Welcome to Part 3 of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to turn a site into an automated web traffic machine using the WordPress CMS platform.
In Part 1 of this article series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website or blog is the key to generating automated web traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress site, all you have to do is add content on a consistent basis to automatically start generating web traffic!)
In Part Two, we looked at the setup phase. We explained the best way to start if you don’t have a web presence yet, how to set everything up if you already have a site, and what to do if your website has been built with WordPress.
(In Part two we show you where to set up a WordPress website or blog on your domain)
In this section of the series, we discuss the configuration stage of the WordPress traffic automation system. We will explain what makes an expertly configured WordPress site different than a professionally configured website. You will also understand what kind of work is required to make sure that when all is fully set up and configured, traffic will automatically start flowing whenever you add web content on your WordPress site.
WordPress Traffic Blueprint – Configuration
Being able to drive more traffic to one’s website is often cited by most business owners as one of the greatest challenges they face online. Businesses are becoming ever more competitive and are researching every advantage they can to improve their performance online.
Having the ability to generate traffic on demand is a huge advantage over the competition. Having an expertly configured WordPress site gives you a flying start as soon as your website is launched.
The Configuration Stage Is What Makes The Difference
There is a significant difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a website that has been professionally set up by a web-building expert but not necessarily configured to its fullest advantage.
Here’s a simple way to explain the difference:
An expertly configured WordPress site gives you a web presence and an automated online business marketing tool!
(An expertly configured site gives you a web presence with an automated online business marketing tool!)
Not only is extra work required to build and integrate an automated online business marketing process into your website, but also a special kind of expert knowledge.
Let’s illustrate this with a joke.
Knowing Where To Tap
All is working according to schedule in the gizmo-making plant when all of a sudden, everything stops working.
No one can figure out what went wrong and so the manager decides to call in an expert.
The expert arrives soon afterwards and, without uttering a word, goes directly to the control box. After staring silently at the wiring diagrams for less than 2 minutes or so, the expert then takes out a tiny little hammer and makes a gentle tap near the right edge of the box.
Immediately, everything returns to normal.
The manager is filled with joy as he thanks the expert, who then leaves as quickly as he had arrived.
A couple of days after resolving the incident, the manager receives a request for payment of $5,000.
Puzzled and confused, the factory manager dials the expert. Demanding to know why the expert has charged them such a large amount of money for less than 5 minutes work, he promptly requests an itemized invoice and hangs up.
The next day, an invoice notice arrives and is placed on the manager’s desk. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he sees:
The main challenge most businesses face online is being able to drive visitors to their sites.
How much money did the widget plant stand to lose when production ground to a halt and no one on the factory floor had the expertise to get things up and running again? Did the expert not have every right to get paid fairly for spending years building up the knowledge, skills and expertise that enabled him to assess and repair a very costly problem?
Similarly, if you could have a WP website set up so all you had to do is publish new content and search engines, social networking sites and dozens of other web properties would be instantly notified, how much time and money would this save you?
(How much time and money would you save if you could automate the process of driving traffic to your website?)
While the solution to many problems is often quite easy in hindsight, it rarely turns out to be that way.
Knowing how to expertly configure a WordPress site involves more than installing a website and configuring a few internal settings. It requires knowing where to tap! This includes knowing things such as:
- Which plugins need to be installed for certain things to occur on your site.
- Which services need to be set up to achieve specific outcomes
- Which settings you need to configure to ensure that everything will work as planned, etc.
(Driving web traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires knowledge and expertise)
Although this part of the WordPress traffic automation system may not seem so technically difficult, it can be quite involved and complicated. The reason why is because it’s not as simple as installing and configuring one or two plugins, configuring some options and settings in your dashboard area … it’s all this and so much more.
Expertly configuring your website involves the integration of different parts including your server, your site, and various third-party sites and services …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring a few settings in WordPress)
If we create a simple flowchart showing all the steps involved in the configuration process, it would look like this …
(A simplistic flowchart of all the steps involved in the configuration process)
Let’s take a look at these steps in more detail.
Your Web Server
We’re not talking about the process of configuring your web-hosting account for installation purposes. We’re talking about tweaking settings in your web server that affect how you will handle all web traffic …
(During the configuration phase, your web server settings need to be checked for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all traffic is positive traffic. Some of the traffic you may attract will be unwelcome traffic like bot spam, malicious threats, brute-force bot attacks, etc.
This part of the configuration process, therefore, is about evaluating your needs, planning for good and unwanted traffic and then adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This could include looking at things like integrating server-level spam protection and securing server files, to configuring your domain and email forwarding, setting up htaccess and error page redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your webhosting settings for handling things like email forwarding, page errors, etc?)
Once your server settings have been checked and configured (if required), the next step of the configuration phase is to set up various third-party sites and/or online services.
