Welcome to Part 3 of our WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to turn your website into an automated traffic generation machine using the WordPress CMS.
In Part 1 of this article series, we provided an overview of the process, and explained why using an expertly configured WordPress site is the key to generating automated traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress website, all you have to do to start generating more traffic is publish fresh content consistently!)
In Part Two, we focused on critical setup decisions. We explained the best way to start if you don’t have a website yet, how to set everything up if you already have a website, and what to do if your site was built using WordPress.
(In Part two we show you where to set up a WordPress website or blog on your domain)
In this section of the series, we will discuss the configuration phase of the traffic automation process. We explain how to configure a WordPress site so you can ensure that web traffic will automatically start flowing when you begin publishing content to your site.
WordPress Traffic System – Configuration
Finding ways to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by many business owners as their greatest challenge online. Businesses are becoming so much more competitive on a global scale and are looking for any and every advantage available to get better results online.
Having the ability to generate traffic on demand is a tremendous advantage. With an expertly configured WordPress site, your business has a flying start from the moment your site is launched.
Configuration Is The Difference
There is a difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a website that has been professionally installed and set up by a website-building expert but not necessarily configured to its fullest advantage.
Here is a simple way to understand the main difference:
With a WordPress site that has been expertly configured you get a professional web presence and online business marketing automation!
(An expertly configured site gives you a professional web presence and a built-in automated online business marketing tool!)
Not only is extra work required to build and integrate an automated online business marketing process into your website, it also takes a special type of expertise.
Let me illustrate this point with a story.
Are Experts Worth The Money They Charge?
All is running smoothly in the widget assembly factory when everything comes to a sudden stop.
As no one can figure out what’s happened, the plant manager decides to call in an expert.
Shortly after arriving, the expert goes directly to the main control box. After staring at the wires and circuitry for 5 minutes or so, the expert then takes out a tiny little hammer and makes a very gentle tap near the left-hand edge of the box.
Immediately, everything springs back to life.
The manager is greatly overjoyed as he thanks the expert, who leaves just as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days later, the factory manager receives a request of payment for services totalling $5,000.
Angry and bordering on a sense of outrage, the factory manager dials the expert. Why have they had been charged so much for so little time spent delivering a minimal amount of work? He promptly requests an itemized invoice and hangs up.
The next day, an invoice statement arrives and is placed in the manager’s in-tray. Upon opening it, this is what he sees:
The #1 challenge most businesses face online is driving visitors to their sites.
How much money did the plant stand to lose when production stopped working and no one on the factory floor was able to fix it? Did the expert not have the right to get paid fairly for years spent acquiring the knowledge and expertise that enabled him to quickly assess and avert a crisis?
Similarly, if you could have a WP site set up so all you ever had to do is publish content to it and search engines, social networking sites and dozens of other web properties would be immediately notified, how much time and money would this save you?
(How much better would your business be if you could automate the process of driving traffic to your site?)
While experts often make complicated things look easy, it rarely is that simple or easy.
Knowing how to expertly configure a WordPress site is more than installing a website and configuring some of the site settings for the client. It requires knowing where to tap! In other words, knowing things like:
- Which plugins you need to install for certain things to occur on your site.
- Which third-party services you need to set up and activate to get certain results
- Which settings need to be configured in order to ensure that processes will work as expected, etc.
(Generating new traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires expertise)
This part of the traffic automation system is not technically challenging, but it’s quite involved and complicated. The reason why is because it’s not as simple as installing and configuring a plugin, clicking on a button or two, or tweaking some options and settings in your dashboard area … it’s all this and so much more.
Expertly configuring your website involves the integration of many different components such as your server, your website, and various third-party sites and services …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring a few settings in WordPress)
If we create a simple diagram showing all the steps involved in the configuration process, it would look something like this …
(A simplistic diagram of the steps involved in the configuration phase)
Let’s examine these steps.
Configuring The Web Server
We’re not talking here about the process of configuring your hosting account for installation purposes (this is normally done during the Setup phase). We’re talking about configuring settings in your webhosting account specifically for handling all web traffic …
(During the configuration phase, your webhosting account settings need to be fine-tuned for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all web traffic is welcome traffic. Some of the web traffic your website may attract will be unwanted traffic like bot spam, security threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This stage of the configuration process, therefore, is about evaluating your needs, planning for good and bad traffic and then adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This includes looking at things like implementing server-level spam protection and securing server files, to configuring your domain and email redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your control panel settings for handling things like email forwarding, page error redirections, etc?)
