Welcome to Part Three of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to drive new traffic automatically to your site using WordPress.
In Part One 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 generating automated traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do is post fresh content consistently to drive web traffic!)
In Part Two, we discussed the setup phase of the traffic automation process. We explained the best way to start if you don’t have a web presence yet, how to set things up if you already have a website, and what to do if your site was built using WordPress.
(In Part two we show you how to set up a WordPress web site on your domain)
In this section, we will look at the configuration stage of the traffic system. We will show you how a WordPress site should be configured to ensure that traffic will automatically start flowing when you begin to post new content on a consistent basis to your website.
WordPress Traffic Blueprint – Configuration
Finding ways to drive more traffic to one’s website is often cited by business owners as their greatest challenge online. Also, the business landscape is becoming so much more competitive on a global scale and businesses are exploring any advantage they can that can help you get better results online.
Having the ability to automatically generate traffic on demand can be a tremendous advantage. With an expertly configured WordPress site, you have a significant competitive advantage from the word “go”.
The Difference Is In The Configuration
There is a significant 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’s a simple way to describe the differences:
An expertly configured WordPress website gives you a web presence plus an automated online business marketing process!
(An expertly configured website gives you a web presence with a built-in automated online business marketing tool!)
Not only is more work required to build and integrate an automated online business marketing process into your website, it also takes a special kind of expertise.
Let’s illustrate this with a story.
Knowing Where To Tap
All was going fine in the gizmo manufacturing plant when the machinery suddenly stopped.
As no one could figure out what was wrong, the plant manager decided to call in an expert to try and fix the problem.
The expert arrived within in less than 30 minutes and, without uttering a word, headed immediately towards the control box. After staring at the wiring board for less than 3 minutes, the expert then produced a little hammer and made a very gentle tap about three inches from the left-hand corner of the box.
Immediately, the plant started working again.
The manager was filled with joy as he thanked the expert, who left as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days after resolving the incident, the manager received a service bill for $5,000.
The factory manager picked up the phone and rang the expert, demanding to know why they were being charged so much for less than 5 minutes work and then requested an itemized invoice before hanging up.
The next day, an invoice arrived on the manager’s desk. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he saw:
The #1 challenge most businesses face online is being able to drive new visitors to their sites.
In the story we’ve just described, how much money did the gizmo plant stand to lose when production ground to a halt and no one in the factory floor was able to get things up and running again? Did the expert not have every right to be compensated fairly for having invested years developing the knowledge, skills and expertise that allowed him to quickly avert a crisis?
Similarly, if you could have your blog set up so all you ever had to do is publish content to it and Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and dozens of other traffic-generating online properties would be automatically 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 website?)
Although the solution to many problems may seem quite simple in hindsight, it rarely is that simple or easy when you are trying to figure things out.
Expertly configuring a WordPress site involves more than adding some pages with content and configuring settings for a client. It also involves knowing where to tap! This includes knowing things such as:
- Which plugins need to be installed for certain things to occur on your site.
- Which 3rd-party accounts need to be set up and activated to get desired results
- Which settings need to be configured in order to ensure that things will work exactly as you want, etc.
(Generating new traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires knowledge and expertise)
This part of the traffic automation system is not technically challenging, but it’s quite involved and time-consuming. It’s not just about installing and configuring a plugin, tweaking some options and settings in your dashboard area … it’s all of this and much more.
Expertly configuring your website involves the integration of different components including your web server, your website or blog, and various third-party sites or online services …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring some settings in WordPress)
If we try to flowchart all the steps involved in the configuration process, it would look something like this …
(A simplistic flowchart of the configuration phase)
Let’s examine these steps in more detail.
Configuring The Server
We’re not talking about the process of configuring your webhosting account for site installation purposes. We’re talking about configuring settings and options in your webhosting account specifically for handling web traffic …
(During the configuration phase, your web server settings need to be checked for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all web traffic is welcome traffic. Some of the traffic you may attract will be unwelcome traffic like bot spam, malicious threats, brute-force bot attacks, etc.
This part of the configuration process, therefore, is about planning for both bad and good traffic and adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This could include looking at things like integrating server-level spam protection and security threat prevention, to configuring domain and email redirections, setting up 404 redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your hosting control panel settings for handling things like email forwarding, page errors, etc?)
