Welcome to Part 3 of our Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to create an automated traffic generating machine using the WordPress CMS.
In Part 1 of this series, we provided an overview of the process, and explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website is the key to generating automated web traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress site, all you have to do is add web content regularly to generate more traffic!)
In Part 2, we looked at critical setup decisions. We helped you understand the best way to start if you don’t have a website yet, how to set things up if you already have a website, and what to do if your existing site has been built using WordPress.
(In Part two we show you how to set up WordPress on your domain)
In this article, we will discuss the configuration stage of this process. You will understand why an expertly configured WordPress site is different. You will also learn how much work is required to ensure that when everything is fully configured, new traffic will automatically start flowing as you begin to add content on your web site.
WordPress Traffic Automation System – Configuration
The ability to drive more traffic to one’s website is often cited by many business owners as the greatest challenge they face online. Also, the business landscape is becoming increasingly more competitive on a global scale and businesses are exploring every advantage available to get better results online.
Having the ability to automatically generate traffic on demand can be a huge advantage. Having an expertly configured website gives your business a significant advantage from the very beginning.
The Configuration Process Is What Makes All The Difference
There is a significant difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a website that has been professionally installed and set up by an expert website builder but not necessarily configured to take advantage of everything WordPress has to offer.
Here is a simple way to understand the difference:
With a WordPress site that has been expertly configured you get a web presence plus an automated online business marketing tool!
(An expertly configured site gives you a web presence with an automated online business marketing process!)
Not only is additional work required to build and integrate an automated online business marketing process into your website, it also takes a special kind of expertise.
Let’s illustrate this with an amusing anecdote.
A Semi-True Story …
Things were going according to schedule in the widget-making workshop when all of a sudden, everything came to a halt.
No one could figure out what has happened and so the floor manager decided to call in an expert to try and fix the problem.
Promptly after arriving, the expert headed immediately towards the control box. After staring silently at the wires and circuitry for no more than 3 minutes, the expert then produced a teeny-weeny hammer and made a very gentle tap near the left corner of the box.
Immediately, the assembly line returned once again to normal.
The plant manager was greatly overjoyed as he thanked the expert, who left as quickly as he had arrived.
A couple of days later, the factory manager received a bill for $5,000.
The factory manager called the expert, demanding to know why they were expected to pay so much for less than 5 minutes work. He promptly requested an itemized invoice before hanging up.
The next day, an invoice notice arrived and was placed on the manager’s desk. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he saw:
The number one challenge most businesses face online is driving visitors to their sites.
In the above story, how much money did the gizmo plant stand to lose when the machines stopped working and no one on the factory floor was able to fix it? Did the expert in our story not have the right to demand fair compensation for investing years acquiring the knowledge, skills and expertise that enabled him to quickly avert a crisis?
Similarly, if you could have your site configured so all you ever had to do is publish content to it and Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and dozens of other traffic-generating web properties would be automatically 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 attracting new visitors to your website?)
Although many experts often make difficult solutions look simple, it rarely turns out to be that way.
Expertly configuring a WordPress site involves more than adding some pages with content and configuring some basic settings. It also requires knowing where to tap! In other words, knowing things such as:
- Which plugins you need to install for certain things to occur on your site.
- Which services need to be set up and activated to get specific results
- Which settings need to be configured in order to ensure that things will function how you have planned, etc.
(Generating traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires knowledge and expertise)
This part of the WordPress traffic automation system is not so technically challenging, but it’s quite involved. This is because it’s not as easy as installing and configuring a plugin, clicking a couple of buttons … it’s all this and much more.
Expertly configuring your website is a process that involves your server, your WordPress site, and various external sites and services …
(The configuration phase involves more than just configuring a few WordPress settings)
If the configuration process were to be flowcharted, it would look like this …
(A simplistic flowchart showing the configuration phase)
Let’s examine these steps.
Configuring Your Server
We’re not talking here about the process of configuring your web-hosting account for site installation purposes (this should have been done during the Setup phase). What we are talking about, is configuring settings and options in your web hosting account that affect how you will handle all web traffic …
(In the configuration phase, your web server settings need to be fine-tuned for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all traffic is welcome traffic. Some of the traffic your business can attract will be unwelcome traffic like bot spam, malicious threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This part of the configuration process, therefore, requires planning for good and bad traffic and adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This includes things like configuring spam protection and securing server files, to configuring domain and email forwarding, etc …
(Have you configured your control panel settings for handling things like emails, page errors, etc?)