After fine-tuning your web server settings and configuring these (if required), the next step of the configuration phase is to set up various third-party sites.
External Sites
The idea behind setting up external sites is that all content should be published to a central location (your site) and from there, it will automatically get syndicated to other components of your web traffic generation system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
Once you add these external platforms to your configuration, content linked back to your website gets automatically published on search, social and aggregator accounts. Your content and website will benefit from exposure online, helping your business tap into new audiences and new sources of traffic.
Some third-party sites will need to have accounts set up before configuring your site to help speed up the process and some will need to be done later, during the automation phase.
For example, here are just some of the accounts you will need to have set up before configuring your WordPress site’s settings:
Google Webmaster Tools
(Google Webmaster Tools)
Google Search Console lets you tell Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for faster page indexing, and provides you with essential data, SEO tools and reports about your website.
Once your account with Google Webmaster Tools have been set up, you can use your account information to automate web traffic 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 website’s traffic performance, SEO, user engagement, marketing campaigns, sales conversions, and more, by tracking all user engagement, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine and organic referrals, etc.
After setting up your up your account and site data has been entered, traffic monitoring information can be added to all pages in WordPress via a simple plugin used with other applications.
Bing Webmaster Tools
(Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmaster Tools. After setting up your account and entering site details with Bing Webmaster Tools, use your information with web traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As explained in Part Two, WordPress provides users with a hosted and a self-hosted option. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress option if you plan to build a professional online presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great tools, which various WordPress plugins can access. We recommend setting up an account at WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll show you how to integrate this into your automated traffic system in the next installment of this series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking Sites
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media and social bookmarking accounts and get new visitors to your site)
You will need your social accounts set up before you can 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 pages and drive new visitors to your site.
Make sure you have pages set up with all the main social networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, etc.
There are lots of social bookmarking sites you can You can post your content to lots of social bookmarking sites. You don’t need to go crazy, just select the ones that will work well with your system and/or content syndication tools.
(There are many social bookmarking sites you can syndicate your content to. Image source ShareThis.com)
Additional Platforms, Content Aggregators, Etc.
There are many online technology platforms and content aggregators that can serve as secondary traffic generation sources. Some are free or provide free plans, and some are paid services.
For example, here is a content aggregator site that lets you add your WordPress blog feed …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content is displayed in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your RebelMouse website.
There are many different platforms that can be incorporated into your traffic blueprint. Please contact us if you need assistance exploring this area further, or to discuss a configuration strategy to suit your needs.
Once you have configured your server settings and set up accounts with third-party sites, it’s time to configure your WordPress site.
Configuring Your WordPress Site
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 Settings – WordPress
By default, WordPress includes a Settings section that allows you to modify your site’s main settings …
(WordPress settings section)
General Settings
Content entered into fields like Site Title and Tagline can influence your site’s SEO, search indexing, etc …
(Settings Menu – General Settings)
Writing
The Writing Settings section contains a powerful and often overlooked built-in traffic notification system …
(WordPress Settings – Writing Settings Screen)
As stated in the Update Services section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you or your webmaster have purposely chosen to discourage search engines from indexing your site – see next section, then your site will automatically notify the list of update services entered into the Update Services box
By default, when WordPress is installed, only one service is available …
(Writing Settings – Update Services)
You can notify dozens of update services automatically – just add a list of all the update services you want to notify as soon as you publish a new post to this section …
(WordPress lets you 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
This section affects how visitors will see your content when they visit your home page and blog pages.
The syndication settings on this page can influence traffic. For example, choosing to display the full content vs summaries of your post, affects how your content displays to users in RSS feeds and blog post digests, and could play a part in someone’s choice to explore your site further, and whether or not they will visit your website to view the rest of the content from summaries, 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 main setting here is whether the Search Engine Visibility check box is ticked or not.
