Welcome to Part 3 of our WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to create an automated traffic machine using the WordPress CMS.
In Part 1 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 site, all you have to do to automatically start generating new web traffic is publish new content regularly!)
In Part 2, we discussed the setup phase of the automation process. We helped you understand the best way to start if you don’t have a website yet, how to set things up if you already have a website, 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 will discuss the configuration stage of this process. You will learn how a WordPress site should be configured in order to ensure that web traffic will automatically start flowing simply by publishing web content on your web site.
WordPress Web Traffic Automation Blueprint – Configuration Phase
Being able to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by website owners as their greatest challenge online. Also, the business landscape is becoming so much more competitive worldwide and businesses are exploring any and every opportunity they can to increase their competitiveness online.
Being able to automatically generate traffic on demand is a tremendous advantage over other competitors. Having an expertly configured website gives you a flying start and a significant advantage online.
The Configuration Phase Is The Difference
There is a significant difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a site that has been professionally installed and set up by an expert website developer but not necessarily configured to its fullest advantage.
Here’s a simple way to understand the differences:
An expertly configured WordPress website gives you a web presence and online business marketing automation!
(An expertly configured site gives you a professional web presence with a built-in automated online business marketing tool!)
Not only does it take more labor to build and integrate an automated online business marketing system into your website, it also takes a special type of expert knowledge.
To illustrate this point here is a joke.
A Semi-True Story …
Everything is going fine in the gizmo-making assembly line when suddenly, things grinds to a stop.
No one can figure out what’s gone wrong and so the plant manager decides to call in an expert to fix the problem.
Soon afterwards, the expert arrives and, without uttering a word, walks immediately towards the main control box. After staring at the electronic components for what seems like 3 minutes or so, the expert then takes out a tiny little hammer and makes a single tap about three cm from the left-hand edge of the box.
Immediately, the whole workshop lights up and comes back to life.
The floor manager is filled with joy as he thanks the expert, who leaves just as quickly as he had arrived.
A couple of days later, the factory manager receives a request of payment for services for $5,000.
Angry and confused, the factory manager rings the expert. Why have they had been charged so much for so little time delivering such a minimal amount of work? He then requests an itemized invoice to be sent and hangs up.
The next day, a bill of payment arrives on the manager’s desk. Upon opening it, this is what he sees:
The #1 challenge most businesses face online is being able to drive traffic to their sites.
How much money did the gizmo plant stand to lose when production stopped functioning and no one in the business had the expertise required to fix it? Did the expert in our story not have every right to get paid fairly for spending years developing the knowledge and expertise that enabled him to assess and avert a potentially costly crisis?
Similarly, if you could have a web site fully set up so all you have to do is publish new content and search engines, social media and dozens of other online properties would be instantly 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?)
While experts often make complicated situations and problems look easy, 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 a few internal settings. It involves knowing where to tap! This includes knowing things like:
- Which plugins you need to install for specific things to occur on your site.
- Which accounts you need to set up to achieve certain outcomes
- Which internal and external settings need to be configured in order to make sure everything will function to plan, etc.
(Generating web traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires expertise)
Although this stage of the traffic automation system may not seem so technically difficult, it can be quite involved. The reason why is because it’s not as easy as installing a plugin, tweaking some options and settings in your admin area or clicking a button … it’s all of this and so much more.
The configuration stage involves the integration of various different components including your web server, your WordPress site, and various third-party sites …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring some settings in WordPress)
If we try to flowchart the configuration process, it would look like this …
(A simplistic diagram showing the configuration phase)
Let’s take a look at these steps in more detail.
Your Server
We’re not talking 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 tweaking settings and options in your webhosting account specifically for handling all web traffic …
(During the configuration phase, your web server settings need to be checked for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all traffic is positive traffic. Some of the traffic your business will attract will be unwanted traffic like bot spam, malicious threats, brute-force bot attacks, etc.
