In Part 1 of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, we explained that the key to turning your website into an automated traffic generation machine is to use an “expertly configured” WordPress website.
As we also explained, an expertly configured WordPress site is not the same as a professionally-configured WordPress web site. An expertly configured WordPress website is a website that is not only built using WordPress, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take full advantage of the tremendous power, features and built-in functionality of WordPress and its integration with various services, specifically in areas like SEO, external site notification and reporting.
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do is publish great content regularly to automatically generate web traffic!)
Once your WordPress site has been expertly configured and fully set up, all you need to do then is publish content regularly to generate traffic organically.
As outlined in Part One of this article series, the components of the automated website traffic machine are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we discuss the “Setup” phase of the automation process. You will learn the best way to start 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 Traffic Blueprint – Setup Phase
If You Have No Web Presence Yet
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, tutorials, and tips on this site about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to see just how popular WordPress is as a platform for doing business online, see this article: WordPress: How Popular Is It? Some Surprising Statistics About WordPress Usage
After making the choice to build your site with WordPress, the next step is to decide which WordPress platform you will use to run your web presence on.
This step is important as there are 2 types of WordPress platforms you can choose from …
Self-Hosted vs Hosted WordPress Site
(WordPress.org Or WordPress.com?)
WordPress offers both a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
WordPress.org lets you download the full-featured WordPress software at no cost and host a WordPress site or blog under your own domain name. This is the “self-hosted” WordPress option.
In 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 site when WordPress.com hosts it at no cost.
If you are planning to build a professional business presence online and you want to set up the traffic system described here, then 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 the free hosting limitations can be overcome by upgrading to a paid option, but then why not start off by hosting a WordPress site on your own domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Already Have An Existing Site
If you already own an existing website, check to see if your 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 Website
If your existing web site runs on WordPress 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 website runs on something other than the WordPress CMS platform, you have to make some choices.
Take a look at the diagram below. It will help you decide where to set up WordPress on your domain …
(Use the above flowchart to choose how to set up WordPress on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing web site so that your main website is powered by WordPress, or
- Keep your existing site and add a WordPress-powered blog. This blog will then be expertly configured and 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 a domain name and web hosting, but allows you to fully configure your blog’s settings and customize the design of your existing site using an appropriate WP theme.
To use WordPress for your main website, install it in the “root” directory of your domain name (e.g. http://www.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 subfolder anything you like).
If you have an existing site 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 it. This step is explained 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 aimed at helping you learn how to grow your business online cost-effectively and drive traffic automatically with a WordPress-driven website or blog and proven web marketing methods.
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