In Part One of our WordPress Web Site 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 or blog. An ”expertly configured” WordPress blog is a website that is not only powered by the WordPress CMS platform, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take advantage of the enormous power, features and functionality of WordPress and the way it integrates with various services, specifically in areas like SEO, external site syndication and reporting.
(With an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, all you have to do to automatically drive traffic is add content regularly!)
Once your WordPress site has been fully set up and expertly configured, all you then need to do is publish great content regularly to bring more web traffic organically.
As outlined in Part One of this article series, the components of this automated website traffic machine are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we discuss the “Setup” phase of the blueprint. You will learn the best way to start 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 System – Setup Phase
If You Haven’t Got A Website Yet
If you don’t have a web presence yet, then it’s really quite simple … build a WordPress website!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and easy-to-use content management system available. We provide many articles, tips, and tutorials about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to learn just how popular WordPress is around the world, see this article: WordPress: How Popular Is It? Statistics About WordPress
After choosing to build your website with WordPress, the next step is to choose which type of WordPress platform you will build your web presence on.
This is important because there are 2 types of WordPress platforms available …
WordPress.org vs WordPress.com
(WordPress Hosted vs WordPress Self-Hosted)
WordPress offers a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
WordPress.org lets you download the full-featured WordPress software at no cost and self-host a WordPress site or blog using your own domain name. This is the “self-hosted” WordPress option.
With the “hosted option”, WordPress will host your blog for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, a number of limitations to what you can and can’t do with your blog when WordPress.com hosts it for free.
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 options by upgrading to a paid option, but then why not just start off with a WordPress site hosted on your own domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Have An Existing Site
If you already have an existing web site, first check to see if your website has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: How To Tell If A Web Site Was Built With WordPress
If your website runs on 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 web site was built using something other than WordPress, then 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 site on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing website so that your main website is built using WordPress, or
- Keep your existing site and add a WordPress blog. Your WordPress blog will then be expertly configured and used to drive traffic to your main website.
If you choose to keep your existing web site and add a WordPress blog, make sure to use the self-hosted version of WordPress, which requires a domain name and webhosting, but allows you to fully configure your blog’s settings and customize the design of your existing web site using a suitable theme for WordPress.
To use WordPress as your main site, install the software in the “root” directory of your domain (e.g. http://mydomainname.com).
If you have an existing website, then you will want to install WordPress in a subfolder of your domain, e.g. www.mydomainname.com/blog (you can name your subfolder whatever you like).
If you have a 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 blog
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 series.
This is the end of Section 2
To read more, click here:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive article series designed to help you learn how to grow your business and drive traffic automatically with a WordPress-driven website and proven web 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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