Welcome to Part Three of our WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to create an automated traffic generating machine using the WordPress CMS.
In Part One of this series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website is the key to generating automated traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress blog, all you have to do to begin attracting more web traffic is publish new content on a consistent basis!)
In Part 2, we looked at the setup phase. We helped you understand 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 website was built with WordPress.
(In Part 2 we show you where to set up WordPress on your domain)
In this section, we will look at the configuration phase of the traffic blueprint. You will learn how to configure a WordPress site so you can automatically bring visitors when you start to add web content on your site.
WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint – Configuration
The ability to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by website owners as one of their greatest challenges online. Businesses are becoming increasingly more competitive on a global scale and are exploring any opportunity they can to increase their competitiveness online.
Being able to automatically generate traffic on demand can be a tremendous advantage over the competition. An expertly configured WordPress site gives your business a significant competitive advantage from the very start.
The Configuration Stage Is The Difference
There is a difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a website that has been professionally installed and set up by a web-building expert but not necessarily configured to take advantage of everything WordPress has to offer.
Here’s a simple way to describe the difference:
With a WordPress website that has been expertly configured you get a professional web presence plus online business marketing automation!
(An expertly configured site gives you a web presence and a built-in automated online business marketing system!)
Not only are more steps required 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 little story.
Ludicrous Or Fair? You Decide …
Things were going well in the gizmo assembly workshop when everything suddenly stopped.
As no one could figure out what happened, the floor manager decided to call in an expert.
Promptly after arriving, the expert walked immediately towards the main control box. After staring silently at the schematics for 2 minutes or so, the expert then took out a little hammer and made a single tap near the right edge of the control unit.
Immediately, everything began working once again.
The floor manager was overjoyed as he thanked the expert, who left as quickly as he had arrived.
A couple of days after resolving the incident, the manager received an invoice for the sum of $5,000.
The factory manager dialed the expert, demanding to know why they had been charged such a ludicrous fee for so little time spent delivering such a minimal amount of work and 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 main challenge most businesses face online is driving new traffic to their sites.
How much money did the gizmo factory stand to lose when production stopped working and no one on the business was able to fix it? Did the expert in our story not have the right to be compensated fairly for having spent years acquiring the knowledge and expertise that allowed him to immediately assess and avert a potentially costly crisis?
Similarly, if you could have your website or blog set up and configured so all you have to do is publish content to it and search engines, social followers from Facebook and LinkedIn and dozens of other web properties would be automatically 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?)
Although the solution to many challenges is often quite simple once implemented, it rarely is that simple or easy.
Expertly configuring a WordPress site requires more than adding some pages with content and configuring a few basic settings. It requires knowing where to tap! This includes knowing things such as:
- Which programs need to be installed to get various functionalities on your site.
- Which services need to be set up to achieve certain outcomes
- Which options need to be configured to make sure things will function as planned, etc.
(Generating web traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires knowledge and expertise)
Although this stage of the traffic automation system may not seem so technically challenging, it can be quite complicated. It’s not as simple as installing and configuring a piece of software, clicking a button … it’s all this and much more.
Expertly configuring your website is a complex process that involves your web hosting server, your site, and various third-party sites and services …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring some settings in WordPress)
If the steps involved in the configuration process were to be flowcharted, it would look something like this …
(A simplified flowchart of all the steps involved in the configuration process)
Let’s examine what’s involved.
Web Hosting
We’re not talking about the process of configuring your webhosting account for site installation purposes. What we are talking about, is configuring settings and options in your hosting account specifically for handling all web traffic …
(During the configuration phase, your web server settings need to be checked for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all web traffic is welcome traffic. Some of the traffic your business will attract will be unwelcome traffic like spam, security threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This stage of the configuration process, therefore, is about evaluating your needs, planning for bad and good traffic and then adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This could include looking at things like configuring spam protection and securing server files, to configuring domain and email redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your control panel settings for handling things like email forwarding, page errors, etc?)
After your server settings have been checked and configured (if required), the next step of the configuration phase is to set up various third-party sites.
