Welcome to Part 3 of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to create an automated web traffic generating machine using the WordPress CMS.
In Part 1 of this article series, we described the process, and explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website or blog is the key to generating automated web traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do is post fresh content regularly to start driving traffic!)
In Part 2, we discussed critical setup decisions. We explained the best way to start if you don’t have a website yet, how to set things up if you already have a site, and what to do if your website has been built using WordPress.
(In Part 2 we show you how to set up a WordPress website on your domain)
In this section, we look at the configuration phase of the traffic system. You will understand what makes an expertly configured site different. You will also discover what type of work needs to be done to make sure that when everything is fully set up and configured, you will begin driving traffic automatically when you begin to post new content to your WordPress site.
WordPress Traffic Blueprint – Configuration Phase
Being able to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by many website owners as their greatest challenge online. Also, the business landscape is becoming so much more competitive worldwide and businesses are looking for any and every opportunity they can to get better results online.
Being able to automatically generate traffic on demand is a tremendous advantage over the competition. For WordPress users, an expertly configured website means having an immediate advantage from the very beginning.
The Configuration Phase Is The Difference
There is a difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a site that has been professionally set up by a web-building expert but not necessarily configured to take advantage of everything WordPress has to offer.
Here’s one way to describe the difference:
With a WordPress site that has been expertly configured you get a professional web presence and an automated online business marketing system!
(An expertly configured site gives you a web presence and an automated online business marketing system!)
Not only are more steps required 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 an anecdote.
Are Experts Worth The Money They Charge?
All is going just fine in the gizmo factory when things come to a sudden stop.
As no one can figure out what’s happened, the floor manager decides to call in an expert to try and fix the problem.
Shortly after arriving, the expert immediately heads to the main control box. After staring silently at the box for 2 minutes or so, the expert then takes out a teeny-weeny little hammer from his tool belt and makes a very gentle tap about 2 cm from the bottom-right side of the control unit.
Immediately, everything in the assembly line returns to normal.
The floor manager is filled with joy as he thanks the expert, who then leaves just as quickly as he had arrived.
A couple of days later, the manager receives a service bill for $5,000.
Angry and confused, the manager calls the expert. Why have they had been charged such an exorbitant fee for less than 5 minutes work? He promptly requests an itemized invoice and hangs up.
The next day, an invoice statement arrives and is placed on the manager’s desk. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he sees:
The #1 challenge most businesses face online is being able to consistently drive visitors to their sites.
How much money did the widget factory stand to lose when production stopped working and no one on the business had the expertise to get things up and running again? Did the expert not have the right to ask to be compensated fairly for having invested years developing the knowledge and expertise that enabled him to avert a crisis?
Similarly, if you could have a WordPress web site set up and configured so all you have to do is publish new content and search engines, social followers from Facebook and Twitter and dozens of other web 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 attracting new visitors to your website?)
While experts often make complicated things look simple, it rarely is that simple or easy.
Expertly configuring a WordPress site is more than just installing a website and configuring a few basic settings. It also involves knowing where to tap! This includes knowing things like:
- Which plugins you need to install to get specific functionalities on your site.
- Which accounts you need to set up and activate to get specific outcomes
- Which internal and external settings need to be configured to ensure that everything functions the way you expect, etc.
(Driving new traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires knowledge and expertise)
Although this part of the traffic automation system may not seem so technically challenging, it can be quite involved and time-consuming. This is because it’s not as easy as installing and configuring one or two plugins, tweaking some settings in your admin area … it’s all of this and so much more.
Expertly configuring your website is a process that involves your server, your web site, and various external sites or online services …
(The configuration stage involves more than just configuring a few settings in WordPress)
If all the steps involved in the configuration process were to be flowcharted, it would look something like this …
(A simplistic flowchart showing the steps involved in the configuration phase)
Let’s examine these areas in more detail.
Your Web Server
We’re not talking about the process of configuring your web-hosting account for installation purposes. What we are talking about, is configuring settings and options in your web-hosting account specifically for handling all web traffic …
(During the configuration phase, your web server settings need to be fine-tuned for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all web traffic is welcome traffic. Some of the traffic your website will attract will be unwanted traffic like bot spam, malicious threats, brute-force bot attacks, etc.
