In Part 1 of our Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, we explained that the key to turning your site into an automated web traffic generation machine is to use an “expertly configured” WordPress website.
As we also explained, an expertly configured WordPress website is not the same as a professionally-configured WordPress site. An expertly configured WordPress blog is a web site 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 enormous power, ease-of-use and built-in functionality of WordPress and its integration with other services, specifically in areas like search engine optimization, content syndication and reporting.
(With an expertly configured WordPress website, all you have to do is publish great content regularly to automatically generate more web traffic!)
Once you have your WordPress site expertly configured and fully set up, all you need to do then is publish great content regularly to automatically start driving traffic organically.
As outlined in Part 1 of this article series, the components of this automated traffic machine are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we look at the “Setup” phase of the automation process. The focus of this section is to help you understand the best way to start 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
If You Haven’t Got A Website
If you haven’t got a web presence yet, it’s quite simple … get WordPress!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and easy-to-use content management system available. We provide many articles, tips, and tutorials 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: WordPress: Useful Facts And Statistics
After making the choice to build your web presence with WordPress, the next step is to choose which WordPress platform you will run your web presence on.
This step is important because there are 2 types of WordPress platforms you can choose from …
Self-Hosted Or Hosted WordPress?
(WordPress – Hosted vs Self-Hosted)
WordPress offers users a “self-hosted” and a “hosted” option.
With the “self-hosted” option you can 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 hosts your blog for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, a number of limitations to what you can and can’t do with your site 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 choose the “self-hosted” WordPress platform. The benefits of choosing the “self-hosted” option (WordPress.org) far outweigh those of hosting a free blog at WordPress.com. You have complete control over 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 start off by hosting a WordPress site on your own domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You 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 Was Built Using The WordPress CMS Platform
If your blog runs on WordPress, 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 website was built using something other than WordPress, you have some choices to make.
Take a look at the simple flowchart below. It will help you choose where to set up a WordPress web site on your domain …
(Use this simple diagram to decide how to set up WordPress on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing site with a WordPress website, or
- Keep your existing site and add a WordPress blog. This blog will then be used to drive traffic to your main site.
If you choose to keep your existing website and add a WordPress-powered blog, make sure to use the self-hosted version of WordPress, which requires your own domain name and webhosting, but allows you to fully configure your site’s settings and customize the look and feel of your existing website using a closely-matching theme for WordPress.
To use WordPress as 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 want).
If you have an existing 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 site
Once you have set up your WordPress site, the next step is to configure its internal settings. This step is explained in the next article in the series.
This is the end of Section Two
To read more, click on the link below:
This article is part of a comprehensive tutorial series aimed at helping website owners learn how to grow their business and drive traffic sustainably using a WordPress-driven website and proven web marketing methods.
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