Welcome to Part Three of our Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to turn a website into an automated traffic machine using the WordPress CMS.
In Part 1 of this series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website is the key to generating automated web traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do is post content on a consistent basis to automatically begin attracting web traffic!)
In Part 2, we focused on critical setup decisions. We explained the best way to get started if you don’t have a web presence yet, how to set everything up if you already have a website, and what to do if your existing website has been built with WordPress.
(In Part 2 we show you how to set up WordPress on your domain)
In this section, we will look at the configuration stage of the traffic system. We will show you how a WordPress site should be configured to automatically begin bringing traffic as you begin to add web content on your web site.
WordPress Traffic Automation System – Configuration
Finding ways to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by many business owners as one of their greatest challenges online. With business getting increasingly more competitive worldwide, it’s worth exploring any and every advantage that can help you increase your own competitiveness online.
Being able to automatically generate traffic on demand is a huge advantage. An expertly configured WordPress site gives you a flying start as soon as your website is launched.
The Difference Is In The Way Your Site Is Configured
There is a significant difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a site that has been professionally set up by an expert website builder but not necessarily configured to its fullest advantage.
Here’s one way to understand the differences:
With a WordPress site that has been expertly configured you get a web presence plus online business marketing automation!
(An expertly configured site gives you a web presence with an automated online business marketing system!)
Not only are more steps needed to build and integrate an automated online business marketing process into your website, but also a special type of expert knowledge.
To illustrate this here’s an amusing anecdote.
A Semi-True Story …
Everything was moving along in the gizmo assembly line when suddenly, things ceased working.
As no one could figure out what happened, the manager decided to call in an expert.
Shortly after arriving, the expert walked immediately towards the main control box. After staring silently at the board for less than 2 minutes or so, the expert then produced a teeny-weeny hammer from his shirt pocket and made a gentle tap about three inches from the left corner of the unit.
Immediately, everything began to work once again.
The manager was greatly relieved as he thanked the expert, who left as quickly as he had arrived.
A couple of days later, the factory manager received an invoice for the sum of $5,000.
The factory manager rang back the expert, demanding to know why the expert had charged them such a ludicrous fee for less than 5 minutes work. He promptly requested an itemized invoice before hanging up.
The next day, a bill of payment arrived on the manager’s desk. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he saw:
The number one challenge most businesses face online is being able to drive new traffic consistently to their sites.
In the story we’ve just described, how much money did the gizmo factory stand to lose when the machines ground to a halt and no one in the factory floor had the expertise to fix it? Did the expert in our story not have every right to demand fair compensation for having spent years acquiring the knowledge, skills and expertise that enabled him to assess and avert a crisis?
Similarly, if you could have a WP website fully configured so all you ever had to do is publish content to it and search engines, social media and dozens of other online properties would be instantly notified, how much time and money would this save you?
(How much better would your business be if you could automate the process of driving traffic to your website?)
While many experts often make difficult things look simple, it rarely turns out to be that way.
Knowing how to expertly configure a WordPress site requires more than adding some pages with content and configuring a few basic settings. It also requires knowing where to tap! In other words, knowing things like:
- Which programs need to be installed for certain things to occur on your site.
- Which 3rd-party accounts you need to set up and activate to achieve specific outcomes
- Which internal and external settings need to be configured in order to make sure everything will function as expected, etc.
(Driving web traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires expertise)
This stage of the traffic automation system is not so technically difficult, but it’s quite involved. The reason why is because it’s not just about installing and configuring a piece of software, clicking a couple of buttons, or configuring some settings in your admin area … it’s all of this and much more.
The configuration stage involves the integration of many components including your web server, your web site, and various external sites and/or online services …
(The configuration stage involves more than just configuring some settings in WordPress)
If we try to flowchart the configuration process, it would look something like this …
(A simplistic diagram showing the activities involved in the configuration process)
Let’s examine these steps in more detail.
Web Hosting
We’re not talking about the process of configuring your hosting account for site installation purposes (this is normally done during the Setup phase). What we are talking about, is fine-tuning settings and options in your server specifically for handling all web traffic …
(During the configuration phase, your server settings need to be fine-tuned for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all web traffic is positive traffic. Some of the web traffic your site can attract will be unwelcome traffic like spam, malicious threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This area of the configuration process, therefore, is all about evaluating your needs, planning for both bad and good traffic and adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This could include things like configuring spam protection and threat prevention, to configuring domain and email forwarding, etc …
(Have you configured your webhosting settings for handling things like email forwarding, page error redirections, etc?)
