Welcome to Part 3 of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to drive new traffic automatically to your website using the WordPress CMS.
In Part 1 of this series, we provided an overview of the process, and explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website or blog is the key to automating traffic to your website …
(With an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, all you have to do to automatically bring web traffic is post great content on a consistent basis!)
In Part 2, we looked at the setup phase of the blueprint. We helped you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a web presence yet, how to set everything up if you already have a website, and what to do if your website was built using WordPress.
(In Part two we show you how to set up WordPress on your domain)
In this article, we discuss the configuration phase of the traffic blueprint. We explain why an expertly configured site is different than a professionally configured site. You will also understand just what type of work needs to be done to make sure that when all is fully configured, you will drive new traffic automatically just by regularly posting content on your site.
WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint – Configuration
Being able to drive more traffic to one’s website is often cited by most website owners as their greatest challenge online. With business getting ever more competitive, it’s worth looking into any advantage available to get better results online.
Being able to automatically generate traffic on demand can provide website owners with a huge advantage. For WordPress users, an expertly configured website means having a significant advantage from the very beginning.
Configuration Is The Difference
There is a difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a site that has been professionally set up by a website-building expert but not necessarily configured to take advantage of everything WordPress can offer you.
Here’s one way to explain the difference:
With a WordPress site that has been expertly configured you get a professional web presence plus online business marketing automation!
(An expertly configured website gives you a web presence and a built-in automated online business marketing system!)
Not only does it take extra labor to build and integrate an automated online business marketing system into your website, it also takes a special kind of expertise.
To illustrate this point here’s an amusing anecdote.
Are Experts Worth The Money They Charge?
Things were moving along in the widget-making assembly line when everything came to a sudden stop.
No one could figure out what has happened and so the floor manager decided to call in an expert.
Shortly after arriving, the expert headed immediately towards the main control box. After staring silently at the wires and circuitry for less than 5 minutes or so, the expert then took out a little hammer from his pocket and made a gentle tap about two inches from the bottom-left corner of the unit.
Immediately, everything began working once more.
The plant manager was relieved as he thanked the expert, who left as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days after resolving the incident, the factory manager received a request for payment of $5,000.
The manager dialled the expert, demanding to know why they were charged so much for so little time delivering such minimal amount of work. He then requested an itemized invoice before hanging up.
The next day, a bill of payment arrived and was placed in the manager’s intray. Upon opening it, this is what he saw:
The #1 challenge most businesses face online is being able to consistently drive new traffic to their sites.
How much money did the widget plant stand to lose when the machines ground to a halt and no one in the factory floor had the expertise to get things up and running again? Did the expert in our story not have the right to be compensated fairly for years spent acquiring the knowledge, skills and expertise that enabled him to quickly avert a serious crisis?
Similarly, if you could have your web site configured so all you have to do is publish new content and Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and dozens of other web properties would be instantly 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 attracting new visitors to your site?)
Although the solution to many challenges can seem ridiculously easy once implemented, it rarely turns out to be that way.
Expertly configuring a WordPress site is more than adding some pages with content and configuring a few settings. It also requires knowing where to tap! In other words, knowing things like:
- Which programs you need to install to get certain functionalities on your site.
- Which accounts need to be set up and activated to get specific results
- Which settings you need to configure in order to make sure things function as you have imagined, etc.
(Driving web traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires knowledge and expertise)
Although this part of the WordPress traffic automation system may not seem so technically challenging, it can be quite involved and time-consuming. It’s not as simple as installing and configuring a piece of software, tweaking some options and settings in your admin area or clicking a couple of buttons … it’s all this and so much more.
Expertly configuring your website involves the integration of a number of different components including your server, your website, and various third-party sites and services …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring some WordPress settings)
If we were to create a simplified flowchart of the configuration process, it would look like this …
(A simplistic flowchart of the configuration process)
Let’s take a look at these areas in more detail.
