Welcome to Part 3 of our Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to turn your site into an automated traffic generation machine using the WordPress CMS.
In Part 1 of this series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress site is the key to generating automated web traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do is post great content on a regular basis to generate traffic!)
In Part Two, we focused on the setup phase of this process. We helped you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a website yet, how to set things up if you already have a site, and what to do if your existing site has been built with WordPress.
(In Part 2 we show you how to set up a WordPress site on your domain)
In this section, we will discuss the configuration stage of the traffic blueprint. We explain how a WordPress site should be configured to ensure that traffic will automatically start flowing as you begin posting content on your website.
WordPress Traffic Automation System – Configuration Phase
The ability to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by many website owners as one of the greatest challenges they face online. With business becoming increasingly more competitive on a global scale, it’s worth looking into every advantage that can help you improve your performance and results online.
Having the ability to generate traffic on demand is a huge advantage. An expertly configured WordPress site gives your business a flying start and an immediate competitive advantage online.
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 installed and set up by a website-building expert but not necessarily configured to its fullest advantage.
Here’s a simple way to understand the differences:
An expertly configured WordPress website gives you a professional web presence with online business marketing automation!
(An expertly configured site gives you a professional web presence with an automated online business marketing process!)
Not only is additional labor required to build and integrate an automated online business marketing process into your website, but also a special type of expertise.
Let me illustrate this point with a joke.
Knowing Where To Tap
All is moving along in the widget plant when everything suddenly ceases working.
As no one can figure out what’s happened, the plant manager decides to call in an expert.
Promptly after arriving, the expert heads straight towards the control box. After staring silently at the electronic components for what seems like 2 minutes or less, the expert then produces a teensy-weensy little hammer and makes a gentle tap about 2 cm from the left edge of the control unit.
Immediately, every machine returns to normal.
The manager is greatly overjoyed as he thanks the expert, who then leaves as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days later, the manager receives a request of payment for services totalling $5,000.
Confused and outraged, the manager picks up the phone and rings the expert. Why had they had been charged so much for so little time delivering such minimal amount of work? He promptly requests an itemized invoice to be sent and hangs up.
The next day, a bill of payment arrives in the manager’s intray. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he sees:
The number one challenge most businesses face online is driving new visitors to their sites.
How much money did the plant stand to lose when production ground to a halt and no one in the business was able to fix it? Did the expert not have the right to be compensated fairly for spending years developing the knowledge, skills and expertise that allowed him to repair a costly problem?
Similarly, if you could have your web site configured so all you had to do is publish content to it and search engines, social networking sites and dozens of other web properties would be immediately notified, how much time and money would you save?
(How much better would your business be if you could automate the process of attracting new visitors to your website?)
While the solution to many problems may seem ridiculously simple once it’s been implemented, it rarely turns out to be that way.
Knowing how to expertly configure a WordPress site involves more than simply installing a website and configuring some basic settings. It involves knowing where to tap! This includes knowing things such as:
- Which programs you need to install to add certain functionalities to your site.
- Which third-party services you need to set up and activate to get certain outcomes
- Which options need to be configured to make sure everything will work to plan, etc.
(Generating new traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires knowledge and expertise)
Although this stage of the WordPress traffic automation system may not seem so technically difficult, it can be quite involved. This is because it’s not as easy as installing a piece of software, clicking a button, or configuring some settings in your dashboard area … it’s all this and much more.
The configuration phase involves the integration of different parts including your web server, your website, and various third-party sites and services …
(The configuration phase involves more than just configuring a few WordPress settings)
If we try to flowchart the configuration process, it would look like this …
(A simplistic flowchart showing the activities involved in the configuration process)
Let’s take a look at these steps in more detail.
Your Server – Configuration
We’re not talking here about the process of configuring your hosting account for website installation purposes. We’re talking about configuring settings and options in your web server that affect how your website will handle all web traffic …
(During the configuration stage, your web server settings need to be fine-tuned for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all web traffic is welcome traffic. Some of the web traffic your site will attract will be unwanted traffic like spam, security threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This stage of the configuration process, therefore, is about planning for both good and bad traffic and then adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This can include things like configuring spam protection and security threat prevention, to configuring your domain and email forwarding, setting up htaccess redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your control panel settings for handling things like emails, page error redirections, etc?)