After checking your server settings and configuring these, the next step is to set up and configure various third-party sites or online services.
External Sites
The purpose of choosing external sites is that all of your content should be published from one central location (your WordPress site) and from there, it will get syndicated automatically to other parts of your web traffic generation system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
Once these external sites have been added to your setup, content linking back to your site will get automatically added to these platforms, indexed by search engines and shared to other social media accounts, even to visitors attracted to the platform itself. Your content and website will be exposed to new sources of traffic and new audiences.
Some of these third-party sites and services will need to be set up before configuring your WordPress settings to help speed up the process 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:
Google Webmasters
(Google Webmasters)
Google Search Console lets you inform Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for automatic page indexing, and provides you with important information, tools and diagnostic reports about your website.
After setting up your account with Google Search Console, this information can be used to automate traffic-related 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, user engagement, marketing campaigns, sales conversions, and more, by tracking all user engagement, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine and social media referrers, etc.
After setting up your account and site details, visitor tracking code can be added to WordPress using a plugin and and sent to other useful applications.
Bing Data And Tools
(Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmasters. Once your account with Bing Webmaster Tools have been set up, you can use this information to automate web traffic settings and notifications in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As discussed in Part Two, WordPress offers users a hosted and a self-hosted option. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress version if you plan to grow a professional web presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great tools, which can be accessed by a number of WordPress plugins. We recommend setting up an account at WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll show you how to integrate these features into your traffic system in Part 4 of this series.
Social Media
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media sites and social bookmarking accounts and bring new visitors to your site)
You will need to have already set up your various social media and social bookmarking accounts in order to 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 pages and drive new visitors to your site.
You should have profiles with all the main social networks – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.
There are lots of social bookmarking sites you can You can syndicate your content to lots of social bookmarking sites. You don’t need to create accounts with all of them, just pick those that will work well with your setup and/or content syndication tools (we cover some of these tools in greater detail when we discuss the Automation phase).
(There are many social sites you can post your content to. Image source ShareThis.com)
Additional Sites, Content Aggregators, Etc.
There are many new online web platforms and RSS aggregators that can serve as secondary-level traffic generation sources. Some are free or provide free access levels, and some offer a range of pricing plans.
For example, here is a content aggregator site that allows you to add a feed from your WordPress site …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Publishing platform for distributed content)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your social profiles and RSS feeds. Your content is displayed in a Pinterest-like format and users can follow your own RebelMouse page.
There are various sites and platforms you can incorporate into your web traffic blueprint. Please feel free to contact us if you need assistance exploring this area further, or to discuss a configuration strategy to suit your needs.
After you have configured your server settings and set up third-party site accounts, it’s time to configure your WordPress site’s settings.
WordPress Configuration
The first step in configuring your site for traffic is to make sure that your global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some key areas.
WordPress Settings
By default, your WordPress dashboard area includes a Settings section that allows you to configure your site’s global settings …
(WordPress settings section)
General Settings
Content entered into fields like Site Title and Tagline can affect your site’s SEO, search indexing, etc …
(Global Settings – General Settings)
Writing Settings
The Writing Settings area contains one of the most important and frequently overlooked automated traffic notification systems available to website owners …
(WordPress Settings – Writing Settings)
As stated in this section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you or your webmaster have intentionally configured your site settings to discourage search engines from indexing your site – see next section, then your site will automatically ping the update services entered into the Update Services text box
By default, only one service is listed …
(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 in this section can have an influence web traffic. For example, your choice of displaying the full content vs summaries of your post, affects how your content displays in RSS readers and blog post digests, and could play a part in someone’s choice to explore your site further, and whether or not they will visit your blog to get 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 instantly ping the list of update services whenever new posts get published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason why search engines should not visit your site, leave this box unchecked …
(Settings Menu – Reading Settings)
Discussion
Although the settings in this section are mostly concerned with how users engage with content on your site, you have the option to allow notifications to sites linked to from your content, 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)
Permalink Settings
Your Permalink settings allow you to publish posts with SEO-friendly URLs …
(Global Settings – Permalink Settings)
Here are some of the options for configuring your site’s SEO-friendly URLs …
(Configuring permalinks)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using WP permalinks here: Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO
WordPress Traffic Plugins – Configuration
WordPress provides users with thousands of plugins that can add just about every type of functionality imaginable to your website, including plugins that add traffic generation capabilities.