This stage of the configuration process, therefore, is all about planning for good and bad traffic and adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This includes looking at things like configuring spam protection and securing server files, to configuring domain and email redirections, setting up htaccess and 404 redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your hosting control panel settings for handling things like emails, page error redirections, etc?)
Once your web server settings have been checked and configured, the next step is to set up and configure a number of third-party sites and services.
3rd-Party Services
The concept behind choosing external sites is that all content should be posted to one central location (your WordPress site) and from there, it will automatically get syndicated to other parts of your traffic generation system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
After incorporating these external platforms into your setup, content with links pointing back to your website gets automatically added to search, social and aggregator accounts. Your content receives added exposure online, helping you tap into new sources of traffic.
Some of the third-party sites and online services will need to be set up before configuring your settings to speed up the configuration 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 WordPress settings:
Google Webmasters
(Google Webmasters)
Google Webmasters lets you tell Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for automatic page indexing, and provides site owners with a range of useful data, SEO tools, and diagnostic reports about their website.
Once your account is set up, you can use the information with traffic settings and notifications in WordPress and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your website’s results, SEO, marketing campaigns, and more, by tracking all user engagement, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine and social media referrers, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account is set up, you can add traffic tracking code to all of your web pages in WordPress via a simple Google Analytics plugin and send data automatically to various other online applications.
Bing Data And Tools
(Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmasters. Once your account and site details with Bing have been set up, you can use the information to integrate and automate web traffic-related settings in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As explained in Part Two, WordPress offers users the option of a hosted vs self-hosted website. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress version if you are planning to build a professional online presence for your business.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great tools, which various WordPress plugins can access. We recommend setting up an account with WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll explain how to integrate this into your automated traffic generation system in the next installment of this series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media sites and get new traffic to your site)
You will need your social media and social bookmarking 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 and social bookmarking accounts and drive new traffic to your site.
You should have profiles with all of the popular social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.
There are many social bookmarking sites you can set up. You don’t need to go crazy, just pick those that will work well with your system and/or content syndication tools.
(There are many social bookmarking sites you can syndicate your content to. Image: ShareThis.com)
Additional Sites, RSS Aggregators, Etc.
There are many online platforms and RSS aggregators that can act as secondary 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 lets you add an RSS feed from your WordPress blog …
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 users can follow your account.
There are various technologies and third-party applications you can incorporate into your own web traffic blueprint. Please feel free to contact us if you need assistance exploring some of these, or to discuss a configuration strategy to suit your needs.
Once you have configured your web server and set up external site accounts, it’s time to configure your WordPress site’s settings.
Configuring Your WordPress Site For Traffic
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 of the important areas.
Configuring Global WordPress Settings
By default, all WordPress installations include a Settings menu that allows you to modify your site’s global settings …
(WordPress admin menu – Settings)
General Settings
Fields like Site Title and Tagline can affect traffic by influencing your site’s SEO, search results, etc …
(Settings Menu – General Settings Screen)
Writing Settings
The Writing Settings section contains one of the most important and often overlooked automated traffic notification systems available to WordPress users …
(Global Settings – Writing Settings)
As stated 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 purposely configured your settings to prevent search engines from indexing your site – see next section, then your site will automatically notify the list of services entered into the Update Services box
With an ‘out of the box’ WordPress installation, this section contains only one entry …
(WordPress Update Services)
You can notify dozens of update services automatically with WordPress – just add a list of update services to this section …
(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 on this page can influence traffic. For example, your choice of displaying the full text vs a summary of your post, affects how your content shows up in RSS readers and RSS email campaigns, and could impact someone’s choice to explore your content further, and whether or not they will visit your website or blog to get the rest of the content from excerpts, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
The main setting in this section as far as traffic is concerned is whether the Search Engine Visibility feature is ticked or not.