After your web server settings have been checked and configured, the next step of the configuration phase is to set up a number of external sites and/or online services.
External Services
The basic concept of setting up external sites is that all content is posted to one central location (your site) and from there, it gets distributed automatically to other components of your traffic system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
Once you add these external platforms to your traffic network, content linking back to your site is automatically published on these platforms. Your site will be exposed to new sources of traffic and new audiences.
Some of the web properties and online services will need to have accounts set up before configuring your WordPress site to help save time 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:
Google Search Console
(Google Webmasters – create a Google-friendly website or blog)
Google Webmaster Tools lets you notify Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for automatic page indexing, and provides site owners with important information, SEO tools, and diagnostic reports about their website.
Once your Google Search Console account is set up, your details can be used to automate web traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your website’s performance, SEO, marketing activities, and more, by tracking all user behavior, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine referrers, etc.
After setting up your Once you have set up Google Analytics, you can add traffic tracking code to WordPress via any of several Google Analytics plugins and feed data instantly to other online applications.
Bing Data And Tools
(Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Search Console. Once your account with Bing Webmaster Tools have been set up, this information can be used with web traffic settings and notifications in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As explained in Part 2, WordPress offers users the option of a hosted vs self-hosted website. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress version if you plan to build a professional online presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great features, which can be accessed by various WordPress plugins. We recommend setting up an account with WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll show you how to integrate this into your automated traffic generation system in Part Four of this article series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking Accounts
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media sites and attract new visitors to your site)
You will need your social accounts set up in order to integrate these with your traffic generation system.
After setting up and configuring everything, you will be able to syndicate your content automatically to your social media accounts and drive new traffic to your site.
Make sure you have accounts and pages set up with all the popular social networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, etc.
There are many social sites you can You can syndicate your content to many social sites. You don’t need to create accounts with all of them, just select those that will work well with your system and/or content syndication tools (we will look at some of these tools in greater detail when we discuss the Automation phase).
(You can syndicate your content to lots of social sites. Image: ShareThis.com)
Additional Platforms, Content Aggregators, Etc.
There are many new online platforms and RSS aggregators that can serve as secondary traffic generation sources. Some are free or provide free levels, and some offer a range of pricing plans to suit different user types.
For example, here is a content aggregator site that lets you add your WordPress blog feed …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Publishing platform for distributed content)
RebelMouse is a news aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content is displayed in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your account.
There are various platforms you can add to your traffic system. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to explore this area further and discuss a strategy to suit your needs.
Once you have configured your web server and set up third-party service accounts, it’s time to configure your site.
WordPress Traffic Configuration
The first step in configuring your WordPress site for traffic is to make sure that your global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some key areas.
WordPress Settings
By default, all WordPress installations include a Settings menu that allows you to modify your site’s global settings …
(WordPress settings section)
General Settings
Sections like Site Title and Tagline can affect your site’s SEO, search listings, etc …
(WordPress Settings – General Settings Section)
Writing
The Writing Settings section contains an important and frequently overlooked automated traffic notification system …
(Settings Menu – Writing Settings)
As described 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 intentionally chosen to prevent search engines from indexing your site – see next section, then your site will automatically notify the services entered into the Update Services text area
By default, when WordPress is installed, only one service is available …
(Update Services – A Powerful Traffic Feature Of WordPress)
WordPress lets you notify dozens of update services automatically – just add a list of update services to this section and WordPress takes care of the rest …
(You can 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 your content gets seen by readers when they visit your home page and blog pages.
The syndication settings in this section can influence web traffic. For example, your choice of displaying the full text vs summaries of your post, affects how your content displays in RSS feeds and blog post digests, and could affect someone’s choice to explore your content further, and whether or not they will visit your website to read the rest of the content from excerpts, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
The most important setting here as far as your traffic system is concerned 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 your site to automatically notify all the update services you have listed whenever new posts get published (see Writing Settings above). Unless there is a specific reason to discourage search engines from visiting your site, make sure this box is left unchecked …
(Global Settings – Reading Settings)
Discussion
Although the settings in this section are mostly concerned with how users engage with content on your site, you have the option to allow notifications to blogs linked to from your articles, 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 …
(Settings Menu – Discussion Settings)
Permalinks
Your Permalink settings enable WordPress to publish posts with search engine-friendly URLs …
(WordPress Settings – Permalink Settings)
The examples below show some of the ways search-friendly URLS can be configured …
(Configuring SEO-friendly URLs)
We have created a detailed tutorial about using permalinks in WordPress here: How To Improve Your WordPress SEO Using Permalinks
WP Plugin Settings
The WordPress developer community makes available thousands of plugins that help to add just about every type of functionality imaginable to your website, including plugins with features that help to improve traffic generation.
