Welcome to Part 5 of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series, where we explain how to create an automated web traffic machine using the WordPress CMS.
So far, we have covered the following in this article series:
In Part One of this series, we provided an overview of the traffic automation process, and explained why using an expertly configured WordPress site is the key to generating automated traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress blog, all you have to do is publish content on a regular basis to automatically begin attracting more web traffic!)
In Part 2, we discuss the setup phase of the blueprint. We help 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 website has been built with WordPress.
(In Part two we show you where to set up a WordPress website on your domain)
In Part 3, we discuss important configuration decisions. We explained how to configure webhosting settings, internal settings, and external settings that can affect your site’s ability to generate traffic automatically …
(In Part Three we show you how to configure all the settings that can affect your website’s traffic-getting ability)
In Part 4, we explained how to set up various plugins that can get traffic automatically to your website or blog.
(Publish once to WordPress and automate your content distribution to all other marketing channels!)
In this section of the WordPress web traffic automation blueprint series, we discuss ways to optimize the traffic generation process with different tools and methods.
WordPress Web Traffic Automation System – Systems
In addition to getting your WordPress website or blog expertly configured, the key to generating consistent traffic of high quality is having a clear business vision, great digital planning, and good systems in place.
(Automated traffic is the result of a business vision, planning, and excellent systems)
Let’s briefly review the systems that will help you grow and manage this traffic.
These systems include:
- Marketing Systems – The processes and strategies used to drive traffic to your business.
- Technical Systems – How you ensure that your digital presence remains up and running for receiving traffic.
- Business Systems – The systems used to manage and respond to traffic.
(Use systems to grow, automate, and manage your web traffic)
Let’s briefly review the above systems:
Marketing Systems
Your marketing systems consist of the processes and methods used to create traffic for your business. You can test your marketing systems by asking questions such as:
- What channels do you plan to use to drive traffic (e.g. blogging, PPC advertising, video marketing, etc)?
- What resources and portion of your marketing budget will you apply to these channels?
- How will you create and optimize your content and run your marketing campaigns?
- How will you track conversions and measure the cost-effectiveness of your online marketing campaigns?
During the setup and configuration phase, you should have installed an analytics program (e.g. Google Analytics). If you’re just starting out, you may want to consider investing in some paid advertising (e.g. Google AdWords) to help you generate some initial results. If you’re tracking your marketing campaigns correctly, this should yield some actionable data, such as the keywords people are searching online to find your website, which you can use to create content targeted specifically to your audience’s needs.
Technical Systems
Your technical systems and processes keep your online presence up and running for receiving traffic. There’s no point driving traffic to your website if your site is constantly down or your web pages take a long time to load.
Your systems include handling areas like webhosting, website maintenance and support, installing, configuring, and updating new software (e.g. plugins), integration, customization, troubleshooting, etc.
You can test your technical systems by questions such as:
- Who is looking after my webhosting?
- Who will look after my website and keep my site, plugins, themes, etc. maintained and up-to-date?
- Who will fix errors, troubleshoot problems, provide technical support and advice, etc. if problems occur?
Many potential problems can be minimized if your website planning process and setup and configuration phases have been done correctly. Like all technology, however, you should expect problems. You will need the right technical systems in place to handle these.
Business Systems
You need good operational systems and processes to help you manage and respond to the influx of traffic. This includes:
- Communication systems
- Resources management – human, financial
- Handling sales inquiries
- Order fulfillment
- Customer training/service
- etc.
If you intend to outsource areas of your digital marketing and technical maintenance, then you will need to put systems in place to manage all outsourcing processes.
WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint – Traffic Optimization Methods
With clear business objectives and great systems in place, all you need to focus on are ways to implement your “traffic loop”.
Let’s walk through an example of implementing, optimizing, and further automating a traffic loop. Take a look at the diagram below …
(Traffic loop)
Increase Reach And Visibility Online
Step 1 of the process is to get your business exposed to as many traffic generation sites and channels as possible.
Traffic Optimization Ideas
- An expertly configured WordPress site allows you to automatically syndicate your content to places like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. The easiest way to increase your reach and visibility online, therefore, is to simply publish more content online.
- As mentioned earlier, investing in some paid advertising can help you generate some initial actionable data, which you can use to create content better targeted to your audience.
