Welcome to Part 3 of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to automate traffic to your website using WordPress.
In Part One of this article series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website is the key to generating automated web traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress site, all you have to do is post great content on a consistent basis to automatically start driving traffic!)
In Part Two, we focused on the setup phase of the traffic automation process. We helped you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a website yet, how to set everything up if you already have a site, and what to do if your existing site has been built with WordPress.
(In Part 2 we show you how to set up WordPress on your domain)
In this section, we look at the configuration phase of this process. We explain how a WordPress site should be configured in order to ensure that traffic will automatically start flowing when you begin to add fresh content to your site.
WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – Configuration Phase
Being able to drive more traffic to one’s website is often cited by business owners as the greatest challenge they face online. Also, the business landscape is becoming increasingly more competitive worldwide and businesses are researching any opportunity they can to increase their competitiveness online.
The ability to generate traffic on demand is a huge competitive advantage. An expertly configured WordPress site gives you a flying start and a significant competitive advantage online.
Configuration Is The Difference
There is a significant 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 has to offer.
Here is a simple way to describe the differences:
An expertly configured WordPress site gives you a professional web presence plus online business marketing automation!
(An expertly configured website gives you a professional web presence with an automated online business marketing process!)
Not only does it take more labor to build and integrate an automated online business marketing process into your website, it also takes a special kind of expert knowledge.
Let’s illustrate this with a joke.
Ludicrous Or Fair? You Decide …
All is going fine in the widget-making workshop when things come to a sudden stop.
As no one can figure out what went wrong, the manager decides to call in an expert.
Shortly after arriving, the expert heads out directly to the control box. After staring silently at the wiring board for no more than 3 minutes, the expert then produces a tiny hammer from his shirt pocket and makes a single tap about two inches from the right side of the control unit.
Immediately, every machine springs back to life.
The manager is filled with joy as he thanks the expert, who leaves just as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days after resolving the incident, the factory manager receives a request of payment for services for the sum of $5,000.
Bordering on outrage, the manager picks up the phone and calls the expert. Why have they had been charged such a ridiculously high fee for so little time delivering such minimal amount of work? He promptly requests an itemized invoice and hangs up.
The next day, an invoice statement arrives in the manager’s intray. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he sees:
The main challenge most businesses face online is being able to consistently drive web traffic to their sites.
How much money did the gizmo factory stand to lose when the equipment ground to a halt and no one on the business had the expertise required to get things up and running again? Did the expert not have every right to get paid fairly for years spent developing the knowledge, skills and expertise that allowed him to quickly fix a costly problem?
Similarly, if you could have a WordPress blog set up and configured so all you have to do is publish content to it and Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and dozens of other web properties would be automatically notified, how much time and money would you save?
(How much better would your business be if you could automate the process of attracting new visitors to your website?)
While many experts often make complicated solutions look easy, it rarely turns out to be that way.
Knowing how to expertly configure a WordPress site requires more than just installing a website and configuring a few settings. It involves knowing where to tap! In other words, knowing things like:
- Which programs need to be installed for certain things to occur on your site.
- Which 3rd-party accounts need to be set up to get desired results
- Which internal and external settings need to be configured in order to make sure things work as planned, etc.
(Generating traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires expertise)
Although this stage of the traffic automation system may not seem so technically challenging, it can be quite involved. It’s not just about installing a plugin, configuring some options and settings in your dashboard area … it’s all of this and much more.
The configuration phase involves the integration of different components such as your web hosting server, your WordPress site, and a number of third-party sites or online services …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring some WordPress settings)
If we create a simplified flowchart showing the configuration process, it would look something like this …
(A simplified flowchart of the steps involved in the configuration process)
Let’s examine what’s involved in more detail.
Web Hosting
We’re not talking here about the process of configuring your webhosting account for site installation purposes (this should have been done during the Setup phase). We’re talking about fine-tuning settings in your web server specifically for handling web traffic …
(During the configuration stage, your web hosting account settings need to be checked for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all traffic is positive traffic. Some of the traffic your business may attract will be unwelcome traffic like bot spam, security threats, brute-force bot attacks, etc.