External Sites
The purpose of setting up external sites is that all of your content should be posted to one central location (your site) and from there, syndicate automatically to other components of your traffic system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
After incorporating these external platforms into your configuration, content with links pointing back to your site will get automatically published on these platforms, indexed by search engines and shared to other social networks, even to visitors attracted to the platform itself. Your site will benefit from exposure online, helping you tap into new sources of traffic.
Some of the sites and online platforms will need to have accounts set up before configuring your WordPress site to help save time and some will need to be done later, during the automation phase.
For example, you will want to set up the following accounts:
Google Search Console
(Google Search Console – create a Google-friendly website or blog)
Google Webmasters lets you inform Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for faster page indexing, and provides you with a range of essential information, tools and diagnostic reports about your website.
After setting up your account and entering site details, 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 website’s results, SEO, user engagement, marketing efforts, sales conversions, and more, by tracking all user behavior, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine and social media referrers, etc.
After setting up your Google Analytics account and site data, you can add visitor tracking information to all of your pages in WordPress via a simple plugin and feed data instantly to other online applications and reporting tools.
Bing Webmaster Tools
(Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmaster Tools. After setting up your account and entering site data, use your account information with web traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As explained in Part Two, WordPress offers both the option of a hosted vs self-hosted website. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress option if you are planning to grow a professional online presence for your business.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great features, which a number of WordPress plugins can access. 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 article series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media sites and drive new visitors 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.
After setting up and configuring everything, you will be able to syndicate your content automatically to your social media and social bookmarking accounts and get new visitors to your site.
Set up accounts with all of the popular social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.
There are loads of social bookmarking sites you can You can syndicate your content to loads of social bookmarking sites. You don’t need to create accounts with all of them, just choose those that will work well with your setup and/or content syndication tools.
(There are many social sites you can syndicate your content to. Image: ShareThis.com)
Additional Platforms, Content Aggregators, Etc.
There are a number of emerging platforms and content aggregators that can act as second-tier 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 that allows you to add your WordPress blog feed …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your social profiles and RSS feeds. Your content is displayed in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your social feed.
There are many different solutions you can incorporate into your traffic system. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to explore some of these and discuss a strategy to suit your needs.
Once you have configured your web server and set up accounts with external sites, it’s time to configure your WordPress site’s settings.
Configuring WordPress For Traffic
The first step in configuring your site for traffic is to ensure that its global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some of the important areas.
Global WordPress Settings
Your WordPress admin area contains a Settings menu that allows you to modify your site’s global settings …
(WordPress settings menu)
General Settings
Sections like Site Title and Tagline can influence your site’s SEO, search listings, etc …
(Global Settings – General Settings Screen)
Writing Settings
The Writing Settings area contains one of the most important and frequently overlooked built-in traffic notification systems available to WordPress users …
(Global Settings – Writing Settings Area)
As stated in the Update Services section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you have intentionally configured your site settings to prevent search engines from indexing your site, then your site will automatically notify the services entered into the Update Services text area
By default, only one service is listed …
(Update Services – A Powerful Traffic Feature)
WordPress lets you notify dozens of update services automatically …
(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 visitors when they visit your home page and blog pages.
The syndication settings in this section can have an influence web traffic. For example, choosing to display the full content vs summaries of your post, affects how your content displays to users in RSS readers and RSS email campaigns, and could impact someone’s decision to explore your site further, and whether or not they will visit your site to read the rest of the content from summaries, 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 check box is ticked or not.
Generally, you would want search engines to visit your site. Leaving this box unchecked allows your site to automatically ping the list of update services whenever new posts get 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 Screen)
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 sites 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 Screen)
Permalinks
Your Permalink settings allow you to create search engine-friendly URLs …
(WordPress Settings – Permalinks)
The examples below show some of the ways permalinks can be configured …
(Configuring search-friendly URLS)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using WordPress permalinks here: Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO
WordPress Plugin Settings
WordPress provides users with thousands of plugins that help to add almost every kind of functionality to your site, including many plugins that improve traffic generation.