Generally, you want to encourage search engines to visit your site. Leaving this box unchecked enables your site to ping all the update services you have specified in the Update Services field when a new post is published (see Writing Settings above). Unless there is a specific reason why search engines should not visit your site, do not check this box …
(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 sites 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 …
(WordPress Settings – Discussion Settings Screen)
Permalink Settings
Your Permalink settings enable your site to publish posts with search engine-friendly URLs …
(WordPress Settings – Permalink Settings)
The examples below show some of the ways site’s permalinks can be configured …
(Configuring search-friendly URLS)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on setting up WP permalinks, go here: Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO
Configuring Settings – WordPress Plugins
WordPress provides users with plugins that help to add almost 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 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 type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, securing your web sites is something you simply cannot ignore.
(WordPress Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from causing your website harm)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress site invisible to bot and hacker attacks.
To learn more, go here:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
SEO plugins help drive traffic by improving your website’s SEO …
(WordPress Plugins For SEO – Yoast SEO)
Use a powerful plugin like Yoast SEO to improve your SEO. Once properly configured, the Yoast SEO plugin not only makes your web pages easier for search engines to index, it also lets you specify how your content will show up in Google’s search results and social media sites Facebook, Twitter, and GooglePlus.
Social Plugins
Allowing your visitors to share your content with members of their social networks can help to increase traffic to your site, especially if you publish great content that adds real value to readers.
(You can easily add social sharing buttons to your website with WordPress plugins)
There are many free or inexpensive social sharing plugins available for WordPress.
Most social sharing plugins let you select which sites your content can be shared to, embed social buttons into your content, set up custom post messages, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of shares), etc. Some social plugins even allow you to ‘lock’ content which visitors can unlock by linking or tweeting your page.
Theme Settings
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that can help you drive more traffic to your site.
For example, as well as options and settings for configuring layout and design elements of your site, some themes also give you built-in options for improving search optimization and site navigation structure for better indexing, easily add analytics, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WordPress themes come with built-in traffic optimization features)
With many quality themes, adding social sharing features to your content is as easy as clicking a button …
(Many WordPress themes come with built-in social sharing features)
Configuring Other WordPress Settings
Last (but by no means least) in the web traffic configuration process, are the things that need to be set up outside of the global settings.
This includes the following:
Website Legal Pages
Once again, when preparing your site for an increase in traffic numbers, it’s important to plan not only for both bad and good traffic but also for all the things that can go wrong when more and more people start finding and visiting your website.
If you make money online (or are planning to), it’s important that your site is compliant with government regulations.
(Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?)
We have created a detailed article about how to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your WordPress website or blog here:
Post Tags And Post Categories
Tags & post categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better understand and index your website.
(Categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better understand and index your pages.)
As we strongly recommend in this article, it’s best to discuss and set up your website’s post tags and categories earlier on, during the Website Planning Stages.
When configuring your web site 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.
HTML Site Map
A visitor site map that lists all of your posts and pages is not only a useful navigation tool for users, it can also help external sites discover more of your site’s content …
(A site map is not just great for visitors, but for web traffic too!)
It’s important to note that an HTML site map and an XML sitemap are different things. Although Google can index your site just using an XML sitemap (which a plugin 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 – A Source Of Lost Traffic Opportunities!
When online visitors enter the wrong web address into their web browser or click on a dead link, they are presented with an error – page not found message …
(A WordPress 404 Not Found error page)
Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to redirect web traffic that may otherwise be lost. …
(Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to redirect web traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 error page can be set up on your server, there are several plugins for WordPress that allow you to easily configure your 404 page from your WordPress admin area.
WordPress Traffic Automation System: Configuration Stage – Summary
Once your WordPress site has been fully set up and expertly configured, all you need to do to start attracting traffic is publish content consistently.
The process of expertly configuring your WordPress site, however, is quite involved and requires the configuration and integration of various components and web properties …
(Traffic System – Configuration Checklist)
The kind of expertise involved in expertly configuring a WordPress site typically takes many web professionals a long time to acquire.
Once you have configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the aspects of the process that can be automated. This step is explained in the next article in the series.
This is the end of Part 3
To read more, click here:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive tutorial series designed to help you learn how to grow your business online inexpensively and drive traffic sustainably using a WordPress-driven website or blog and proven online marketing methods.
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