This stage of the configuration process, therefore, is about evaluating your needs, planning for both bad and good traffic and then adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This could include looking at things like configuring server-level spam protection and threat prevention, to configuring domain and email redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your control panel settings for handling things like email forwarding, page errors, etc?)
After fine-tuning your server settings and configuring these (if required), the next step is to set up and configure a number of third-party sites and/or online solutions.
External Services
The idea behind setting up external sites is that all content will get published to a central location (your WordPress site) and from there, it will get distributed automatically to other parts of your traffic generation system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
Once these external sites have been added to your setup, content with links pointing back to your website will get automatically added to these platforms. Your website will then be given additional exposure to new audiences and new sources of traffic.
Some third-party sites and online services will need to have accounts set up before configuring your settings to help speed up the 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 site:
Google Webmasters
(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 faster page indexing, and provides you with important data, SEO tools and reports about your website.
After setting up your account, this information can be used with web 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 traffic performance, SEO, marketing activities, and more, by tracking all user engagement, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine and organic referrals, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account and site data have been set up, you can add visitor tracking information to WordPress via a simple plugin and send data automatically to various other useful applications.
Bing Data And Tools
(Bing Webmaster Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Search Console. After setting up your Bing Webmaster Tools account, use this information with traffic-related settings in WordPress and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As explained in Part Two, WordPress offers both the option of a hosted vs self-hosted website. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress platform if you are planning to grow a professional online presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great features, which can be accessed by a number of WordPress plugins. We recommend setting up an account at WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll show you how to integrate this into your traffic system in Part 4 of this article series.
Social Media Pages
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media accounts and bring new visitors to your site)
You will need your various social media and social bookmarking accounts set up 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 get new traffic to your site.
Make sure you have accounts and pages set up with all of the leading social networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, 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 well with your setup and/or content syndication tools.
(There are lots of social sites you can post your content to. Image source ShareThis.com)
Additional Platforms, Aggregators, Etc.
There are many new online web platforms and RSS aggregators that can serve as second-tier sources of traffic. Some are free or provide free accounts, and some offer a range of pricing plans to suit different users.
For example, here is a content aggregator that allows you to add your WordPress blog feed …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Distribute social content to social networks)
RebelMouse is a news aggregator for your social profiles and RSS feeds. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your own RebelMouse website.
There are various platforms that can be incorporated into your own traffic blueprint. Please feel free to contact us if you need assistance exploring some of these, or to discuss a configuration plan to suit your needs.
Once you have configured your web server and set up accounts with external services, it’s time to configure your site.
WordPress – Configuring Your Web Site For Traffic
The first step in configuring your site for traffic is to ensure that its global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some of the important areas.
WordPress Settings
The WordPress administration area contains a Settings section that allows you to configure your site’s main settings …
(WordPress settings section)
General Settings
Fields like Site Title and Tagline can influence your site’s SEO, search listings, etc …
(WordPress Settings – General Settings Section)
Writing
The Writing Settings area contains one of the most powerful and frequently overlooked traffic notification systems available to website owners …
(Settings Menu – Writing Settings Area)
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 update services entered into the Update Services text area
By default, when WordPress is installed, this section lists only one entry …
(Update Services)
You can notify dozens of update services automatically with WordPress …
(Notify dozens of update services automatically with WordPress!)
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 visitors will see your content when they visit your home page and blog pages.
The syndication settings in this section can have an influence traffic. For example, choosing to display the full text vs summaries of your post, affects how your content displays in RSS feeds and blog post digests, and could play a part in someone’s decision to explore your content further, and whether or not they will visit your site to read the rest of the content from a partial feed, 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 feature is ticked or not.
Generally, you want to encourage search engines to visit your site. Leaving this box unchecked enables 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, do not check this box …
(Settings Menu – Reading Settings Section)
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 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 …
(Global Settings – Discussion Settings Screen)
Permalinks
Permalinks allow you to create search engine-friendly URLs …
(Settings Menu – Permalinks)
Here are some of the ways SEO-friendly URLs can be configured …
(Configuring SEO-friendly URLs)
If you need help setting up WordPress permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial: Configuring Your WordPress Permalinks
Plugins
The WordPress developer community makes available plugins that help to add almost every type of functionality to your website, including plugins that add traffic generation capabilities.