- Repurpose your content to leverage different media formats.
- Continue learning about ways to attract website traffic using methods like LinkedIn ads, videos, email, etc.
Plugins, Tools, & Strategies
We’ve already covered a number of excellent plugins, tools, and methods in previous sections of this tutorial series.
Also, learn more about plugins that let you easily add the following to your website or blog:
- Share your posts online,
- Run contests, offer discounts/downloads for likes/shares,
- Display user generated content, feeds, etc.
- Distribute content online in various media formats (e.g. videos, PDF guides, infographics, etc.)
Build Authority And Credibility
Getting more content out there is good, but for this activity to be really effective, your content needs to build authority and credibility with your audience.
Publishing authoritative content improves your chances of getting it shared on other sites and viewed by more people and hence more traffic.
Useful Tips & Ideas
- Focus on creating content that will add value to users and showcase your expertise. This includes content that informs and educates readers, training content, user reviews, adding testimonials, etc.
- Consider publishing special reports that can be sold or distributed online.
Plugins, Tools, & Strategies
If you need great content ideas for your website or blog, we recommend subscribing to our FREE email training course on growing your business online with content marketing here:
Also, if you haven’t already, contact us to learn more about plugins that allow you to easily add the following to your website or blog:
- Legal Pages
- Testimonials
- Customer Support (e.g. Helpdesk, Live Chat, etc.)
- Ratings
- User Reviews
- Badges/Certificates Of Trust
Grow Influence & Engagement
At some point, you may want to consider developing “traffic on tap.” You can achieve this by building a list or starting your own community.
With “Traffic On Demand,” most of your traffic will come from customers or subscribers – people who already like you and trust you. Your influence and reputation can be used to generate new traffic with every blog post you publish or email you send out.
Useful Tips And Ideas
- Encourage commenting and discussions on your site.
- Add an email newsletter and encourage people to subscribe.
- Add a free, paid, or ‘freemium’ membership site.
- Create or join a Facebook/LinkedIn Group.
Plugins, Tools, & Strategies
There are many solutions and plugins that are easy to implement and can help increase your online influence and improve engagement. For example:
- Autoresponders (e.g. Aweber, MailChimp, etc.)
- Contact Forms, Live Chat
- Forums & Social Communities (e.g. bbPress, BuddyPress)
- Polls & Surveys
- Webinars (e.g. Webinar JEO)
- Comment sharing
- Add media, video galleries, etc.
Identify Problems And Provide Solutions
By taking advantage of incoming traffic to find out what problems your visitors are trying to solve, you should have no problem developing new products and services, all of which provide new opportunities to generate additional web traffic.
Useful Tips And Ideas
- Create an e-learning course.
- Consider publishing special guides that you can sell or distribute online.
- Add e-commerce to your site.
Plugins, Tools, & Strategies
If you plan to provide products and services online (as opposed to just providing information), then some of the more useful plugins you may want to add to your site include:
- Membership Sites (e.g. Wishlist Member, S2 Member, etc.)
- Learning Management Systems (e.g. Courseware)
- Event Registrations (e.g. EventEspresso)
Analyze Data & Feedback
The final step of the process is the collection and analysis of data. Learning to interpret data gathered from existing traffic lets you discover new ways to create additional traffic.
Hopefully, by now you already have installed an analytics program (e.g. Google Analytics) on your site. Make sure you understand the metrics and features and can interpret the data.
WordPress Web Traffic System – Summary
All you have to do once you implement the above strategies is repeat the process, fine-tuning and refining your methods as you go to grow your traffic and improve your results.
In summary:
- Begin with an expertly configured WordPress site backed by good marketing, technical and business systems,
- Implement a content marketing strategy (consider adding some paid advertising to drive initial traffic and generate useful data) to increase your reach and visibility online,
- Add plugins, list-building strategies, and other solutions if needed to build authority and credibility, and also to increase engagement with visitors,
- Promote any new solutions, products or services using your existing channels and strategies to generate additional streams of traffic,
- Analyse your data and your results, automate your processes wherever possible, and begin the cycle again.
Hopefully, this post has given you a blueprint that will help you drive more traffic automatically to your WordPress website and grow your business online.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)
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