Your Server
We’re not talking here about the process of configuring your web hosting account for site installation purposes. What we are talking about, is configuring settings in your server specifically for handling web traffic …
(In the configuration phase, your web-hosting account settings need to be checked for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all web traffic is positive traffic. Some of the web traffic you will attract will be unwelcome traffic like bot spam, malicious threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This stage of the configuration process, therefore, requires planning for both good and bad traffic and adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This includes looking at things like implementing server-level spam protection and preventing security threats, to configuring domain and email redirections, setting up error page redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your hosting control panel settings for handling things like email forwarding, page errors, etc?)
After fine-tuning your server settings and configuring these (if required), the next step is to configure various external sites and services.
External Sites
The purpose of adding external sites is that all of your content will get published to one central location (your WordPress site) and from there, it will syndicate automatically to other parts of your traffic system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
Once these external services have been added to your setup, content linking back to your site is automatically added to search, social and aggregator sites. Your site will be given exposure to new sources of traffic and new audiences.
Some sites will need to be set up before configuring your site’s settings to 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 site’s settings:
Google Search Console
(Google Search Console – create a Google-friendly website or blog)
Google Webmasters lets you inform Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for faster page indexing, and provides site owners with essential information, SEO tools, and reports about their website.
Once your Google Search Console account has been set up, the details can be used with 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, marketing activities, sales conversions, and more, by tracking all user engagement, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine and social media referrals, etc.
After setting up your account and site data, traffic monitoring code can be added to all web pages in WordPress via plugins used with other applications and reporting tools.
Bing Webmaster Tools
(Drive more traffic with Bing Webmaster Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Search Console. Once your account and site details with Bing have been set up, your details can be used to automate traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO (see further below) and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As explained in Part 2, WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted option. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress option if you are planning to grow a professional online presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides a number of useful tools, which can be accessed by a number of WordPress plugins. We recommend setting up an account at WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll show you how to integrate these features into your web traffic system in Part 4 of this series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking Sites
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media sites and social bookmarking accounts and get new traffic to your site)
You will need your social accounts set up before you can integrate these with 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 accounts and bring 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 sites you can You can post your content to lots of social bookmarking sites. You don’t need to go crazy, just choose those that will work well with your setup and/or content syndication tools (we will review some of these tools in more detail in the Automation phase).
(You can post your content to loads of social bookmarking sites. Image: ShareThis.com)
Additional Services, Content Aggregators, Etc.
There are a number of emerging web platforms and RSS aggregators that can serve as secondary-level traffic generation sources. Some are free or provide free plans, and some are more suitable for enterprise-level applications.
For example, here is a content aggregator that allows you to add your WordPress blog feed …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Publishing platform for distributed content)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your social profiles and RSS feeds. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your own RebelMouse account.
There are various sites and platforms that can be incorporated into your own traffic system. Please contact us if you would like to explore some of these and discuss a strategy to suit your needs.
Once you have configured your server settings and set up accounts with third-party services, it’s time to configure WordPress.
WordPress Configuration
The first step in configuring your site for traffic is to make sure that your global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some of the important areas.
WordPress Settings
Your WordPress admin area contains a Settings section that allows you to configure your site’s global settings …
(WordPress settings menu)
General Settings
Content entered into fields like Site Title and Tagline can affect traffic by influencing your site’s SEO, search listings, etc …
(WordPress Settings – General Settings Section)
Writing
The Writing Settings section contains a powerful and frequently overlooked traffic notification system …
(Settings Menu – Writing Settings Section)
As described in this section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you or your webmaster have purposely configured your settings to prevent 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 field
By default, when WordPress is installed, this section displays only one entry …
(Update Services – A Powerful Traffic Feature)
You can notify dozens of update services automatically with WordPress …
(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, your choice of displaying the full content vs a summary of your post, affects how your content shows up in RSS readers and blog post digests, and could play a part in someone’s choice to explore your content further, and whether or not they will visit your website or blog to read the rest of the content from excerpts, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
As far as traffic is concerned, however, the main setting here is whether the Search Engine Visibility checkbox is ticked or not.
