Welcome to Part Three of our WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to turn your site into an automated traffic generating machine using the WordPress CMS platform.
In Part One of this article series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress site is the key to automating traffic to your site …
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do is publish content regularly to begin bringing new web traffic!)
In Part Two, we focused on the setup phase of this 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 existing site was built using WordPress.
(In Part two we show you where to set up a WordPress web site on your domain)
In this section of the series, we look at the configuration phase of the WordPress traffic automation system. We will show you how a WordPress site should be configured to automatically start getting web traffic when you post new content on your web site.
WordPress Traffic Automation System – Configuration Phase
Being able to drive more traffic to one’s website is often cited by business owners as their greatest challenge online. With competition making business survival increasingly more difficult businesses are exploring any advantage they believe will help them improve their performance online.
Being able to generate traffic on demand can provide you with a huge advantage over other competitors. For business owners, an expertly configured website gives WordPress users a flying start as soon as their site is launched.
Configuration Is The Difference
There is a significant difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a website that has been professionally set up by a website-building expert but not necessarily configured to its fullest advantage.
Here’s a simple way to understand the differences:
With a WordPress site that has been expertly configured you get a web presence and online business marketing automation!
(An expertly configured site gives you a web presence and an automated online business marketing tool!)
Not only is additional labor 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 a joke.
Knowing Where To Tap
Things are going fine in the gizmo-making plant when everything suddenly grounds to a halt.
As no one can figure out what’s happened, the manager decides to call in an expert.
Soon afterward, the expert arrives and heads out immediately to the main control box. After staring at the electronic components for less than 2 minutes, the expert then takes out a teensy-weensy little hammer and makes a single tap near the left side of the unit.
Immediately, everything begins to work once more.
The floor manager is grateful and relieved as he thanks the expert, who leaves just as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days later, the manager receives a request of payment for services rendered for the sum of $5,000.
Bewildered to the point of feeling outrage, the factory manager calls the expert. Why have they had been charged so much for less than five minutes work? He promptly requests an itemized invoice to be sent and hangs up.
The next day, an invoice arrives on the manager’s desk. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he sees:
The main challenge most businesses face online is driving web traffic to their sites.
How much money did the widget factory stand to lose when production stopped functioning and no one on the business had the expertise to get things up and running again? Did the expert in our story not have every right to demand fair compensation for years spent building up the knowledge, skills and expertise that enabled him to quickly avert a serious crisis?
Similarly, if you could have a website or blog configured so all you ever had to do is publish new content and search engines, social media and dozens of other web properties would be automatically notified, how much time and money would you save?
(How much time and money would you save if you could automate the process of attracting new visitors to your website?)
While the solution to many problems is often ridiculously easy once implemented, it rarely is that simple or easy.
Knowing how to expertly configure a WordPress site involves more than adding some pages with content and configuring a few settings. It also requires knowing where to tap! This includes knowing things such as:
- Which plugins need to be installed to add desired functionalities to your site.
- Which 3rd-party accounts need to be set up and activated to achieve certain outcomes
- Which options you need to configure in order to make sure things work as you have imagined, etc.
(Generating traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires knowledge and expertise)
Although this stage of the WordPress traffic automation system may not seem technically challenging, it can be quite involved. It’s not as easy as installing a piece of software, clicking a couple of buttons … it’s all of this and much more.
The configuration phase is a complex process that involves your web server, your web site, and a number of external sites …
(The configuration phase involves more than just configuring a few WordPress settings)
If the steps involved in the configuration process were to be flowcharted, it would look something like this …
(A simplified diagram showing the activities involved in the configuration phase)
Let’s examine what’s involved in more detail.
Your Server
We’re not talking here about the process of configuring your webhosting account for installation purposes (this should have been done during the Setup phase). We’re talking about fine-tuning settings in your web server that affect how you will handle all web traffic …
(In the configuration stage, your web server settings need to be fine-tuned for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all web traffic is positive traffic. Some of the web traffic your business will attract will be unwanted traffic like spam, security threats, brute-force bot attacks, etc.