After your server settings have been checked and configured, the next step is to set up and configure various external sites.
Third-Party Accounts Integration
The purpose of adding external sites is that all content gets published from one central location (your site) and from there, it gets distributed automatically to other parts of your traffic generation system, or notify traffic-related web properties and applications.
After adding these external sites to your traffic network, content linking back to your site will be automatically added to these platforms, indexed by search engines and shared to other social media sites, even to visitors attracted to the platform itself. Your website will then be given exposure to new sources of traffic and new audiences.
Some of the third-party sites and services will need to have accounts set up before configuring your WordPress settings to speed up the 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 Search Console
(Google Webmaster Tools)
Google Webmasters lets you inform Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for faster page indexing, and provides site owners with essential data, tools, and diagnostic reports about their website.
Once your account has been with Google have been set up, the information can be used with web traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your site’s performance, SEO, marketing campaigns, and more, by tracking all user behavior, pages visited, keywords searched for, social media referrers, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account and site details have been set up, you can add traffic monitoring information to all of your pages in WordPress via a simple Google Analytics plugin and send data instantly to various other useful applications and reporting tools.
Bing Webmaster Tools
(Drive more traffic with Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmasters. Once your Bing Webmaster Tools account is set up, you can use your information with web traffic-related settings in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO (see further below) and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As discussed in Part Two, WordPress offers users a hosted (WordPress.com) and a self-hosted (WordPress.org) option. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress option if you are planning to build a professional web presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great features, which can be accessed by a number of WordPress plugins. We recommend setting up an account with WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll show you how to integrate these features into your automated web traffic generation system in Part Four of this series.
Social Media
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media and social bookmarking accounts and attract new traffic to your site)
You will need your various social media and social bookmarking accounts set up 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 sites and get new traffic to your site.
You should set up accounts and profiles with all the well-known social networks – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.
There are lots of social bookmarking sites you can syndicate your content to. You don’t need to go crazy, just pick the ones that will work with your system and/or content syndication tools (we cover some of these tools in greater detail during the Automation phase).
(You can post your content to loads of social bookmarking sites. Image source ShareThis.com)
Additional Solutions, Aggregators, Etc.
There are many new online web platforms and RSS aggregators that can act as secondary-level traffic generation sources. Some are free or provide free access levels, and some are more suitable for enterprise-level applications.
For example, here is a content aggregator that lets you add a feed from your site …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse)
RebelMouse is a news aggregator for your social profiles and RSS feeds. Your content is displayed in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your page.
There are various sites and platforms that can be incorporated into your own web traffic system. Please contact us if you need assistance exploring some of these, 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.
Configuring Your WordPress Site For Traffic
The first step in configuring your WordPress site for traffic is to make sure that your global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some of the important areas.
WordPress Settings
Your WordPress dashboard area contains a Settings menu that allows you to configure your site’s main settings …
(WordPress menu – Settings)
General Settings
Fields like Site Title and Tagline can influence your site’s SEO, search listings, etc …
(Settings Menu – General Settings)
Writing Settings
The Writing Settings section contains a powerful and frequently overlooked built-in traffic notification system …
(WordPress Settings – Writing Settings Screen)
As stated in this section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you have intentionally configured your settings to discourage search engines from indexing your site, then your site will automatically ping the list of update services entered into the Update Services section
By default, when WordPress is installed, only one service is available …
(Update Services – A Powerful Traffic Feature Of WordPress)
You can notify dozens of update services automatically with WordPress …
(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 your content gets seen by readers 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 summaries of your post, affects how your content shows up in RSS readers and RSS email campaigns, and could play a part in someone’s choice to explore your content further, and whether or not they will visit your site to get the rest of the content from summaries, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
The main setting here as far as your traffic system is concerned is whether the Search Engine Visibility check box is enabled or not.