After your web server settings have been fine-tuned and configured (if required), the next step of the configuration phase is to set up various third-party sites and services.
External Sites
The purpose of choosing external sites is that all of your content is posted to a central location (your WordPress site) and from there, it gets distributed automatically to other parts of your web traffic system, or notify traffic-related web properties and applications.
After incorporating these external sites into your traffic system, content pointing back to your website will be automatically added to these platforms, indexed by search engines and shared to other social networks, even to visitors attracted to the platform itself. Your content and business will be given additional exposure to new sources of traffic and new audiences.
Some third-party sites and services will need to have accounts set up before configuring your site’s settings to save time and some will need to be done later, during the automation phase.
For example, here are just some of the accounts you will need to have set up before configuring your WordPress settings:
Google Webmaster Tools
(Google Search Console – create a Google-friendly site)
Google Webmasters lets you notify Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for automatic page indexing, and provides site owners with a range of useful data, tools, and diagnostic reports about their website.
After setting up your Google Webmaster Tools account and entering site data, the details can be used to automate traffic settings and notifications in WordPress (e.g. using plugins like Yoast SEO) and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your website’s results, SEO, user engagement, marketing campaigns, and more, by tracking all user behaviour, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine and social media referrers, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account and site details have been set up, account information can be integrated with WordPress using plugins used with other applications.
Bing Data And Tools
(Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmaster Tools. Once your Bing Webmaster Tools account and site data are set up, the account information can be used with web traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress (e.g. using plugins like Yoast SEO) and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As discussed in Part 2, WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted option. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress platform if you are planning to grow a professional business presence online.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great features, which can be accessed by various WordPress plugins. We recommend setting up an account with WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll explain how to integrate these features into your web traffic system in the next installment of this article series.
Social Media Pages
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media pages and attract new traffic to your site)
You will need your social media and social bookmarking accounts set up before you can integrate these with 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 pages and get new traffic to your site.
You should have accounts and profile pages with all of the leading social networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.
There are many social sites you can post your content to. You don’t need to go crazy, just choose the ones that will work well with your setup and/or content syndication tools (we will cover some of these tools in greater detail further below and during the Automation phase).
(You can syndicate your content to lots of social sites. Image: ShareThis.com)
Additional Platforms, Content Aggregators, Etc.
There are many new online technology platforms and content aggregators that can act as secondary-level sources of traffic. Some are free or provide free levels, and some are paid services.
For example, here is a content aggregator site that lets you add your WordPress site feed …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Publishing platform for distributed content)
RebelMouse is a news aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your page.
There are various platforms that can be incorporated into your own traffic system. Please feel free to contact us if you need assistance exploring this area further, or to discuss a strategy to suit your needs.
After you have configured your web server and set up accounts with external sites, it’s time to configure your WordPress site.
WordPress Configuration
The first step in configuring your WordPress site for traffic is to ensure that your global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some key areas.
WordPress – Global Settings
By default, your WordPress admin area includes a Settings section that allows you to set up your site’s global settings …
(WordPress dashboard menu – Settings)
General Settings
Content entered into fields like Site Title and Tagline can affect your site’s SEO, search results, etc …
(WordPress Settings – General Settings Screen)
Writing
The Writing Settings section contains a powerful and frequently overlooked traffic notification system …
(Global Settings – Writing Settings)
As described in this section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you or your webmaster have specifically 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 box
By default, this section contains only one entry …
(Update Services – A Powerful Traffic Feature Of WordPress)
WordPress lets you notify dozens of update services automatically – just add a list containing all of the update services you want notified to this section …
(WordPress lets you notify dozens of update services automatically!)
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 on this page can have an influence traffic. For example, your choice of displaying the full content vs summaries of your post, affects how your content appears in RSS readers and RSS email campaigns, and could impact someone’s decision to explore your content further, and whether or not they will visit your blog to view the rest of the content from a partial feed, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
As far as your traffic system is concerned, however, the main setting in this section is whether the Search Engine Visibility feature is ticked or not.
