Tag: Drive More Visitors To WordPress Site

Welcome to Part Five of our WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to turn a site into an automated traffic machine using the WordPress CMS.

So far, we have covered the following in this article series:

In Part One of this article series, we provide an overview of the traffic automation process, and explain why using an expertly configured WordPress site is the key to automating traffic to your website …

(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do to automatically begin attracting web traffic is post content consistently!)

In Part 2, we discuss critical setup decisions. We explain the best way to get started 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 site is built with WordPress.

(In Part 2 we show you how to set up a WordPress web site on your domain)

In Part 3, we looked at configuring the system. We configured all the settings (hosting, internal and external) that affect your site’s ability to generate traffic automatically …

(In Part Three you will configure all the settings (hosting, internal and external) that affect your site’s ability to generate traffic automatically)

In Part 4, we discussed ways to automate your traffic with plugins.

(Publish content one-time, automate the rest!)

In Part Five of the WordPress web traffic automation blueprint article series, we discuss ways to optimize the traffic system with a number of different tools and strategies.

WordPress Traffic System – Traffic Optimization Systems

In addition to getting your WordPress site expertly configured, the key to generating quality traffic on a consistent basis is having a well-defined business vision, great digital planning, and good systems in place.

(Generating regular traffic is the result of having a clear business vision, planning, and excellent systems)

Let’s briefly review the systems that will help you grow and manage your new traffic.

These systems include:

• Marketing Systems – How you drive new traffic to your business.
• Technical Systems – The systems and processes used to keep your web presence optimized for receiving new traffic.
• Business Systems – How you manage and respond to traffic.

(Systems help you grow, automate, optimize, and manage your traffic)

Let’s briefly review how important the above systems are for traffic:

Marketing Systems

Your marketing systems consist of the processes and methods used to drive traffic to your website. Your marketing systems can be tested by asking questions such as:

• What is your online marketing strategy?
• What resources and portion of your budget will you apportion to these channels?
• How will you create your content, sales funnels, and run your marketing campaigns?
• How will you test and measure the ROI of your campaigns?

During the setup and configuration phase, you would 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 to help you generate some initial results. If you’re tracking your marketing campaigns correctly, this should yield some actionable data, such as the keyword phrases people are searching online to find your website, which you can use to create content targeted specifically to your audience.

Technical Systems

Your technical systems and processes keep your online presence up and running for receiving new traffic. There’s no point driving traffic to your website if your site is constantly experiencing problems or your pages take too long to load.

Your technical systems include handling areas like webhosting, site maintenance and support, installing, configuring, and updating new software (e.g. plugins), customization, integration, troubleshooting, etc.

You can test your technical systems by questions such as:

• Who is looking after my server?
• Who looks after my website and keeps my site maintained and up-to-date?
• Who will fix errors, troubleshoot problems, provide technical support and advice, etc. should anything go wrong?

Many potential issues can be minimized if your website planning and setup and configuration phases have been completed 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 business systems and processes in place to help you manage and respond to the influx of new traffic. This includes:

• Communication systems
• Resources management – human, financial
• Handling sales enquiries
• Order fulfillment
• Customer service/training
• etc.

If you intend to outsource your digital marketing and technical maintenance, then make sure you have implemented great systems to manage all outsourcing.

WordPress Traffic System – Traffic Optimization Methods

With clear business objectives and great systems in place, all you need to focus on is implementing a “traffic loop”.

Let’s go through an example of how to implement, optimize, and further automate a traffic loop. Take a look at the flowchart below …

(Implement, optimize, and automate a traffic loop)

Increase Reach And Visibility Online

Step 1 of the process is to get your business exposed to as many potential users as your time and resources will allow.

Traffic Ideas

• Your expertly configured WordPress site will allow you to automatically publish your content on places like Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, etc. The easiest way to increase your reach and visibility online, therefore, is to simply publish more content.
• As mentioned earlier, investing in some paid advertising can help generate data, which you can use to create content better targeted to your audience.
• Repurpose your content to leverage the power, appeal, and reach of different media formats.
• Continue learning about ways to attract web site traffic using methods like LinkedIn ads, podcasts, Reddit, etc.

Plugins, Tools, & Methods

See previous sections of this tutorial series for a number of useful tools and strategies we’ve already covered to help you reach more potential users.

Also, look for plugins that let you easily add the following to your website or blog:

• Share your posts online with others,
• Run contests, offer discounts/downloads for likes/shares,
• Accept user generated content, feeds, etc.
• Distribute content online in different media formats (e.g. videos, PDF guides, audio, etc.)

Build Authority And Credibility

Getting more of your content out there is a great first step, but for this activity to be really effective, your content needs to build authority and credibility with users.

Publishing authoritative content not only helps to establish your credibility, it also improves your chances of getting it shared on other sites and hence more visitors.

Traffic Optimization Ideas

• Create and publish content that will add value to your audience and showcase your expertise. This includes content that educates and informs readers, training content, case studies, adding testimonials, etc.
• Consider publishing a “how-to” e-book that you can sell or distribute online (e.g. sell on Clickbank.

Tools & Methods

If you need help coming up with topics for posting content on your web site, then subscribe to our email training course on growing your business online with content marketing here:

Also, if you haven’t already, learn more about WordPress plugins that allow you to easily add the following to your site:

• Legal Pages
• Testimonials
• Customer Support (e.g. Helpdesk, Live Chat, etc.)
• Ratings
• User Reviews
• Badges/Certificates Of Trust

Grow Influence & Engagement

As your business grows, you may want to consider developing “traffic on tap.” You can do this by building a list or starting a group.

With “Traffic On Tap,” all of your traffic will come from customers or subscribers – people who already like you and trust you. Your influence and credibility can be used to generate traffic with every post you publish or email you send out.

Traffic Tips

• Encourage commenting and discussions on your site.
• Add an email training course and encourage people to subscribe.
• Add a free, paid, or ‘freemium’ membership site.
• Create or join an online group on Facebook/LinkedIn.

Plugins, Tools, And Strategies

There are many solutions and WordPress plugins that are easy to implement and can help grow your online influence and improve user engagement. For example:

• List-Building Tools (e.g. Aweber, GetResponse, 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 Needs/Problems And Provide Solutions

If you take advantage of incoming traffic to find out what your visitors want, you can develop new services and products, all of which provide new opportunities for generating additional traffic.

Useful Tips

• Consider creating a free or paid e-learning course.
• Publish an e-book that can be sold or distributed online (e.g. sell on Clickbank.
• Add e-commerce to your business.

Tools & Methods

If you plan to provide services and products online (as opposed to just providing information), look for WordPress plugins that let you easily add the following to your website:

• Membership Site plugins (e.g. Wishlist Member, S2 Member, etc.)
• e-Courses (e.g. Courseware)
• Event Registrations (e.g. EventEspresso)

Analyze Data & Feedback

The final step of the process is to collect and analyze data. Learning to interpret data gathered from existing traffic gives you the opportunity to discover new ways to generate additional traffic.

You should have already installed an analytics tool (e.g. Google Analytics) on your website. Make sure you understand the metrics and can interpret the data.

WordPress Web Traffic System – Summary

Once you implement the above strategies, all you have to do is repeat the process over and over again, 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 (with some paid advertising to drive traffic and generate useful data) to increase your reach and visibility online,
• Add plugins, list-building strategies, and other methods if required to help build authority, trust, 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, now you have a blueprint that will help you automate and optimize the process of driving traffic to your WordPress website and grow your business online.

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