Normally, you would want search engines to visit your site. Leaving this box unchecked allows WordPress to automatically ping your update services list when new posts are published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason why search engines should not visit your site, do not check this box …
(WordPress Settings – Reading Settings Screen)
Discussion Settings
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 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 …
(Global Settings – Discussion Settings Screen)
Permalinks
Permalinks allow you to publish posts with SEO-friendly URLs …
(Settings Menu – Permalink Settings)
Here are some of the options for configuring your site’s permalink URLs …
(Configuring post permalinks)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on setting up WP permalinks, go here: Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO
WordPress Plugins – Configuration
The WordPress developer community makes available plugins that help to add just about every type of functionality to your website, including traffic generation.
Here are some types of plugin categories that affect traffic and plugin examples
WordPress Security Plugins – Blog Defender
Once again, it’s important to configure your website for dealing with both good traffic and bad traffic. Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot ignore the importance of web security.
(Security Plugins stop bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your website invisible to botnet and hacker attacks.
Go here for more info:
SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive traffic by improving your site’s SEO …
(SEO plugins help increase traffic by making your site more search engine friendly)
Use a powerful plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your site’s search engine optimization. When properly configured, the Yoast SEO plugin not only makes your site easier for search engines to find, classify and index, it also gives you control over how your content is displayed in Google’s search results and social media sites Twitter, Facebook, and GooglePlus.
Social Sharing Plugins
Allowing visitors to easily share your content with their social networks can help drive more traffic to your site, especially if you provide great content that adds value to readers.
(You can add social sharing to your site easily using free or inexpensive plugins)
There are many social sharing plugins available for WordPress.
Most social sharing plugins let you specify which sites visitors can share your content to, embed social buttons into your content, set up default notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of likes), etc. Some social plugins even allow you to ‘lock’ content which users can unlock by liking your page.
WordPress – Traffic Features In Themes
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 layout and design of your website, many themes also give you options for improving search optimization and site linking structure for better indexing, easily add tracking code, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WP themes like Graphene (a free theme) can be configured for improved traffic results)
With many WordPress themes, adding social sharing buttons and features to your website is as easy as selecting the option to enable this functions …
(Many WordPress themes provide built-in social sharing features that can be easily enabled on with the click of a button)
WordPress Traffic – Additional Configuration Steps
Last but not least in the web traffic system configuration process, are the things that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
This includes the following:
Website Compliance Pages
Once again, when preparing your website for an increase in traffic, it’s important to plan not only for how to deal with bad and good traffic but also for all the things that can go wrong as more and more people start finding and visiting your website.
If you do any type of business online, you need to ensure that your website remains compliant with government laws and regulations.
(Does Your Site Comply With All Legal Requirements?)
If you need help understanding how to quickly and easily add legal pages to your WordPress website or blog, go here:
Categories & Post Tags
Tags and categories help to improve your site’s SEO, which improves traffic.
(Post categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better understand and index your web pages.)
As we strongly recommend in this article, it’s best to discuss and set up your website’s tags and categories during the Website Planning Process.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that your site’s post tags and post categories have been set up correctly 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 tools discover your online content …
(A site map is not just great for visitors, but for traffic too!)
Note: An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are different things. Although search engines like Google can index your pages just using an XML sitemap (which plugins like Yoast SEO can provide – see earlier section), allowing visitors to find more pages on your site can result in increased traffic.
Your Site’s 404 Page Not Found
When online users type in the wrong web address or click on a dead link, they will normally be greeted with a 404 page …
(A 404 Not Found page)
A 404 Error Page can redirect confused visitors to your functional pages …
(Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to redirect web traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 Not Found error page can be set up in your server, there are WordPress plugins that allow you to easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress Traffic System: Configuration Phase – Summary
Once your site has been fully set up and expertly configured, all you need to do then to automatically drive traffic is publish fresh content consistently.
The process of expertly configuring a WordPress site, however, is quite involved , requiring the configuration and integration of a number of different components and web properties …
(WordPress Traffic Blueprint – Configuration Checklist)
The expertise required to perform this process can take many website professionals a long time to learn.
Once you have expertly configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the process. This step is explained in the next article in the series.
This is the end of Part 3
To read the rest of this article, click here:
This tutorial is part of an tutorial series aimed at helping you learn how to grow your business online inexpensively and drive traffic sustainably with a WordPress-powered website and proven web marketing strategies.
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