Typically, you want to encourage search engines to visit your site. Leaving the box unchecked enables your site to ping your update services list when new posts get published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason why search engines should not visit your site, make sure this box is left unticked …
(Settings Menu – Reading Settings)
Discussion
Although this section is mostly concerned with how users engage with content on your site, you have the option to allow notifications to sites linked to from your content, 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 Section)
Permalinks
Permalinks allow you to create SEO-friendly URLs …
(Global Settings – Permalinks)
Here are some of the ways permalinks can be configured …
(Configuring permalinks)
We have created a detailed tutorial about using WordPress permalinks here: How To Improve Your WordPress SEO Using Permalinks
Plugin Settings
The WordPress developer community makes available thousands of plugins that can add just about every kind of functionality to your website, including traffic generation.
Let’s look at some types of plugin categories that affect traffic and plugin examples
Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin
Once again, it’s important to configure your website for dealing with the effects of both good traffic and bad traffic. No web site is completely immune from being targeted.
(Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from causing your website harm)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress site invisible to botnets and hackers.
More info:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
SEO plugins help drive more traffic by improving improving how search engines find and index your website …
(Yoast SEO – WordPress Plugin)
Use a powerful plugin like Yoast SEO to improve your SEO. Properly configured, this plugin not only makes your web pages easier for search engines like Google and Bing to find, crawl and index, it also lets you specify how to present your content to Google’s search results and social media pages, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
WordPress Social Sharing Plugins
Allowing visitors to share your content with others online can help to increase traffic to your site, especially if you publish great content that adds value to readers.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing features to their site using free or inexpensive plugins)
WordPress users can easily add social sharing buttons to their website with WordPress plugins.
Many social share plugins let you choose which social sites your content can be shared to, embed social buttons into your content, set up custom post messages, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of shares), etc. Some social sharing plugins even allow you to set up protected content areas on your pages which visitors can unlock by linking or tweeting your page.
Configuring WordPress Theme Settings
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that can help grow your traffic.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring the design and layout of your site, many themes also provide built-in options for improving SEO and site linking structure for better indexing, easily add analytics code, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WordPress themes like Graphene (a highly customizable free theme) can be configured for better traffic results)
With a number of WordPress themes, adding social sharing buttons and features to your site is as easy as clicking a button …
(Many WordPress themes have built-in social sharing features that can be easily enabled on with the click of a button)
Additional Features To Configure For Improved Traffic Results
Last but not least in the traffic configuration process, are the areas that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
These include the following:
Website Legal Pages
Once again, when preparing your website for a growth in traffic numbers, it’s important to plan not only for how to deal with 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 type of business online (or plan to), you need to ensure that your website stays compliant with regulatory agencies.
(Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?)
If you need help understanding how to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your site, go here:
Post Tags & Post Categories
Post tags & categories help to improve your site’s SEO, which helps you get more traffic.
(Post categories help improve traffic by improving your site’s SEO.)
As we recommend in this article, it’s best to review and set up your site’s post categories and tags during the Website Planning Phase.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that your site’s post tags and post categories have been correctly set up to deliver optimal benefits.
Add A WordPress Site Map
A site map that lists all of your pages and posts to visitors is not only a useful navigation tool, it can also help external sites find your website content …
(A site map is not just great for visitors, but for web traffic too!)
Note: An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are different things. Only search engines can interpret XML sitemaps. Although search engines like Google can index your site just using an XML sitemap (which plugins like Yoast SEO will create for you – see earlier section), making it easier for visitors to find more pages on your site results in increased traffic.
404 Error Page – Don’t Forget This!
When visitors searching for your website type in the wrong URL into their browser or click on a dead hyperlink, they are presented with a 404 page …
(A WordPress 404 Page)
A 404 Error Page can be configured to redirect confused visitors to your functional web pages …
(Configuring your 404 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 plugins for WordPress that let you easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress admin area.
WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint: Configuration Phase – Summary
Once your website has been expertly configured and fully set up, all you then have to do to automatically start generating new web traffic is publish new content on a consistent basis.
The process of expertly configuring a WordPress site, however, is quite involved and elaborate , requiring the configuration and integration of a number of different components and external web properties …
(Traffic System – Configuration Phase Checklist)
The kind of expertise involved in expertly configuring a WordPress site typically takes many web developers months to acquire.
Once you have configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the process. This step is addressed in the next article in our WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint series.
This is the end of Section Three
To read the rest of this article, click on the link below:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive series of articles designed to help small business owners learn how to grow their business with a WordPress-powered website or blog and proven marketing strategies that are easy and quick to implement.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now
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