In Part One of our WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint article series, we explained that the key to creating 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 site. An expertly configured WordPress site is a blog that is not only driven by WordPress, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take advantage of the tremendous power, ease-of-use and functionality of WordPress and its integration with various services, specifically in areas like SEO, content syndication and analytics.
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do to automatically drive traffic is add great content regularly!)
Once you have your WordPress site expertly configured and fully set up, all you need to do then to automatically drive traffic is publish content regularly.
As outlined in Part One of this article series, the components of the automated traffic machine are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we discuss the “Setup” phase of the blueprint. The focus of this section is to help you understand the best way to get started 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 Automation System – Setup Phase
If You Don’t Have A Web Presence Yet
If you haven’t got a web presence yet, it’s quite simple … get a WordPress site!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and easy-to-use content management system available. We provide many articles, tutorials, and tips about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to learn just how popular WordPress is around the world, see this article: Statistics And Usage Of WordPress
After choosing to build your site with WordPress, the next step is to choose which type of WordPress platform you will use to build your web presence on.
This is important as there are two types of WordPress platforms available …
Self-Hosted vs Hosted WordPress
(WordPress – Self-Hosted Or Hosted?)
WordPress provides users with a “self-hosted” and a “hosted” option.
The “self-hosted” option allows you to download the full-featured WordPress software for free from WordPress.org and host a WordPress site or blog under your own domain name.
In the “hosted option”, WordPress will host your blog for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, some limitations to what you can and can’t do with your blog when WordPress.com hosts it for free.
If you are planning to build a professional web presence and you want to set up the traffic system described here, then you should 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 can fully customize your web presence and avoid the limitations of the hosted option. Keep in mind that You can overcome the limitations of the free hosting options by upgrading to a paid option, but then why not just start off with a WordPress site hosted on your domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Already Have An Existing Web Site
If you already have an existing site, check if it has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: How To Tell If A Web Site Is A WP Website
If your website is a WordPress site, 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 existing site was built using something other than WordPress, you have some choices to make.
Take a look at the simple diagram below. It will help you choose how to set up a WordPress site on your domain …
(Use the above diagram to choose where to set up a WordPress site on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing website with a WordPress website, 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 site.
If you choose to keep your existing web site and add a WordPress 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 a suitable theme for WordPress.
To use WordPress as your main site, install the software in the “root” folder of your domain (i.e. http://mydomainname.com).
If you have an existing website, then you will want to install WordPress in a subfolder of your domain, e.g. www.mydomainname.com/blog (you can name the subfolder whatever you like).
If you have a site that you don’t want to delete or replace with a WordPress site, you can choose 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 its internal settings. This step is covered in the next article in the series.
This is the end of Part Two
To read more, click here:
This article is part of an tutorial series designed to help small business owners learn how to grow their business and drive traffic automatically using a WordPress-driven website and proven web marketing methods.
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