Tag: Drive More Visitors To WordPress Site

Welcome to Part Five of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to automate traffic to your site using the WordPress CMS.

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

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

(With an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, all you have to do is add great content consistently to begin bringing web traffic!)

In Part Two, we focus on the setup phase of this process. We help you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a web presence yet, how to set everything up if you already have a website, and what to do if your existing website is built using WordPress.

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

In Part Three, we looked at configuring the system. We configured web hosting settings, internal settings, and external settings that affect your website’s traffic-getting ability …

(In Part Three you will configure hosting settings, WordPress settings, and external settings that affect your website’s traffic-getting ability)

In Part 4, we looked at ways to automate your traffic with WordPress plugins.

(Publish once to WordPress and automate your content distribution to all other channels!)

In this article, we look at ways to optimize the traffic system with a number of different tools and methods.

WordPress Traffic Automation System – Systems

In addition to having an expertly configured WordPress website, the key to generating consistent traffic of high quality is having a clear business vision, careful digital planning, and excellent systems and process in place.

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

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

These include:

• Marketing Systems – The processes and strategies used to create new traffic for your website.
• Technical Systems – The systems used to keep your digital presence up and running for receiving traffic.
• Business Systems – The systems and processes used to manage and respond to traffic.

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

Let’s review the above systems briefly:

Marketing Systems

Your marketing systems consist of the processes and strategies used to drive traffic to your website. You can test your marketing systems by asking questions such as:

• What channels do you plan to use to generate new 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 your content and run your marketing campaigns?
• How will you measure the ROI of your online 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 to help you generate some initial data, such as the keywords people are searching online to find your site, which you can use to create content targeted specifically to your audience.

Technical Systems

Your technical systems and processes ensure that your web presence remains operating efficiently for receiving traffic. There’s no point driving traffic to your site if your site is down or your web pages take a long time to load.

Your systems need to be able to adequately handle technical areas like webhosting, website maintenance and support, installing and updating software (e.g. plugins), customization, integration, troubleshooting, etc.

You can test your technical systems by questions such as:

• Who looks after my server?
• Who will look after my website and keep 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 new problems to arise. Your technical systems need to be able to handle these.

Business Systems

You need good business systems to help you manage and respond to the influx of new traffic. This includes:

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

If you intend to outsource your digital marketing and technical maintenance, then you will need to put systems in place for managing all outsourcing.

WordPress Web Traffic System – Traffic Optimization Tools And Strategies

If your business objectives are clear and your systems and processes are in place, all you need to focus on is developing and optimizing 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 processes illustrated below …

(Implementing an effective traffic loop)

Increase Reach And Visibility Online

Step 1 of the process is to expose your business to as many members of your target audience as your resources will allow.

Tips

• An expertly configured WordPress site will allow you to instantly share your content on social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, etc. The easiest way to increase your reach and visibility online, therefore, is to simply publish more content on your site.
• As mentioned earlier, investing in some paid advertising can help generate some initial data, which you can use to create web content targeted specifically to your audience.
• Repurpose your content to leverage the power and reach of different media formats.
• Continue learning about ways to bring more web traffic using methods like Pinterest, YouTube, cross promotions, etc.

Tools, Plugins, And Strategies

See previous sections of this tutorial series for many useful tools and strategies we’ve already covered to help you reach more members of your target audience.

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

• Share your posts online,
• Run contests, offer downloads or discounts for likes/shares,
• Display user generated content, feeds, etc.
• Distribute content online in other media formats (e.g. videos, PDF guides, slides, etc.)

Build Authority And Credibility

Getting more content published is good, but for this activity to be really effective, your content also needs to build authority and credibility with users.

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

Tips

• Create and publish content that adds value to users and that showcases your expertise. This includes content that educates and informs readers, training content, user reviews, 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 ideas for posting content on your website, we recommend subscribing to our email training course on growing your business online with content marketing here:

Also, if you haven’t already, ask us about 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 an online community or even your own social site.

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

Useful Tips & Ideas

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

Tools & Strategies

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

• Autoresponders (e.g. Aweber, GetResponse, etc.)
• Contact Forms, Live Chat
• Forums & Social Communities (e.g. bbPress, BuddyPress)
• Polls and Surveys
• Webinars (e.g. Webinar JEO)
• Comment sharing
• Add media, video galleries, etc.

Identify Needs/Problems And Provide Solutions To These

By taking advantage of incoming traffic to find out what problems your users are trying to solve, you should have no problem coming up with ideas for new solutions, all of which provide new opportunities to generate additional traffic.

Useful Tips

• Consider creating an online training program.
• Consider publishing a special report that you can sell or distribute online (e.g. sell on on the Amazon Kindle store.
• Add e-commerce to your site.

Tools & Strategies

If you plan to provide services, products, and solutions online (as opposed to just providing information), then some of the more useful plugins you may want to add to your website include:

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

Analyze Data & Feedback

The final step of the process is to collect and analyze data. By interpreting data gathered from existing traffic, you can discover new opportunities to generate content that can bring you additional traffic.

You should already have installed an analytics program (e.g. Google Analytics) on your site. Make sure you also learn how to interpret the data.

WordPress Web Traffic Automation Blueprint – Summary

Once you implement the above strategies, all you have to do is repeat the process, fine-tuning and refining your methods as you go to grow your traffic and improve your results.

In summary:

• Start with an expertly configured WordPress site backed by solid marketing, technical and business systems,
• Implement a content marketing strategy (with 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 necessary to help build authority and credibility, and also to improve engagement with users,
• 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 drive more visitors automatically to your web site and expand your business online.

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