Let’s look at examples of plugin categories and plugins that can improve traffic generation
Blog Defender
Once again, it’s important to configure your site for handling both good traffic and bad traffic. No matter what kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot ignore the importance of securing your web sites.
(Security Plugins stop bad traffic from causing your website harm)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress blog invisible to attacks from hackers and bots.
Go here to learn more:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive traffic by making your web pages easier for search engines like Google to index …
(WP SEO Plugin – Yoast SEO)
A plugin like Yoast SEO can significantly improve your site’s search engine optimization. Properly configured, the Yoast SEO 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 to Google’s search results and social media sites Facebook, Twitter, and GooglePlus.
WordPress Social Sharing Plugins
Allowing your visitors to share your content online can help to increase traffic to your site, especially if you publish content that adds value to readers.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing features to their website using free or inexpensive plugins)
WordPress users can easily add social sharing to their site using WordPress plugins.
Most social sharing plugins let you choose which social 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 social plugins even allow you to set up protected content areas on your site which visitors can unlock by liking your page.
Configuring WordPress Traffic Generation Theme Features
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that can help improve your site’s traffic generation capabilities.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring the layout and design of your site, some themes also provide built-in features that let you improve SEO and site linking structure for faster indexing, easily add tracking code, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WordPress themes can be configured for better traffic results)
With a number of WordPress themes, adding social sharing buttons to your pages is as easy as selecting the option to enable this functions …
(Many WordPress themes provide built-in social sharing features that can be easily enabled on with the click of a button)
WordPress Traffic Configuration – Additional Steps
Last (but by no means least) in the web traffic configuration process, are the areas that need to be set up outside of the global settings.
This includes the following:
Website Compliance Pages
Once again, when preparing your site for an increase in traffic numbers, it’s important to plan not only for how to handle good and unwanted traffic but also for all the situations that can damage your business when more and more people find and begin to visit your website.
If you engage in any form of business online, it’s important that your website stays compliant with all legal requirements.
(Is Your Website Or Blog Compliant?)
We have written a detailed article on how to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your website here:
Tags & Categories
Post tags and post categories help to improve your site’s search optimization, which helps to increase traffic.
(WordPress post categories help to improve your site’s search engine optimization, which improves traffic.)
As we strongly recommend in this article, it’s best to review and set up your website’s post tags and categories during the Website Planning Stages.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that the tags and categories that have been set up.
Add A WordPress Site Map
A visitor site map that displays all of your site’s pages and posts is not only a useful navigation tool for users, it can also help external sites find more of your online content …
(Site Map – great for site visitors and beneficial for web traffic too!)
It’s important to note that an HTML site map and an XML sitemap are not the same things. Although Google will index your pages just using an XML sitemap (which plugins like Yoast SEO will create for you – see earlier section), making it easier for visitors to find more pages on your site results in increased traffic.
404 Page Not Found – Don’t Forget To Configure This Too!
When visitors searching online for your website enter the wrong web address or click on hyperlinks pointing to pages on your site that no longer exist, they are greeted with an error page (known as a 404 error page) …
(A WordPress 404 Page)
A 404 Error Page can be turned into a useful source of traffic to your functional pages …
(Configuring your 404 Not Found error page allows you to recover web traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 Not Found page can be set up on your server, there are WordPress plugins that let you easily configure your 404 page from your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress Traffic System: Configuration Phase – Summary
Once you have your website or blog fully set up and expertly configured, all you then need to do is post great content regularly to start generating more traffic.
The process of expertly configuring your WordPress site, however, is quite involved and requires the configuration and integration of different components and web properties …
(Traffic System – Configuration Checklist)
The kind of knowledge and expertise required to perform the configuration process can take many 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 explained in the next article in the WordPress Traffic System series.
This is the end of Part Three
To keep reading about this topic, click here:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive series of tutorials designed to help you learn how to grow your business with a WordPress-powered website and proven online marketing methods.
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