Let’s look at 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 the effects of 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, securing your website or blog is something you cannot ignore.
(Security Plugins stop bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress site invisible to botnets and hackers.
Go here to learn more:
SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive more traffic by improving your site’s SEO …
(WordPress Plugin – Yoast SEO)
Use a powerful plugin like Yoast SEO (formerly known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your website’s search engine optimization. Once properly configured, the Yoast SEO plugin not only makes your web pages easier for search engines like Google and Bing to find, classify and index, it also gives you control over how your content is presented to Google’s search results and social media sites Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
Social Sharing Plugins
Allowing your visitors to easily share your content with their networks can help boost traffic to your site, especially if you publish great content that adds real value to readers.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing buttons to their site with WordPress plugins)
WordPress users can easily add social sharing to their site using free or inexpensive plugins.
Most social share plugins allow you to choose which social sites your content can be shared to, embed social buttons into your content, set up default notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of likes), etc. Some social sharing plugins even allow you to set up protected content areas on your site which visitors can unlock by sharing your page.
Configuring WordPress Traffic Generation Theme Features
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that help you drive more traffic to your site.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring layout and design aspects of your site, some themes also provide built-in features that let you improve SEO and site linking structure for faster indexing, add analytics, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WordPress themes allow you to configure settings for improved traffic results)
With a number of quality themes, adding social sharing features to your site is as easy as clicking a couple of buttons to enable the function …
(Many WordPress themes come with built-in social sharing features)
Additional Areas To Configure
Last but not least in the web traffic system configuration process, are the things that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
These include the following:
Legal Web Pages
Once again, when preparing your website for a growth in visitor numbers, it’s important to plan not only for how to handle good and unwanted traffic but also for all the things that can go wrong when more and more people begin to visit your website.
If you engage in any form of commercial activity online (or plan to), you need to ensure that your site remains compliant with regulatory agencies.
(Is Your Website Or Blog Legally Compliant?)
We have written a detailed article about adding compliance pages to WordPress here:
Post Tags And Post Categories
Post categories & tags help improve traffic by improving your site’s search optimization.
(Categories help improve traffic by improving your site’s search engine optimization.)
As we strongly recommend in this article, it’s best to set up your website’s categories and tags earlier on, during the Website Planning Stage.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that your site’s tags and categories have been correctly set up to deliver optimal results.
Add A WordPress Site Map
A site map that displays all of your site’s posts and pages to visitors is not only a useful navigation tool for users, it can also help external sites discover more of your online content …
(A site map is not just great for visitors, but for web traffic too!)
An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are two different things. Although Google can index your pages just using an XML sitemap (which plugins like Yoast SEO can provide – see earlier section), making it easier for visitors to find more pages on your site can result in increased traffic.
404 Page Not Found – Don’t Lose Traffic!
When visitors searching online for your site type in the wrong URL or click on a dead link, they will normally be greeted with an error – page not found message (known as a 404 Not Found error page) …
(Default WordPress 404 Not Found page)
Configuring your 404 page allows you to recover web traffic that may otherwise be lost. …
(Configuring your 404 page allows you to redirect traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 error page can be set up in your web server, there are several WordPress plugins that let you easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress admin area.
WordPress Traffic Automation System: Configuration Phase – Summary
Once you have your WordPress site fully set up and expertly configured, all you then need to do is publish fresh content on a consistent basis to start attracting web traffic.
The process of expertly configuring your WordPress site, however, is quite involved and requires the configuration and integration of various elements and web properties …
(Traffic System – Configuration Phase Checklist)
The kind of skills and knowledge involved in expertly configuring a WordPress site typically takes some website developers months to acquire.
Once you have expertly configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate as much of the process as you can. This step is addressed in the next article in our WordPress Traffic Automation System series.
This is the end of Section Three
To read the rest of this article, click here:
This article is part of an tutorial series aimed at helping site owners learn how to grow their business online cost-effectively using a WordPress website and proven online marketing methods.
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