In Part One of our Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, we explained that the key to turning a website into an automated traffic generation machine is to use an “expertly configured” WordPress website.
As we also explained, an expertly configured WordPress website is different than a professionally-configured WordPress site. An expertly configured WordPress website or blog is a website or blog that is not only driven by the WordPress CMS platform, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take advantage of the enormous power, ease-of-use and built-in functionality of WordPress and its integration with other services, specifically in areas like SEO, external site notification and analytics.
(With an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, all you have to do is publish content on a regular basis to start driving web traffic!)
Once you have your WordPress site fully set up and expertly configured, all you need to do to bring more traffic is add content regularly.
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 discuss the “Setup” phase of the traffic automation process. The focus of this section is to help you understand 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 System – Setup Phase
If You Haven’t Got A Web Presence
If you don’t have a web presence yet, it’s quite simple … get WordPress!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and the easiest to use content management system on the planet. We provide many articles, tips, and tutorials on this site about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to learn just how popular WordPress has become with businesses, see this article: Statistics And Usage About WordPress
After making the choice to build your site with WordPress, the next step is to choose which type of WordPress platform you will use to build your web presence on.
This is important because there are 2 types of WordPress platforms available …
WordPress – Self-Hosted Or Hosted?
(WordPress.org vs WordPress.com)
WordPress offers users a “self-hosted” and a “hosted” option.
With the “self-hosted” option you can download the full-featured WordPress application for free from WordPress.org and host a WordPress site or blog under your own domain name.
With the “hosted option”, WordPress hosts your site for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, a number of limitations on 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 web presence 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 site at WordPress.com. You can fully customize your web presence and avoid the limitations of the hosted option. Keep in mind that the free hosting limitations can be overcome by upgrading to a paid option, but then why not just start off with a WordPress site hosted on your domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Have An Existing Web Site
If you already own an existing web site, check to see if your website has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Blog And Free WordPress-Checking Tools
If your blog runs on WP software, 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 existing website is not a WordPress website, you have to make some decisions.
Take a look at the flowchart below. It will help you decide how to set up WordPress on your domain …
(Use the above flowchart to decide where to set up a WordPress website or blog on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing web site with a WordPress-driven site, or
- Keep your existing site and add a WordPress-powered blog. This blog will then be used to drive traffic to your main web site.
If you choose to keep your existing web site and add a WordPress-driven 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 and style of your existing web site using an appropriate theme for WordPress.
To use WordPress for your main site, install it in the “root” directory of your domain (e.g. http://mydomainname.com).
If you have an existing website, then you will want to install WordPress in a subfolder of your domain, e.g. www.mydomainname.com/blog (you can name the subfolder whatever you like).
If you already have a website that you don’t want to delete or replace with a WordPress site, the other option you have is 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 2
To read more, click on the link below:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive tutorial series designed to help website owners learn how to grow their business online inexpensively using a WordPress website or blog and proven online marketing strategies.
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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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