This part of the configuration process, therefore, requires planning for both bad and good traffic and then adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This includes looking at things like integrating spam protection and security threat prevention, to configuring your domain and email redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your control panel settings for handling things like email forwarding, page errors, etc?)
After checking your web server settings and configuring these (if required), the next step of the configuration phase is to set up various external sites and services.
External Accounts
The basic idea of setting up external sites is that all of your content should be posted to a central location (your WordPress site) and from there, be automatically distributed to other parts of your web traffic system, or notify traffic-related web properties and applications.
After adding these external services to your system, content linked back to your site is automatically syndicated to these platforms, indexed by search engines and distributed to social sites, even to users of the platform itself. Your content and site will benefit from additional exposure online, helping your business tap into new sources of traffic.
Some third-party sites and online services will need to have accounts set up before configuring your settings 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 Search Console)
Google Webmaster Tools lets you inform 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.
After setting up your Google Search Console account and entering site data, you can use your details with traffic-related settings in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your site’s performance, SEO, marketing efforts, and more, by tracking all user behavior, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine referrers, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account has been set up, your account code can be added to all pages in WordPress using any of several Google Analytics plugins and instantly fed to other useful applications and reporting tools.
Bing Data And Tools
(Drive more traffic with Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Search Console. After setting up your account, use your information with traffic-related settings in WordPress (e.g. using plugins like Yoast SEO – see further below) and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As explained in Part Two, WordPress provides users with 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 can be accessed by a number of WordPress plugins. We recommend setting up an account with WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll explain how to integrate these features 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 accounts and attract new visitors to your site)
You will need to have already set up your various social accounts before you can integrate these with 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 profiles with all the well-known social networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, etc.
There are lots of social sites you can set up accounts with. You don’t need to go crazy, just select those that will work with your setup and/or content sharing tools.
(You can syndicate your content to loads of social sites. Image: ShareThis.com)
Additional Solutions, Content Aggregators, Etc.
There are a number of online technology platforms and RSS aggregators that can act as secondary sources of traffic. Some are free or provide free accounts, and some are paid services.
For example, here is a content aggregator that lets you add a feed from your WordPress site …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse)
RebelMouse is a news aggregator for your social profiles and RSS feeds. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and users can follow your social feed.
There are various solutions you can add to your own web traffic system. Please feel free to contact us if you need assistance exploring some of these further, or to discuss a configuration strategy to suit your needs.
Once you have configured your web server and set up accounts with external sites, it’s time to configure your site’s settings.
WordPress Traffic Configuration
The first step in configuring your site for traffic is to make sure that its global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some of the important points.
Global Settings
By default, your WordPress administration area includes a Settings section that allows you to set up your site’s main settings …
(WordPress settings menu)
General Settings
Fields like Site Title and Tagline can affect traffic by influencing your site’s SEO, search listings, etc …
(Settings Menu – General Settings)
Writing
The Writing Settings area contains one of the most powerful and often overlooked built-in traffic notification systems available to WordPress users …
(WordPress Settings – 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 purposely chosen to discourage search engines from indexing your site – see next section, then your site will automatically notify the list of services entered into the Update Services text area
With an ‘out of the box’ WordPress installation, this section contains only one entry …
(Update Services – A Powerful Traffic Feature Of WordPress)
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
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 to users in RSS readers and blog post digests, and could play a part in someone’s choice to explore your site 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.
As far as traffic is concerned, however, the main setting here is whether the Search Engine Visibility feature is ticked or not.
Generally, you would want search engines to visit your site. Leaving this box unchecked allows your site to instantly notify various update services whenever a new post gets published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason to discourage search indexing spiders from visiting your site, leave this box unchecked …
(Global Settings – Reading Settings Section)
Discussion
Although discussion settings 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 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)
Permalink Settings
Your Permalink settings allow you to publish posts with SEO-friendly URLs …
(Settings Menu – Permalinks)
Here are some of the ways your search-friendly URLS can be configured …
(Configuring search-friendly URLS)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks here: How To Set Up WordPress Permalinks
WordPress Traffic Generation Plugins – Configuration
The WordPress developer community makes available plugins that help to add almost every type of functionality to your website, including many plugins that improve traffic generation.