This part 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 can include things like spam protection and preventing security threats, to configuring your domain and email forwarding, etc …
(Have you configured your control panel settings for handling things like email forwarding, page error redirections, etc?)
After your web server settings have been fine-tuned and configured (if required), the next step is to configure a number of third-party sites and services.
External Sites
The concept behind setting up external sites is that all content should be posted to one central location (your site) and from there, radiate outwards to other components of your traffic generation system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
Once these external sites have been added to your network, content linked back to your site will be automatically syndicated to these platforms, indexed by search engines and shared to other social networks, even to users of the platform itself. Your content and business will be exposed to new audiences and new sources of traffic.
Some sites will need to have accounts set up before configuring your WordPress settings to help save time and some will need to be done later, during the automation phase.
For example, you will want to set up the following accounts before configuring your WordPress settings:
Google Webmasters
(Google Search Console)
Google Webmasters lets you notify Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for faster page indexing, and provides site owners with useful data, tools, and diagnostic reports about their website.
Once your account with Google Webmasters have been set up, you can use this information to automate traffic settings in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your website’s traffic results, SEO, user engagement, marketing activities, sales conversions, and more, by tracking all user engagement, pages visited, keywords searched for, social media referrers, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account has been set up, traffic monitoring data can be easily integrated with WordPress using a simple plugin and and sent to various other useful applications.
Bing Data And Tools
(Bing Webmaster Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Search Console. Once your account is set up, this information can be used to integrate and automate traffic-related settings in WordPress and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As explained in Part Two, WordPress offers users a hosted and a self-hosted option. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress version if you plan to grow a professional online presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides a number of useful features, which can be accessed by various WordPress plugins. We recommend setting up an account with WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll explain how to integrate this into your traffic system in Part 4 of this series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking Sites
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media and social bookmarking accounts and attract new visitors to your site)
You will need to have already set up your social media accounts 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 and social bookmarking accounts and bring new visitors to your site.
You should have accounts and profile pages with all of the main social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.
There are many social bookmarking sites you can You can post your content to lots of social bookmarking sites. You don’t need to go crazy, just choose the ones that will work well with your setup and/or content sharing tools (we will cover some of these tools in more detail during the Automation phase).
(There are loads of social sites you can post your content to. Image source ShareThis.com)
Additional Services, Content Aggregators, Etc.
There are many new online web platforms and content aggregators that can serve as secondary traffic generation sources. Some are free or provide free levels, and some offer a range of pricing plans.
For example, here is a content aggregator that lets you add your WordPress blog feed …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Publishing platform for distributed content)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your website.
There are many different sites and platforms that can be incorporated into your web traffic system. Please contact us if you would like to explore some of these and discuss a configuration plan to suit your needs.
Once you have configured your web server and set up external site accounts, it’s time to configure your site’s settings.
Configuring WordPress
The first step in configuring your WordPress site for traffic is to ensure that its global settings have been correctly set up.
Let’s go over some key areas.
Global Settings – WordPress
The WordPress dashboard area contains a Settings menu that allows you to set up your site’s global settings …
(WordPress settings section)
General Settings
Fields like Site Title and Tagline can affect traffic by influencing your site’s SEO, search results, etc …
(WordPress Settings – General Settings)
Writing Settings
The Writing Settings section contains one of the most powerful and often overlooked built-in traffic notification systems available to WordPress site owners …
(Global Settings – Writing Settings)
As described below 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 discourage search engines from indexing your site – see next section, then your site will automatically ping the services entered into the Update Services box
By default, only one service is available …
(Update Services)
WordPress lets you notify dozens of update services automatically …
(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 Settings
This section affects how your content gets seen by visitors when they visit your home page and blog pages.
The syndication settings in this section 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 RSS email campaigns, and could play a part in someone’s decision to explore your site further, and whether or not they will visit your blog to view 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 traffic is concerned is whether the Search Engine Visibility check box is ticked or not.
