Welcome to Part Three of our WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to turn a website into an automated traffic machine using WordPress.
In Part One of this article series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website is the key to automating traffic to your website …
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do to automatically attract web traffic is post content on a consistent basis!)
In Part Two, we focused on the setup phase of the traffic automation process. 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 with WordPress.
(In Part two we show you where to set up a WordPress website or blog on your domain)
In this section of the series, we discuss the configuration stage of the traffic automation process. We explain how to configure a WordPress site so you can start driving traffic automatically as you begin posting web content on a regular basis to your web site.
WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – Configuration Phase
The ability to drive more traffic to one’s website is often cited by many business owners as their greatest challenge online. Businesses are becoming increasingly more competitive and are researching any and every advantage they can to improve their results online.
Having the ability to automatically generate traffic on demand can be a huge advantage over other competitors. For businesses, having an expertly configured website means having an immediate competitive advantage from the word “go”.
The Difference Is In The Way Your Site Is Configured
There is a significant difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a site that has been professionally installed and set up by a web-building expert but not necessarily configured to take advantage of everything WordPress can offer.
Here’s a simple way to explain the difference:
An expertly configured WordPress site gives you a professional web presence with an automated online business marketing tool!
(An expertly configured website gives you a web presence with a built-in automated online business marketing system!)
Not only are more steps needed to build and integrate an automated online business marketing system into your website, it also takes a special kind of expertise.
To illustrate this point here is an amusing little story.
Knowing Where To Tap
All was moving along in the widget plant when all of a sudden, production came to a halt.
No one could figure out what happened and so the manager decided to call in an expert.
The expert arrived shortly after being summoned and, without uttering a word, walked directly to the control box. After staring at the board for less than 2 minutes or so, the expert then took out a teeny-weeny hammer and made a single tap near the right corner of the control unit.
Immediately, everything started working once more.
The floor manager was delighted as he thanked the expert, who left just as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days after resolving the incident, the manager received a request for payment of $5,000.
The manager dialled the expert, demanding to know why they were charged such an exorbitant fee for less than five minutes work. He then requested an itemized invoice before hanging up.
The next day, an invoice arrived in the manager’s intray. Upon opening it, this is what he saw:
The number one challenge most businesses face online is being able to consistently drive new traffic to their sites.
In the above story, how much money did the widget plant stand to lose when the machines stopped functioning and no one in the factory floor had the expertise required to fix it? Did the expert in our story not have the right to be compensated fairly for having invested years developing the knowledge and expertise that enabled him to quickly fix a very costly problem?
Similarly, if you could have a website or blog set up so all you ever had to do is publish content to it and search engines, social networking sites and dozens of other online properties would be instantly notified, how much time and money would you save?
(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 turns out to be that way.
Knowing how to expertly configure a WordPress site is more than adding some pages with content and configuring some basic settings. It also involves knowing where to tap! This includes knowing things like:
- Which programs you need to install to get certain functionalities on your site.
- Which 3rd-party services need to be set up and activated to get specific results
- Which settings you need to configure in order to make sure everything works to plan, etc.
(Generating web traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires expertise)
This part of the traffic automation system is not technically difficult, but it’s quite complicated. The reason why is because it’s not as simple as installing and configuring a plugin, configuring some settings in your dashboard area … it’s all this and much more.
The configuration stage is a process that involves your server, your website, and various external sites …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring a few WordPress settings)
If we were to create a simplified flowchart of the steps involved in the configuration process, it would look like this …
(A simplistic diagram showing the activities involved in the configuration phase)
Let’s examine these steps in more detail.
Your Web Server
We’re not talking here about the process of configuring your hosting account for installation purposes (this is normally done during the Setup phase). What we are talking about, is tweaking settings and options in your web server specifically for handling web traffic …
(During the configuration stage, your server settings need to be checked for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all traffic is welcome traffic. Some of the traffic you will attract will be unwelcome traffic like bot spam, malicious threats, brute-force bot attacks, etc.
This part of the configuration process, therefore, requires evaluating your needs, planning for good and unwelcome traffic and adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This includes things like implementing spam protection and securing server files, to configuring your domain and email forwarding, etc …
(Have you configured your hosting control panel settings for handling things like email forwarding, page error redirects, etc?)
Once your server settings have been fine-tuned and configured, the next step of the configuration phase is to set up a number of external sites.
External Sites
The basic idea of choosing external sites is that all of your content should be posted to a central location (your site) and from there, it will get syndicated automatically to other parts of your traffic generation system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
Once you incorporate these external sites into your network, content pointing back to your website will be automatically added to your search, social and aggregator accounts. Your site will receive increased exposure online, helping you tap into new audiences and new sources of traffic.
Some sites will need to be set up before configuring your WordPress settings to 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 before configuring your WordPress settings:
Google Webmasters
(Google Webmaster Tools – create a Google-friendly website or blog)
Google Search Console lets you notify Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for faster page indexing, and provides site owners with a range of useful information, tools, and diagnostic reports about their website.
Once your account is with Google are set up, your details can be used to automate traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your website’s performance, SEO, user engagement, marketing activities, and more, by tracking all user behaviour, pages visited, keywords searched for, organic referrers, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account is set up, account information can be added to all of your web pages in WordPress using a plugin used with other applications and reporting tools.
Bing Webmaster Tools
(Drive more traffic with Bing Webmaster Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmasters. After setting up your Bing Webmaster Tools account, this information can be used with traffic-related settings in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO (see further below) and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As explained in Part 2, WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted option. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress version if you are planning 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 at WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll show you how to integrate this into your automated traffic system in the next installment of this series.
Social Media
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media sites and get new traffic to your site)
You will need your various social media 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 get new visitors 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 set up. You don’t need to create accounts with all of them, just pick those that will work well with your setup and/or content syndication tools.