Here are examples of plugin categories and plugins that can help drive more visitors to your site
Blog Defender
Once again, it’s important to configure your WordPress site for handling both good traffic and bad traffic. Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, website security is something you cannot ignore.
(Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress site invisible to malicious attacks from hackers and botnets.
Go here for more details:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive more traffic by improving the search engine friendliness of your website …
(WordPress SEO plugins help increase traffic by making your site more search engine friendly)
Use a powerful plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your site’s search engine optimization. Once properly configured, this plugin not only makes your website easier for search engines like Google to index, it also lets you configure how your content will show up in Google’s search results and social media sites Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
Social Sharing Plugins
Allowing your visitors to easily share your content with others online can help drive more traffic to your site, especially if you publish content that adds real value to readers.
(You can add social sharing to your website easily using WordPress plugins)
You can easily add social features to your site with free or inexpensive WordPress plugins.
Many social sharing plugins allow you to specify which social sites visitors can share your content to, embed social buttons into your content, set up default notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of followers), etc. Some social share plugins even allow you to ‘lock’ content which visitors can unlock by linking or tweeting your page.
Configuring WordPress Traffic Generation Theme Features
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that help grow your traffic.
For example, as well as options and settings for configuring the layout and design of your site, some themes also include built-in options for improving SEO and site linking structure for faster indexing, add tracking code, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WordPress themes can be configured for improved traffic results)
With many quality themes, adding social sharing buttons and features to your site is as easy as clicking a few buttons to enable the function …
(Many WordPress themes have built-in social sharing features)
WordPress Traffic System Configuration – Additional Sections
Last (but by no means least) in the web traffic system configuration process, are the elements that need to be set up outside of the global settings.
These include:
Compliance Web Pages
Once again, when preparing your website for a growth in traffic, it’s important to plan not only for both good and unwelcome traffic but also for all the things that can go wrong when more and more people start finding and visiting your website.
If you engage in any form of business online (or plan to), it’s important that your website remains compliant with all laws and regulations.
(Is Your Site Compliant?)
We have created a detailed article about adding compliance pages to WordPress here:
Categories & Post Tags
Post tags & categories help to improve your site’s search optimization, which helps you get more traffic.
(WordPress categories help search engines index your pages, which improves traffic.)
As we recommend in this article, your site’s categories and tags should be discussed and set up during the Website Planning Phases.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that the categories and tags that have been set up.
Add A Site Map To Your WordPress Site
A visitor site map that lists all of your posts and pages is not only a useful navigation tool, it can also help external sites find more of your online content …
(Site Map – great for visitors and beneficial for traffic too!)
Note: An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are not the same thing. Although search engines like Google will index your pages just from 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.
Your 404 Error Page
When visitors searching for your site type in the wrong web address or click on a link pointing to a destination on your website that no longer exists, they are greeted with an error – page not found message (known as a 404 page) …
(A WordPress 404 Not Found error page)
Configuring your 404 Not Found page allows you to redirect web traffic that may otherwise be lost. …
(Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to redirect traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 error page can be set up in your web server, there are WordPress plugins that allow you to easily configure your 404 page from your WordPress admin.
WordPress Traffic Blueprint: Configuration Process – Summary
Once your site has been expertly configured and fully set up, all you have to do to automatically drive more traffic is add fresh content consistently.
The process of expertly configuring your WordPress site, however, is quite involved and elaborate , requiring the configuration and integration of a number of different components and external web properties …
(WP Traffic Blueprint – Configuration Checklist)
The kind of skills and knowledge involved in expertly configuring a WordPress site can take some website professionals months to learn.
Once you have configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the process. This step is addressed in the next article in the WordPress Traffic Blueprint series.
This is the end of Section 3
To keep reading, click on the link below:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive series of articles aimed at helping you learn how to grow your business online using a WordPress website or blog 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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