Category: WordPress Configuration

Welcome to Part 5 of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to grow your business online automatically using WordPress.

So far, we have covered the following in this article series:

In Part 1 of this series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website is the key to generating automated web traffic …

(With an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, all you have to do is post great content on a regular basis to generate more traffic!)

In Part Two, we look at critical setup decisions. We explain the best way to start 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 existing website was built with WordPress.

(In Part 2 we show you how to set up WordPress on your domain)

In Part Three, we focus on important configuration decisions. We configured all the settings (hosting, internal and external) that can affect your website’s ability to generate traffic automatically …

(In Part 3 you will configure all the settings that affect your site’s ability to generate traffic automatically)

In Part 4, you learned how to set up various plugins that can bring visitors automatically to your website.

(Publish content one-time and automate your content distribution to all other marketing channels!)

In this article, we discuss ways to optimize the traffic system using different tools and strategies.

WordPress Traffic Blueprint – Systems

In addition to having an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, generating traffic successfully on a consistent basis is the result of a well-defined business vision, great digital planning, and great systems and process in place.

(Consistent traffic is the result of having a clear business vision, planning, and great systems)

Let’s review the systems that will help you grow and manage this traffic.

These include:

• Marketing Systems – The processes and methods used to drive traffic to your business.
• Technical Systems – How you keep your web presence optimized for receiving new traffic.
• Business Systems – The systems used to manage and respond to traffic.

(Use systems to grow and manage your web traffic)

Let’s briefly review how important the above systems are for traffic:

Marketing Systems

Your marketing systems consist of the processes and methods used to create traffic for your website. You can test your marketing systems by asking questions such as:

• What channels will you use to drive new traffic (e.g. blogging, video marketing, etc)?
• How will you assign your budget and resources to these channels?
• Who will create your content and marketing campaigns?
• How will you measure the cost-effectiveness of your online marketing campaigns?

During the setup and configuration phase, you would have installed an analytics program (e.g. Google Analytics). If you’re just starting out, you may want to consider investing in some paid advertising (e.g. pay-per-click ads) to help you generate some intelligence. If you’re tracking your marketing campaigns correctly, this should yield some actionable data, such as the keyword phrases people are searching online to find your site, which you can use to create content better targeted to your audience’s needs.

Technical Systems

Your technical systems ensure that your digital presence remains operating efficiently for receiving new traffic. There’s no point sending traffic to your website if your site is constantly down or your web pages are taking a long time to load.

Your systems include handling areas like webhosting, website maintenance and support, installing, configuring, and updating new applications (e.g. plugins), customization, integration, troubleshooting, etc.

You can test your technical systems by questions such as:

• Who is looking after my webhosting?
• Who will look after my website and keep my site maintained and up-to-date?
• Who will fix errors, troubleshoot problems, provide technical support and advice, etc. should things go wrong?

Many potential problems can be minimized if your website planning and setup and configuration phases have been completed correctly. Like all technology, however, you can expect to face new problems. Your technical systems need to be robust enough to handle these.

Business Systems

You need good operational systems to help you manage and respond to the influx of traffic. These include:

• Communication systems
• Managing human and financial resources
• Handling leads and sales enquiries
• Order fulfillment
• Customer training/service
• etc.

If you plan to outsource key aspects of your digital marketing and technical services, then you will need to put systems in place to manage all outsourcing.

WordPress Web Traffic System – Optimizing Traffic Generation

With clear business objectives and great systems in place, all you need to focus your efforts on is developing and optimizing your “traffic loop”.

Let’s walk through an example of how to implement, optimize, and further automate a traffic loop. Take a look at the processes illustrated below …

(Implement, automate, and optimize your traffic loop)

Increase Reach And Visibility

The first step of the process is to get your business exposed to as many potential users as you can.

Traffic Optimization Ideas

• Your expertly configured WordPress site allows you to automatically publish your content on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. The easiest way to increase your reach and visibility online, therefore, is to simply publish more content through your expertly configured WordPress site.
• As mentioned earlier, investing in some paid advertising can help generate data, which you can use to create web content better targeted to your audience’s needs.
• Repurpose your content to leverage different media formats.
• Continue learning about ways to drive web traffic using methods like paid ads, solo ads, joint ventures, etc.