External Sites
The purpose of setting up external sites is that all content should be published to a central location (your WordPress site) and from there, radiate outwards to other components of your web traffic system, or notify traffic-related web properties and applications.
After incorporating these external platforms into your traffic system, content pointing back to your website is automatically syndicated to search, social and aggregator sites. Your content and business will be exposed to a new audience and source of traffic.
Some sites will need to be set up before configuring your settings to speed up the configuration process and some will need to be done later, during the automation phase.
For example, you will want to set up the following accounts before configuring your site’s settings:
Google Webmasters
(Google Search Console)
Google Search Console lets you notify Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for faster page indexing, and provides site owners with a range of important data, SEO tools, and diagnostic reports about their website.
After setting up your account with Google Webmaster Tools, you can use your account information with web traffic settings in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO (see further below) and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your site’s results, SEO, marketing activities, and more, by tracking all user behavior, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine referrers, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account has been set up, traffic tracking data can be easily integrated with WordPress via a plugin used with other applications and reporting tools.
Bing Data And Tools
(Drive more traffic with Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmaster Tools. Once your account and site details with Bing have been set up, you can use your details to integrate and automate web traffic settings in WordPress (e.g. using plugins like Yoast SEO) and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As discussed in Part 2, WordPress provides users with a self-hosted and a hosted option. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress option if you plan to grow a professional online presence for your business.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides a number of useful tools, which can be accessed by a number of WordPress plugins. We recommend setting up an account at WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll explain how to integrate these features into your traffic generation system in Part Four of this article series.
Social Media
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media and social bookmarking accounts and drive new traffic to your site)
You will need to set up your social media and social bookmarking accounts before you can configure these as part of your traffic generation system.
Once you have set up and configured everything, you will be able to syndicate your content automatically to your social media and social bookmarking accounts and get new visitors to your site.
You should have accounts and profiles set up with all of the well-known social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.
There are many social bookmarking sites you can set up. You don’t need to create accounts with all of them, just select the ones that will work with your system and/or content sharing tools.
(You can syndicate your content to lots of social sites. Image: ShareThis.com)
Additional Solutions, Content Aggregators, Etc.
There are many emerging web platforms and content aggregators that can act as second-tier traffic generation sources. Some are free or provide free plans, and some offer a range of pricing plans to suit different user types.
For example, here is a content aggregator site that lets you add an RSS feed from your WordPress site …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content is displayed in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your RebelMouse page.
There are various sites and platforms you can incorporate into your own traffic system. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to explore this area further and discuss a configuration plan to suit your needs.
After you have configured your server settings and set up accounts with external services, it’s time to configure your WordPress site.
WordPress Traffic Configuration
The first step in configuring your WordPress site for traffic is to ensure that its global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some key areas.
Configuring Global WordPress Settings
By default, all WordPress installations include a Settings menu that allows you to modify your site’s global settings …
(WordPress settings menu)
General Settings
Sections like Site Title and Tagline can affect your site’s SEO, search listings, etc …
(Global Settings – General Settings Section)
Writing
The Writing Settings section contains a powerful and frequently overlooked traffic notification system …
(Global Settings – Writing Settings Area)
As stated below the Update Services section title,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you have purposely chosen to discourage search engines from indexing your site – see next section, then your site will automatically ping the list of services entered into the Update Services section
With an ‘out of the box’ WordPress installation, this section includes only one entry …
(Update Services – A Powerful Traffic Feature Of WordPress)
You can notify dozens of update services automatically with WordPress – just add a list of all the update services you want to notify as soon as you publish a new post to this section …
(You can notify dozens of update services automatically with WordPress!)
Download A Comprehensive List Of Ping Services For Your WordPress Site!
Click the link below to download a comprehensive list of reliable and authoritative ping services for your WordPress site or blog:
Download A List Of Ping Services For Your WordPress Site
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Note: If you need help setting up the list of ping services on your site, we recommend using a professional web services provider. You can find professional WordPress service providers in our WordPress Services Directory.
Reading
This section affects how visitors will see your content when they visit your home page and blog pages.
The syndication settings in this section can influence web traffic. For example, choosing to display the full content vs a summary of your post, affects how your content appears in RSS feeds and blog post digests, and could impact someone’s decision to explore your content further, and whether or not they will visit your website or blog to view the rest of the content from excerpts, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
The main setting in this section as far as your traffic system is concerned is whether the Search Engine Visibility checkbox is enabled or not.