Here are some types of plugin categories that affect traffic and plugin examples
Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin
Once again, it’s important to configure your site for dealing with 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, you cannot afford to ignore the importance of web security.
(Security Plugins stop bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your blog invisible to hackers and botnets.
Go here for more information:
SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
SEO plugins help drive traffic by making your web pages more search engine friendly …
(SEO plugins like Yoast SEO help drive traffic by improving your website’s ability to rank better in search engines)
Use a plugin like Yoast SEO (previously known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your SEO. Once properly configured, the Yoast SEO plugin not only makes your site easier for search engines like Google and Bing 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 Google+.
Social Plugins
Allowing visitors to share your content online can help drive more traffic to your site, especially if your site provides great content that adds value to readers.
(WordPress users can easily add social features to their website using WordPress plugins)
WordPress users can easily add social features to their website with WordPress plugins.
Many social plugins let you choose which sites visitors can share your content to, embed social buttons into your content, set up custom update notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of followers), etc. Some social share plugins even allow you to protect content or downloads which visitors can unlock by liking your page.
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 design and layout of your website, many themes also provide options for improving search optimization and site linking structure for better indexing, add analytics code, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many themes like Graphene (a highly customizable free theme) have built-in traffic optimization features)
With many themes, adding social sharing features to your content is as easy as clicking a button …
(Many WordPress themes include built-in social sharing features that can be easily enabled on with the click of a button)
Configuring Other WordPress Settings
Last but not least in the traffic configuration process, are the components that need to be set up outside of the global settings.
These include:
Legal 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 situations that can seriously affect your business when more and more people start finding and visiting your website.
If you do any kind of business online (or plan to), you need to ensure that your site is found to comply with regulatory agencies.
(Is Your Website Or Blog Compliant?)
We have created a detailed article about adding compliance pages to WordPress here:
Post Categories & Tags
WordPress categories & tags help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better index your website.
(WordPress categories help improve traffic by improving your site’s search optimization.)
As we strongly recommend in this article, your site’s categories and tags should be reviewed and set up during the Website Planning Phases.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that the post categories and tags you have set up.
Add A Site Map To Your WordPress Site
A site map that lists all of your site’s posts and pages to visitors is not only a useful navigation tool, it can also help external tools discover more of your site’s content …
(Site Map – great for visitors and beneficial for traffic too!)
Note: An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are different things. An HTML site map is a web page that links to all other content on your site, whereas an XML sitemap contains code that only search engines can interpret. Although Google will index your pages just using an XML sitemap (which plugins like Yoast SEO will create for you – see earlier section), allowing visitors to find more pages on your site can result in increased traffic.
404 Error Page – Don’t Lose Traffic!
When visitors searching for your website enter the wrong URL into their web browser or click on a link pointing to a page on your website that no longer exists, they will typically be greeted with a 404 Not Found page …
(Default WordPress 404 Error Page)
Configuring your 404 page allows you to recover traffic that may otherwise be lost. …
(Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to recover traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 page can be set up on your web server, there are WordPress plugins that let you easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress Traffic Blueprint: Configuration Process – Summary
Once you have your site fully set up and expertly configured, all you need to do then is add new content on a regular basis to start generating web traffic organically.
The process of expertly configuring a WordPress site, however, can be quite involved and requires the configuration and integration of a number of different components and web properties …
(WP Traffic System – Configuration Checklist)
The kind of skills and knowledge required to perform this phase of the traffic automation process typically takes many website professionals months to learn.
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 addressed in the next section of our series.
This is the end of Part 3
To read the rest of this article, click on the link below:
This article is part of a comprehensive series of articles designed to help you learn how to grow your business and drive traffic automatically with a WordPress-driven website and proven web marketing strategies.
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group
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