(You can post your content to many social bookmarking sites. Image: ShareThis.com)
Additional Sites, Aggregators, Etc.
There are a number of online web platforms and RSS aggregators that can act 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 site that allows you to add an RSS feed from your WordPress blog …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Distribute social content to social networks)
RebelMouse is a news aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your RebelMouse website.
There are many different sites and platforms you can incorporate into your own traffic blueprint. Please contact us if you need assistance exploring some of these further, or to discuss a strategy to suit your needs.
After you have configured your web server and set up third-party site accounts, it’s time to configure your site’s settings.
WordPress 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.
Global WordPress Settings
By default, your WordPress dashboard area includes a Settings section that allows you to set up your site’s global settings …
(WordPress settings menu)
General Settings
Fields like Site Title and Tagline can affect your site’s SEO, search results, etc …
(WordPress Settings – General Settings)
Writing
The Writing Settings section contains an important and often overlooked traffic notification system …
(Settings Menu – Writing Settings Section)
As stated in the Update Services section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you have intentionally chosen to prevent search engines from indexing your site, then your site will automatically notify the update services entered into the Update Services field
By default, when WordPress is installed, this section displays only one entry …
(WordPress Update Services)
You can notify dozens of update services automatically …
(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 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 text vs summaries of your post, affects how your content appears 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 or blog to view the rest of the content from a partial feed, 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 enabled or not.
Generally, you want to encourage search engines to visit your site. Leaving this box unchecked enables WordPress to automatically ping all the update services you have listed whenever new posts get published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason to discourage search engines from visiting your site, leave this box unchecked …
(WordPress 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 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 Section)
Permalinks
Your Permalink settings allow your site to display posts with SEO-friendly URLs …
(WordPress Settings – Permalink Settings)
Here are some of the options for configuring your site’s permalink URLs …
(Configuring post permalinks)
We have created a detailed tutorial on using WordPress permalinks here: How To Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks
Plugin Settings
WordPress provides users with plugins that help to add almost every kind of functionality to your site, including plugins that add traffic generation capabilities.
Let’s take a brief look at examples of plugin categories and plugins that can help your site generate more traffic
WordPress Security Plugins – Blog Defender
Once again, it’s important to configure your website 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, securing your web site is something you cannot afford to ignore.
(WordPress Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your website invisible to malicious attacks from hackers and bots.
For more information, go here:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive traffic by improving the search engine friendliness of your website …
(SEO plugins help drive traffic by improving your website’s ability to rank better in search engines)
A plugin like Yoast SEO can significantly improve your SEO. Once properly configured, this plugin not only makes your website easier for search engines like Google to find, classify and index, it also gives you control over how your content is presented in Google’s search results and social media pages, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
Social Sharing Plugins
Allowing visitors to easily share your content with members of their online communities can help boost traffic to your site, especially if you publish great content that adds real value to readers.
(You can add social features to your website easily using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
WordPress users can easily add social sharing buttons to their site using free or inexpensive plugins.
Most social sharing plugins allow you to choose which social sites visitors can share your content to, embed social buttons into your content, set up default post messages, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of likes), etc. Some social plugins even allow you to set up protected content areas on your site which visitors can unlock by liking your page.
WordPress Theme Features – Configuration
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that help you drive more traffic to your site.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring design and layout aspects of your website, some themes also include built-in features that let you improve SEO and site navigation structure for better indexing, easily add tracking, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many themes like Graphene (a free theme) include built-in traffic optimization features)
With many WordPress themes, adding social sharing buttons to your website is as easy as clicking a button …
(Many WordPress themes provide users with built-in social sharing features that can be easily turned on with the click of a button)
Configuring Other WordPress Areas For More Traffic Results
Last but not least in the traffic configuration process, are the areas that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
This includes:
Compliance Pages
Once again, when preparing your site for a growth in visitor numbers, it’s important to plan not only for how to deal with bad and good traffic but also for all the situations that can cause serious damage to your business as more and more people start finding and visiting your website.
If you engage in any form of business online, you need to make sure that your website remains compliant with regulatory agencies.
(Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With The Law?)
If you need help adding legal pages to WordPress, see this article:
WordPress Tags & Categories
Categories and post tags help improve traffic by improving your site’s search optimization.
(Categories help search engines better organize and index your web pages, which helps you get more traffic.)
As we recommend in this article, your site’s post tags and categories should be set up during the Website Planning Stages.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that your site’s post categories and tags have been set up correctly to deliver optimal benefits.
Add A Site Map
A site map that lists all of your posts and pages to visitors is not only a useful navigation tool for users, it can also help external tools find more of your website content …
(Site Map – great for site visitors and beneficial for web traffic too!)
An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are two different things. Although search engines like Google will index your site 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 results in increased traffic.
Configure Your Site’s 404 Page
When visitors searching online for your website enter the wrong web address or click on hyperlinks pointing to pages on your website that no longer exist, they are greeted with a 404 error page …
(A 404 Not Found page)
Configuring your 404 Not Found page allows you to recover traffic that may otherwise be lost. …
(Configuring your 404 Error 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 let you easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress Traffic System: Configuration Process – Summary
Once your WordPress site has been expertly configured and fully set up, all you then need to do is publish new content on a regular basis to automatically start driving traffic.
The process of expertly configuring your WordPress site, however, can be quite involved and requires the configuration and integration of various components and external web properties …
(WP Traffic System – Configuration Checklist)
The skills and expertise involved in expertly configuring a WordPress site can take many web professionals months to learn.
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 the series.
This is the end of Section Three
To continue reading this article, 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 cost-effectively and drive traffic sustainably with a WordPress-powered website or blog and proven web marketing methods.
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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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