Let’s look at examples of plugin categories and plugins that can help to increase traffic
Blog Defender Security Plugin
Once again, it’s important to configure your site for dealing with the effects of both good traffic and bad traffic. No website or blog is guaranteed immunity from cyber-attacks.
(WordPress Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your blog invisible to bot and hacker attacks.
Go here to learn more:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive more traffic by improving your site’s SEO …
(WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast SEO help increase traffic by improving your site’s ability to rank better in search engines)
A plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) can significantly improve your SEO. Once properly configured, this plugin not only makes your site easier for search engines like Google to find and index, it also gives you control over how your content is displayed in Google’s search results and social media pages, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, and GooglePlus.
Social Sharing Plugins
Allowing your visitors to share your content online can help to increase traffic to your site, especially if you publish great content that adds real value to readers.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing buttons to their website using WordPress plugins)
WordPress users can easily add social features to their site with free or inexpensive WordPress plugins.
Many social sharing plugins let you select which social sites your content can be shared to, embed social buttons into your content, set up default notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of likes), etc. Some plugins even allow you to ‘lock’ content which users can unlock by liking your page.
WordPress Theme Settings
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that help grow your site’s traffic.
For example, as well as options and settings for configuring the layout and design of your website, many themes also include built-in features that let you improve search optimization and site navigation structure for faster indexing, easily add analytics, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WP themes like Graphene (a free theme) can be configured for better traffic results)
With many quality themes, adding social sharing buttons 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 Configuration Areas For Your WordPress Site
Last but not least in the configuration process, are the elements that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
This includes the following:
Compliance Web Pages
Once again, when preparing your website for an increase in traffic numbers, it’s important to plan not only how to handle good and unwelcome traffic but also for all the things that can go wrong as more and more people begin to visit your website.
If you are making money online (or plan to), it’s important that your site is compliant with regulatory agencies.
(Is Your Website Or Blog Legally Compliant?)
To learn more about how to quickly and easily add legal pages to your website or blog, go here:
Categories And Post Tags
Post categories and tags help search engines classify and index your web pages, which helps to increase traffic.
(Categories help to improve your site’s search engine optimization, which helps you get more traffic.)
As we recommend in this article, your site’s tags and categories should be discussed and set up during the Website Planning Stages.
When considering ways to automate and improve traffic, you will want to review and make sure that the post tags and post categories that have been set up.
Add A Site Map To Your WordPress Site
A visitor site map that lists all of your site’s pages and posts is not only a useful navigation tool, it can also help external sites discover more of your online content …
(Site Map – great for site visitors and beneficial for traffic too!)
An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are different things. Although Google can index your site just from an XML sitemap (which plugins like Yoast SEO can provide – see earlier section), allowing visitors to find more pages on your site results in increased traffic.
404 Error Page – A Source Of Lost Traffic Opportunities!
When visitors searching online for your site type in the wrong URL into their web browser or click on a hyperlink pointing to a destination on your website that no longer exists, they are presented with an error – page not found message …
(A 404 Error Page)
A 404 Not Found page can be turned into a useful source of traffic to your functional web pages …
(Configuring your 404 page allows you to recover web traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 error page can be set up on your web server, there are WordPress plugins that allow you to easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress admin.
WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint: Configuration Process – Summary
Once you have your WordPress site fully set up and expertly configured, all you have to do is post new content consistently to automatically start generating new traffic organically.
The process of expertly configuring a WordPress site, however, can be quite involved , requiring the configuration and integration of various components and web properties …
(Traffic System – Configuration Phase Checklist)
The knowledge and expertise required to perform this process typically takes some web professionals months to acquire.
Once you have expertly configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the process. This step is explained in the next section of the series.
This is the end of Part Three
To keep reading, click here:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive series of articles aimed at helping site owners learn how to grow their business online inexpensively using a WordPress-driven website and proven online marketing strategies.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
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