In Part One of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series overview, we explained that the key to turning your site 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 thing as a professionally-configured WordPress web site. An ”expertly configured” WordPress website or blog is a blog that is not only built with WordPress, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take advantage of the tremendous power, features and functionality of WordPress and how it integrates with various sites, specifically in areas like SEO, external site syndication and analytics.
(With an expertly configured WordPress website, all you have to do is publish content on a regular basis to automatically start driving web traffic!)
Once you have your WordPress site expertly configured and fully set up, all you then need to do is publish great content on a regular basis to automatically generate more traffic organically.
As outlined in Part One of this article series, the components of the automated online traffic system 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 get started if you don’t have a web presence yet, or if you already have an existing site that may or may not have been built using WordPress.
WordPress Web Traffic Automation System – Setup Phase
If You Don’t Have A Website Yet
If you don’t have a website yet, it’s quite simple … build a WordPress site!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and the easiest to use content management system available. We provide loads of articles, tips, and tutorials on this site about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to see just how popular WordPress has become, see this article: WordPress: Statistics And Market Share
After making the choice to build your web presence with WordPress, the next step is to choose which type of WordPress platform you will use to build your web presence on.
This step is very important as there are 2 types of WordPress platforms available …
WordPress Self-Hosted Or WordPress Hosted?
(WordPress Hosted vs WordPress Self-Hosted)
WordPress offers both a ”hosted” and a “self-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 using your own domain name.
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 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 choose the “self-hosted” WordPress version. The benefits of choosing the “self-hosted” option (WordPress.org) far outweigh those of hosting a free site at WordPress.com. You get to have full control over 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 Web Site
If you already have an existing web site, check first if it has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Website Runs On WordPress Software
If your web site was built using 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 web site is not a WordPress site, you have some choices to make.
Take a look at the simple flowchart below …
(Use this simple flowchart to choose how to set up a WordPress website on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing website with a WordPress-powered site, or
- Keep your existing site and add a WordPress-driven blog. This blog will then be expertly configured and used to drive traffic to your main site.
If you choose to keep your existing site and add a WordPress blog, make sure to use the self-hosted version of WordPress, which requires a domain name and webhosting, but allows you to fully configure your site’s settings and customize the look and feel of your existing web site using an appropriate theme for WordPress.
To use WordPress for your main website, install the platform in the “root” folder of your domain (e.g. mydomainname.com).
If you already have an existing website, then you will want to install WordPress in a subdirectory of your domain, e.g. www.mydomainname.com/blog (you can name your subdirectory anything you like).
If you have a 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 site
Once you have set up your WordPress site, the next step is to configure its internal settings. This step is covered in the next article in the WordPress Traffic Blueprint series.
This is the end of Section 2
To read the rest of this article, click here:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive series of tutorials aimed at helping you learn how to grow your business online using a WordPress-powered website or blog and proven marketing strategies that are easy and quick to implement.
Subscribe To This Site And Get Notified Of New WordPress Tutorials!
***
"Your training is the best in the world! It is simple, yet detailed, direct, understandable, memorable, and complete." Andrea Adams, FinancialJourney.org
***