Plugins, Tools, & Methods

See earlier sections of this article series for a number of useful tools and strategies we’ve already covered to help you reach more members of your target audience.

Also, if you haven’t already, look for plugins that let you easily add the following to your website or blog:

• Share your posts online,
• Run contests, offer discounts/downloads for shares/likes,
• Display user generated content, feeds, etc.
• Distribute content online in other media formats (e.g. videos, PDF guides, slides, etc.)

Build Authority & Credibility

Getting more of your content published is a great first step, but for this activity to be really effective, your content needs to be building authority and credibility with visitors.

Publishing higher quality content improves your chances of getting more views from social sharing and hence more visitors.

Tips

• Create and publish content that will add value to potential users and showcase your expertise. This includes content that informs and educates readers, training content, case studies, adding testimonials, etc.
• Consider publishing a PDF guide that can be sold or distributed online.

Plugins, Tools, And Strategies

We have created a detailed course on how to develop a content marketing strategy, how to promote your business with content, and how to never run out of ideas for web content that you can plug into for free here:

Also, contact us to learn more about plugins that allow you to easily add the following to your WordPress website or blog:

• Legal Pages
• Testimonials
• Customer Support (e.g. Helpdesk, Live Chat, etc.)
• Ratings
• User Reviews
• Badges/Certificates Of Recognition

Grow Influence And Engagement

At some point, you may want to consider developing “traffic on tap.” You can achieve this by growing a list or starting an online community or even your own social network.

With “Traffic On Demand,” most of your traffic will come from an audience of customers or subscribers – people who already know you and trust you. Your influence and credibility can be used to generate new traffic with every blog post you publish or broadcast you send out.

Useful Tips & Ideas

• Encourage visitors to leave comments and start discussions on your site.
• Add an autoresponder newsletter and encourage people to subscribe.
• Add a free, paid, or ‘freemium’ membership site, online forum, or social community.
• Create or join an online group on LinkedIn/Facebook.

Plugins, Tools, And Methods

There are many solutions and plugins that can help increase your influence and improve engagement. For example:

• List-Building Software (e.g. Aweber, GetResponse, etc.)
• Contact Forms, Live Chat
• Forums and Social Communities (e.g. bbPress, BuddyPress)
• Polls and Surveys
• Webinars (e.g. Webinar JEO)
• Comment sharing
• Add media, image galleries, etc.

Identify Problems & Provide Solutions

By taking advantage of incoming traffic to listen to what problems your visitors are trying to solve, you can develop new services, products, and solutions, all of which can provide you with new opportunities to generate additional web traffic.

Useful Tips

• Create an e-learning course.
• Consider publishing an e-book that can be sold or distributed online.
• Add an e-commerce store to your business.

Plugins, Tools, And Methods

If you plan to provide products, services, and solutions online (as opposed to just providing information), then some of the more useful plugins you may want to consider adding to your site include:

• Membership Sites (e.g. Wishlist Member, S2 Member, etc.)
• Learning Management Systems (e.g. Courseware)
• Event Registrations (e.g. EventEspresso)

Analyze Data & Feedback

The final step of the process is to collect and analyze data. By learning to interpret data gathered from existing traffic, you can discover new traffic opportunities.

You should already have installed an analytics tool (e.g. Google Analytics) on your site. Make sure you can also understand the data.

WordPress Traffic System – Summary

All you have to do once you implement the above strategies is repeat the process over and over again, fine-tuning and refining your methods as you go to grow your traffic and get better your results.

In summary:

• Begin with an expertly configured WordPress site backed by good marketing, technical and business systems,
• Implement a content marketing strategy (consider adding some paid advertising to drive traffic and generate useful data) to increase your reach and visibility online,
• Add plugins, list-building strategies, and other methods if needed to build authority and credibility, and also to improve engagement with visitors,
• Promote any new solutions, products or services using your existing channels and strategies to generate additional streams of traffic,
• Analyse your data and your results, automate your processes wherever possible, and begin the cycle again.

Hopefully, this post has given you a blueprint that will help you drive more traffic automatically to your web site and build a more successful business online.

***

***