Normally, you want to encourage search engines to visit your site. Leaving the box unchecked enables WordPress to ping various update services when a new post gets published (see Writing Settings above). Unless there is a specific reason why search engines should not visit your site, make sure this box is left unchecked …
(Global Settings – Reading Settings)
Discussion
Although this section is mostly concerned with how users engage with content on your site, you have the option to allow notifications to blogs linked to from your posts, and to allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks). This can work for you, but it can also drive bad traffic in the form of SPAM comments …
(Settings Menu – Discussion Settings Section)
Permalink Settings
Permalinks allow your site to publish posts with SEO-friendly URLs …
(WordPress Settings – Permalink Settings)
Here are some of the ways your permalink URLs can be configured …
(Configuring permalink URLs)
We have created a detailed tutorial on using WP permalinks here: Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO
WordPress Traffic Plugins
The WordPress developer community makes available thousands of plugins that help to add almost every kind of functionality imaginable to your site, including traffic generation.
Let’s look at some types of plugin categories that affect traffic and plugin examples
Blog Defender Security Plugin
Once again, it’s important to configure your site for dealing with both good traffic and bad traffic. No web site is immune from being attacked by hackers.
(Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from causing your website harm)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your blog invisible to bot and hacker attacks.
Go here to learn more:
SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
SEO plugins help drive traffic by making your site more search engine friendly …
(WP SEO Plugin – Yoast SEO)
A plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) can significantly improve your site’s search engine optimization. Once properly configured, this plugin not only makes your site easier for search engines like Google and Bing to index, it also lets you specify how to display your content in Google’s search results and social media pages, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, and GooglePlus.
Social Plugins
Allowing visitors to share your content with their friends and members of their social networks can help drive more traffic to your site, especially if you post great content that adds value to readers.
(You can add social sharing features to your website easily using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
There are loads of social sharing plugins available for WordPress.
Most social sharing plugins allow you to choose which sites visitors can share your content to, embed social buttons into your content, set up default update notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of likes), etc. Some plugins even allow you to set up protected content areas on your pages which users can unlock by liking your page.
Themes
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that can help grow your traffic.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring layout and design elements of your site, many themes also provide built-in options for improving SEO and site navigation structure for faster indexing, easily add analytics code, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WP themes like Graphene (a free theme) include built-in traffic optimization features)
With many quality themes, adding social sharing buttons to your site is as easy as clicking a couple of buttons and enabling the function …
(Many WordPress themes include built-in social sharing features that can be easily turned on with the click of a button)
WordPress Traffic Automation – Additional Configuration Areas
Last but not least in the web traffic system configuration process, are the things that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
These include the following:
Legal Pages
Once again, when preparing your site for a growth in visitor numbers, it’s important to plan not only for both bad and good traffic but also for all the situations that can hurt your business when more and more people begin to visit your website.
If you engage in any form of commercial activity online, you need to ensure that your site is compliant with all laws and regulations.
(Does Your Website Comply With All Legal Requirements?)
We have written a detailed article about how to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your WordPress website here:
Tags And Categories
Post categories & tags help improve traffic by improving your site’s search engine optimization.
(Post categories help search engines index your website, which helps you get more traffic.)
As we strongly recommend in this article, your website’s post tags and post categories should be set up earlier on, during the Website Planning Phase.
When configuring your website or blog to automate and improve web traffic, you will want to review and make sure that your site’s tags and categories have been set up correctly to deliver optimal benefits.
Add A Site Map To Your WordPress Site
A visitor site map that displays all of your posts and pages is not only a useful navigation tool for users, it can also help external tools find your website content …
(Site Map – great for site visitors and beneficial for traffic too!)
It’s important to note that an HTML site map and an XML sitemap are different things. HTML site maps provide visitors with a logical map of how your content is organized, whereas XML sitemaps are mostly code that only search engines can read. Although Google can index your site just from an XML sitemap (which plugins like Yoast SEO can provide – see earlier section), allowing visitors to find more pages on your site can result in increased traffic.
Configure Your Site’s 404 Page
When online users type in the wrong URL or click on a dead link, they will normally be presented with a 404 Not Found error page …
(A 404 Page)
A 404 Error Page can be configured to redirect confused visitors to your functional web pages …
(Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to redirect traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 page can be set up in your web server, there are several plugins for WordPress that allow you to easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress admin.
WordPress Traffic System: Configuration Process – Summary
Once you have your site fully set up and expertly configured, all you have to do is publish content on a regular basis to begin attracting more traffic.
The process of expertly configuring your WordPress site, however, is quite involved and elaborate , requiring the configuration and integration of various elements and external web properties …
(Traffic System – Configuration Phase Checklist)
The skills and expertise required to perform the configuration process can take some web developers a long time to learn.
Once you have expertly configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the aspects of the process that can be automated. This step is covered in the next article in our WordPress Traffic Blueprint series.
This is the end of Part 3
To read more, click here:
This article is part of a comprehensive article series aimed at helping small business owners learn how to grow their business online cost-effectively using a WordPress-powered website and proven marketing strategies that are easy and quick to implement.
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