2
To read the rest of this article, click here:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive series of tutorials designed to help you learn how to grow your business online and drive traffic organically using a WordPress website or blog and proven online marketing methods.
Would You Like To Get Automatically Notified When New Tutorials Are Published? Then Subscribe Using The Form Below!
***
"Your training is the best in the world! It is simple, yet detailed, direct, understandable, memorable, and complete." Andrea Adams, FinancialJourney.org
***