Normally, you want to encourage search engines to visit your site. Leaving this box unchecked allows your site to ping various update services whenever new posts get published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason to discourage search engines from visiting your site, make sure this box is left unchecked …
(WordPress 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 …
(WordPress Settings – Discussion Settings Section)
Permalink Settings
Your Permalink settings enable WordPress to display posts with search engine-friendly URLs …
(Global Settings – Permalinks)
The examples below show some of the options for configuring your permalink URLs …
(Configuring permalink URLs)
If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this tutorial: Improve Your WordPress SEO With SEO-Friendly URLs
Plugin Settings
WordPress provides users with thousands of plugins that help to add just about every type of functionality to your website, including traffic generation.
Here are some types of plugin categories that affect traffic and plugin examples
Security Plugins – Blog Defender
Once again, it’s important to configure your website for dealing with the effects of both good traffic and bad traffic. No website or blog is immune from being attacked by hackers.
(Security Plugins stop bad traffic from causing your website harm)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress blog invisible to botnet and hacker attacks.
More info:
SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive more traffic by making your site more search engine friendly …
(WordPress Plugin – Yoast SEO)
A plugin like Yoast SEO can improve your SEO. When properly configured, the Yoast SEO plugin not only makes your site easier for search engines to find and index, it also lets you configure how your content will show up in Google’s search results and social media pages, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, and GooglePlus.
Social Plugins
Allowing visitors to share your content with others online can help to increase traffic to your site, especially if you provide great content that adds real value to readers.
(You can easily add social sharing features to your site using free or inexpensive plugins)
You can add social sharing features to your site easily using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins.
Most social share plugins let you choose which social sites visitors can share your content to, embed social buttons into your content, set up custom post messages, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of shares), etc. Some plugins even allow you to set up protected content sections 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 help grow your site’s traffic.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring the design and layout of your website, many themes also provide built-in features that let you improve SEO and site navigation structure for faster indexing, easily add tracking, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WordPress themes come with built-in traffic optimization features)
With many themes, adding social sharing buttons and features to your pages is as easy as selecting the option to enable this functions …
(Many WordPress themes provide built-in social sharing features)
Other Areas To Configure
Last but not least in the web traffic configuration process, are the things that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
This includes the following:
Compliance Web Pages
Once again, when preparing your site for an increase in visitor numbers, it’s important to plan not only how to handle bad and good traffic but also for all the situations that can hurt your business when more and more people start finding and visiting your website.
If you engage in any form of business online (or are planning to), it’s important that your site is compliant with regulatory agencies.
(Is Your Website Compliant?)
If you need help adding legal pages to WordPress, see this article:
Post Tags & Categories
Categories and post tags help improve traffic by improving your site’s search engine optimization.
(Post categories help search engines index your web pages, which helps you get more traffic.)
As we strongly recommend in this article, it’s best to review and set up your website’s post tags and post categories during the Website Planning Stage.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that the post tags and categories you have set up.
Add A Site Map
A site map that displays all of your pages and posts to visitors is not only a useful navigation tool for users, it can also help external tools find your web content …
(Site Map – great for site visitors and beneficial for web traffic too!)
Note: An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are different things. Although search engines like Google will index your pages just from an XML sitemap (which a plugin like Yoast SEO will create for you – see earlier section), allowing visitors to find more pages on your site results in increased traffic.
404 Page Not Found – Another Source Of Web Traffic!
When visitors searching for your website enter the wrong web address or click on links pointing to destinations on your website that no longer exist, they will typically be presented with a 404 Not Found page …
(A WordPress 404 Not Found page)
A 404 Error Page can be turned into a useful source of traffic to your functional web pages …
(Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to redirect traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 Not Found page can be set up in your server, there are several plugins for WordPress that let you easily configure your 404 page from your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint: Configuration Process – Summary
Once your site has been expertly configured and fully set up, all you have to do then is publish web content regularly to automatically attract more web traffic.
The process of expertly configuring your WordPress site, however, is quite involved , requiring the configuration and integration of a number of different components and web properties …
(WP Traffic System – Configuration Checklist)
The skills and expertise required to perform the configuration stage of the traffic automation process typically takes some web professionals months to learn.
Once you have expertly configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the process. This step is addressed in the next article in the series.
This is the end of Section 3
To read more, click here:
This article is part of an tutorial series aimed at helping business owners learn how to grow their business and drive traffic automatically with a WordPress website or blog and proven web marketing methods.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
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