Typically, you want to encourage search engines to visit your site. Leaving this box unchecked allows your site to instantly ping the update services list when new posts are published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason to discourage search indexing spiders from visiting your site, leave this box unchecked …
(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 blogs linked to from your posts, 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)
Permalink Settings
Your Permalink settings allow you to create SEO-friendly URLs …
(WordPress Settings – Permalink Settings Screen)
The examples below show some of the options for configuring your SEO-friendly URLs …
(Configuring SEO-friendly URLs)
To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, see this tutorial: How To Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks
Plugin Settings
WordPress provides users with plugins that help to add just about every kind of functionality to your website, including many plugins that improve traffic generation.
Here are examples of plugin categories and plugins that can help to bring more visitors to your site
Security Plugins – Blog Defender
Once again, it’s important to configure your WordPress site for handling both good traffic and bad traffic. No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot afford to ignore the importance of securing your website or blog.
(WordPress Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from causing your website harm)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your blog invisible to bots and hackers.
More information:
SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive more traffic by improving your website’s SEO …
(WordPress Plugins For SEO – Yoast SEO)
Use a powerful plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your SEO. Once properly configured, the Yoast SEO plugin not only makes your web pages easier for search engines like Google and Bing to index, it also lets you specify how to present your content to Google’s search results and social media pages, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
Social Plugins
Allowing visitors to share your content with members of their online communities can help drive significant traffic to your site, especially if you publish content that adds real value to readers.
(You can easily add social sharing to your website using free or inexpensive plugins)
You can add social sharing buttons to your site easily using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins.
Many social plugins allow you to specify which social sites visitors can share your content to, embed social buttons into your content, set up default update notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of likes), etc. Some plugins even allow you to set up protected content areas on your site which visitors can unlock by liking your page.
Configuring Settings – WordPress Themes
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that help you drive more traffic to your site.
For example, as well as options and settings for configuring the design and layout of your site, many themes also give you built-in features that let you improve search optimization and site navigation structure for better indexing, add tracking code, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WP themes like Graphene (a free theme) come with built-in traffic optimization features)
With many quality themes, adding social sharing buttons and features to your content is as easy as clicking a button …
(Many WordPress themes come with built-in social sharing features that can be easily turned on with the click of a button)
Other Areas To Configure
Last but not least in the web traffic configuration process, are the elements that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
These include:
Compliance Web Pages
Once again, when preparing your website for an increase in traffic numbers, it’s important to plan not only for both bad and good traffic but also for all the situations that can damage your business as more and more people start finding and visiting your website.
If you engage in any form of commercial activity online, it’s important that your site complies with regulatory agencies.
(Is Your Website Or Blog Compliant?)
If you need help adding compliance pages to WordPress, see this article:
WordPress Post Categories And Tags
Post categories & tags help search engines index your website, which improves traffic.
(WordPress categories help search engines index your web pages, which helps to increase traffic.)
As we recommend in this article, it’s best to set up your site’s categories and tags earlier on, during the Website Planning Phases.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that the post tags and post categories you have set up.
A Site Map Of Your Pages and Posts
A site map that lists all of your site’s posts and pages is not only a useful navigation tool, it can also help external applications find your online content …
(Site Map – great for visitors and beneficial for web traffic too!)
Note: An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are two different things. Although search engines like Google will index your pages just from 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 Page Not Found – Don’t Forget This!
When visitors type in the wrong web address or click on an invalid link, they will normally be presented with a 404 error page …
(A WordPress 404 Not Found page)
A 404 Not Found error page can be configured to 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 page can be set up in your server, there are plugins for WordPress that allow you to easily configure your 404 page from your WordPress admin area.
WordPress Traffic System: Configuration Stage – Summary
Once your website or blog has been fully set up and expertly configured, all you have to do then is publish great content on a consistent basis to automatically start attracting web traffic organically.
The process of expertly configuring a WordPress site, however, can be quite involved and requires the configuration and integration of various elements and external web properties …
(Traffic Blueprint – Configuration Checklist)
The expertise required to perform the configuration process can take many web professionals months to acquire.
Once you have expertly configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the aspects of the process that can be automated. This step is covered in the next section of our series.
This is the end of Section Three
To read more, click here:
This article is part of an tutorial series aimed at helping you learn how to grow your business and drive traffic sustainably using a WordPress-driven website and proven online marketing methods.
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