In Part One of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series overview, we explained that the key to turning your website into an automated web traffic generation machine is to use an “expertly configured” WordPress website.
As we also explained, an expertly configured WordPress website or blog is not the same as a professionally-configured WordPress website or blog. An ”expertly configured” WordPress blog is a blog that is not only powered by the WordPress CMS, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take full advantage of the tremendous power, ease-of-use and functionality of WordPress and the way it can be integrated with various sites, specifically in areas like search engine optimization, content syndication and reporting.
(With an expertly configured WordPress blog, all you have to do is publish content on a regular basis to start driving traffic!)
Once you have your WordPress site expertly configured and fully set up, all you then need to do to start driving traffic is add great content on a regular basis.
As outlined in Part 1 of this article series, the components of this automated website traffic machine are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we look at the “Setup” phase of the automation process. You will learn the best way to get started if you don’t have a website yet, or if you already have an existing site that may or may not have been built using WordPress.
WordPress Web Traffic Automation Blueprint – Setup Phase
If You Don’t Have A Web Presence Yet
If you haven’t got a website yet, it’s quite simple … build a website with WordPress!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and the easiest to use content management system available. We provide many articles, tutorials, and tips about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to learn just how popular WordPress has become as a web content management system, see this article: Statistics And Market Share About WordPress
After making the choice to build your website with WordPress, the next step is to choose which WordPress platform you will use to build your web presence on.
This step is important because there are two types of WordPress platforms available …
WordPress.org Or WordPress.com?
(WordPress – Self-Hosted Or Hosted?)
WordPress offers website owners a “self-hosted” and a “hosted” option.
WordPress.org allows you to download the full-featured WordPress software for free and host a WordPress site or blog using your own domain name. This is the “self-hosted” WordPress option.
With the “hosted option”, WordPress hosts your blog for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, some limitations to what you can and can’t do with your blog when it is hosted for free at WordPress.com.
If you are planning to build a professional business presence online and you want to set up the traffic system described here, then you should choose the “self-hosted” WordPress platform. The benefits of choosing the “self-hosted” option (WordPress.org) far outweigh those of hosting a free blog at WordPress.com. You can fully customize your web presence and avoid the limitations of the hosted option. Keep in mind that You can overcome the limitations of the free hosting platform by upgrading to a paid option, but then why not just start off by hosting a WordPress site on your own domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Have An Existing Site
If you already have an existing website, check if the web site has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: How To Tell If A Website Is A WordPress Web Site
If your site is powered by WordPress, move to the next step, and make sure that your site’s internal settings have been properly configured. We cover this step in more detail in another tutorial.
If your website is not a WordPress web site, you have some choices to make.
Take a look at the diagram below …
(Use the above diagram to choose where to set up WordPress on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing site with a WordPress website, or
- Keep your existing web site and add a WordPress blog. This blog will then be expertly configured and used to drive traffic to your main website.
If you choose to keep your existing web site and add a WordPress-powered blog, make sure to use the self-hosted version of WordPress, which requires your own domain name and webhosting, but allows you to fully configure your site’s settings and customize the design of your existing website using an appropriate WP theme.
To use WordPress for your main site, install the platform in the “root” folder of your domain name (i.e. mydomainname.com).
If you already have a website, then you will want to install WordPress in a subfolder of your domain, e.g. www.mydomainname.com/blog (you can name your subdirectory anything you like).
If you have an existing website that you don’t want to delete or replace with a WordPress site, you can choose to set up your WordPress site or blog on an entirely different domain.
This way:
- mydomainname.com – goes to your existing website
- myotherdomain.com – goes to your WordPress blog
Once you have set up your WordPress site, the next step is to configure its internal settings. This step is addressed in the next article in the series.
This is the end of Section Two
To read more, click here:
This article is part of a comprehensive series of articles designed to help you learn how to grow your business online cost-effectively and drive traffic automatically using a WordPress-driven website or blog and proven online marketing methods.
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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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