Normally, you would want search engines to visit your site. Leaving the box unchecked enables your site to instantly notify your update services list when a new post is 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 Section)
Discussion Settings
Although discussion settings are mostly concerned with how users engage with content on your site, you have the option to allow notifications to blogs 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 …
(Global Settings – Discussion Settings)
Permalinks
Your Permalink settings allow your site to publish posts with SEO-friendly URLs …
(WordPress Settings – Permalink Settings)
Here are some of the options for configuring your SEO-friendly URLs …
(Configuring post permalinks)
To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, go here: Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO
Plugin Settings
The WordPress developer community makes available thousands of plugins that help to add just about every kind of functionality imaginable to your site, including plugins with features that help to improve traffic generation.
Here are some types of plugin categories that affect traffic and plugin examples
Blog Defender WordPress Security Plugin
Once again, it’s important to configure your website for dealing with both good traffic and bad traffic. No web site is guaranteed immunity from being attacked.
(Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress site invisible to botnet and hacker attacks.
More info:
SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive more traffic by making your web pages more search engine friendly …
(WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast SEO help drive more traffic by improving the search engine friendliness of your website)
Use a plugin like Yoast SEO to improve your SEO. Properly configured, the Yoast SEO plugin not only makes your site easier for search engines like Google to index, it allows you to specify how your content will show up in Google’s search results and social media sites Facebook, Twitter, and GooglePlus.
Social Plugins
Allowing your visitors to share your content with members of their social networks can help boost traffic to your site, especially if you provide great content that adds real value to readers.
(WordPress users can easily add social features to their site with WordPress plugins)
You can add social sharing buttons to your site easily with WordPress plugins.
Most social 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 protect content which users can unlock by linking or tweeting your page.
WordPress Traffic Generation Theme Features
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that can help grow your site’s traffic.
For example, as well as options and settings for configuring design and layout aspects of your site, many themes also provide built-in features that let you improve search optimization and site linking structure for faster indexing, easily add tracking code, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many themes like Graphene (a free theme) allow you to configure options and settings for improved traffic results)
With many quality themes, adding social sharing features to your pages is as easy as clicking a few buttons to enable the function …
(Many WordPress themes provide built-in social sharing features that can be easily enabled on with the click of a button)
WordPress Traffic System – Other Areas To Consider
Last but not least in the configuration process, are the components that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
This includes the following:
Website Compliance Pages
Once again, when preparing your site for an increase in traffic, it’s important to plan not only how to handle good and bad traffic but also for all the situations that can hurt your business as more and more people find and begin to visit your website.
If you do any type of business online (or plan to), you need to ensure that your website complies with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate business online.
(Does Your Site Comply With The Law?)
If you need help adding legal pages to WordPress, see this article:
Post Categories And Post Tags
Post categories and tags help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better classify and index your pages.
(WordPress post categories help search engines index your pages, which helps you get more traffic.)
As we strongly recommend in this article, it’s best to set up your site’s categories and tags during the Website Planning Process.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that your site’s post tags and post categories have been correctly set up to deliver optimal results.
Site Map
A site map that displays all of your site’s pages and posts to visitors is not only a useful navigation tool, it can also help external sites find your web content …
(A site map is not just great for visitors, but for web traffic too!)
An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are not the same thing. Only search engines can read an XML sitemap. Although Google will index your site just from an XML sitemap (which a plugin like Yoast SEO can provide – see earlier section), allowing visitors to find more pages on your site can result in increased traffic.
404 Page Not Found – Don’t Forget This!
When online users enter the wrong web address or click on an invalid link, they will normally be presented with a 404 error page …
(A WordPress 404 Error Page)
A 404 Not Found error page can redirect confused visitors to your functional web pages …
(Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to recover web traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 error page can be set up in your web server, there are several plugins for WordPress that let you easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress admin.
WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint: Configuration Phase – Summary
Once your WordPress site has been expertly configured and fully set up, all you need to do then is post fresh content on a regular basis to automatically start attracting web traffic.
The process of expertly configuring a WordPress site, however, can be quite involved and requires the configuration and integration of a number of different elements and web properties …
(Traffic Blueprint – Configuration Checklist)
The expertise involved in expertly configuring a WordPress site typically takes some web developers a long time to learn.
Once you have configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the process. This step is explained in the next article in our series.
This is the end of Section 3
To continue reading this article, click on the link below:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive article series aimed at helping business owners learn how to grow their business and drive traffic organically with a WordPress-driven website and proven online marketing methods.
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group
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