Welcome to Part 3 of our Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to drive traffic automatically to your site using the WordPress CMS platform.
In Part One of this article series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website or blog is the key to generating automated web traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress blog, all you have to do to attract web traffic is post web content regularly!)
In Part 2, we looked at critical setup decisions. We helped you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a web presence yet, how to set things up if you already have a website, and what to do if your existing website was built with WordPress.
(In Part two we show you how to set up WordPress on your domain)
In this article, we look at the configuration phase of the traffic blueprint. We will show you how a WordPress site should be configured in order to automatically get new visitors just by publishing new content on your website.
WordPress Traffic Automation System – Configuration Phase
The ability to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by most business owners as the greatest challenge they face online. With competition making business survival increasingly more difficult businesses are looking for any advantage available to increase their competitiveness online.
Being able to automatically generate traffic on demand can be a huge competitive advantage. With an expertly configured WordPress site, you have an immediate competitive advantage from the very beginning.
The Difference Is In The Configuration
There is a difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a website that has been professionally set up by a website-building expert but not necessarily configured to take advantage of everything WordPress has to offer.
Here is a simple way to understand the key difference:
An expertly configured WordPress website gives you a professional web presence and online business marketing automation!
(An expertly configured website gives you a web presence with a built-in automated online business marketing system!)
Not only does a whole lot more labor go into building and integrating an automated online business marketing process into your website, it also takes a special type of expertise.
To illustrate this point here is a story.
Are Experts Worth The Money They Charge?
Everything was running smoothly in the widget-making workshop when all of a sudden, all machinery stopped.
No one could figure out what happened and so the plant manager decided to call in an expert to try and fix the problem.
The expert arrived shortly afterwards and, without saying a word, headed out directly to the control box. After staring silently at the wires and circuitry for 2 minutes or so, the expert then produced a teeny-weeny hammer from his tool box and made a single tap about 1 inch from the right edge of the unit.
Immediately, everything in the factory floor sprang back to life.
The floor manager was greatly relieved as he thanked the expert, who left just as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days later, the factory manager received a request for payment of services rendered totalling $5,000.
The manager rang back the expert, demanding to know why they were expected to pay such a ridiculously high fee for so little time spent delivering a minimal amount of work and promptly requested an itemized invoice before hanging up.
The next day, an invoice arrived in the manager’s in-tray. Upon opening it, this is what he saw:
The #1 challenge most businesses face online is being able to consistently drive traffic to their sites.
In the above story, how much money did the factory stand to lose when production ground to a halt and no one in the business had the expertise required to fix it? Did the expert not have every right to be compensated fairly for having invested years building up the knowledge, skills and expertise that allowed him to quickly assess and repair a very costly problem?
Similarly, if you could have a WP web site configured so all you ever had to do is publish content to it and Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and dozens of other web 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 attracting new visitors to your website?)
While the solution to many challenges may seem quite easy once implemented, it rarely is that simple or easy.
Knowing how to expertly configure a WordPress site requires more than adding some pages with content and configuring settings for clients. It also requires knowing where to tap! In other words, knowing things like:
- Which programs need to be installed for specific things to occur on your site.
- Which accounts you need to set up to get certain outcomes
- Which internal and external settings you need to configure to make sure things will work exactly as you have planned, etc.
(Driving new traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires expertise)
Although this part of the traffic automation system may not seem so technically difficult, it can be quite complicated. The reason why is because it’s not just about installing one or two plugins, clicking a couple of buttons … it’s all of this and so much more.
The configuration stage involves the integration of many different parts including your server, your WordPress site, and a number of external sites and/or online services …
(The configuration stage involves more than just configuring some settings in WordPress)
If the activities involved in the configuration process were to be flowcharted, it would look something like this …
(A simplified diagram of the configuration process)
Let’s take a better look at these areas.
Web Server Configuration
We’re not talking here 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 configuring 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 traffic is beneficial traffic. Some of the traffic you will attract will be unwelcome traffic like spam, security threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This part of the configuration process, therefore, requires planning for good and bad traffic and then adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This can include things like spam protection and threat prevention, to configuring domain and email redirections, setting up htaccess and 404 redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your webhosting settings for handling things like emails, page errors, etc?)
After your web server settings have been checked and configured (if required), the next step is to set up and configure a number of third-party sites.
External Web Properties & Accounts – Configuration
The purpose of adding external sites is that all of your content should be published from a central location (your site) and from there, be automatically distributed to other parts of your traffic system, or notify traffic-related web properties and applications.
After incorporating these external sites into your setup, content with links pointing back to your website gets automatically published on search, social and aggregator sites. Your content and business will be exposed to a new audience and source of traffic.
Some of these third-party sites and online services will need to have accounts set up before configuring your WordPress 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 settings:
Google Webmaster Tools
(Google Webmasters – create a Google-friendly website)
Google Search Console lets you notify Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for faster page indexing, and provides site owners with a range of important information, tools, and reports about their website.
After setting up your account with Google Webmaster Tools, the account information can be used with traffic settings and notifications in WordPress and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your site’s traffic performance, SEO, user engagement, marketing efforts, sales conversions, and more, by tracking all user behaviour, pages visited, keywords searched for, organic referrals, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account is set up, account information can be integrated with WordPress using a plugin and automatically sent to various other useful applications and reporting tools.
Bing Webmaster Tools
(Drive more traffic with Bing Webmaster Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Search Console. Once your account is set up, you can use the account information with 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 users the option of a hosted vs self-hosted website. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress option if you plan to grow a professional online presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great features, which a number of WordPress plugins can access. We recommend setting up an account with WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll explain how to integrate this into your web traffic system in Part Four of this article series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking Sites
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media sites and social bookmarking accounts and get new traffic to your site)
You will need your various social media accounts set up in order to configure these as part of your traffic generation system.
After setting up and configuring everything, you will be able to syndicate your content automatically to your social media sites and social bookmarking accounts and drive new visitors to your site.
You should have profiles with all of the main social networks – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.
There are lots of social sites you can post your content to. You don’t need to go crazy, just pick the ones that will work with your setup and/or content syndication tools.
(There are lots of social bookmarking sites you can post your content to. Image source ShareThis.com)
Additional Sites, Content Aggregators, Etc.
There are many online technology platforms and content aggregators that can act as secondary-level sources of traffic. Some are free or provide free plans, and some are more suitable for enterprise-level applications.
For example, here is a content aggregator site that lets you add a feed from your site …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content is displayed in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your RebelMouse page.
There are many different technologies and third-party applications you can add to your traffic system. Please feel free to contact us if you need assistance exploring some of these, or to discuss a configuration plan to suit your needs.
Once you have configured your web server and set up accounts with external services, it’s time to configure WordPress.
WordPress Configuration
The first step in configuring your WordPress site for traffic is to make sure that its global settings have been correctly set up.
Let’s go over some of the important points.
WordPress – Global Settings
Your WordPress administration area contains a Settings section that allows you to configure your site’s global settings …
(WordPress settings section)
General Settings
Sections like Site Title and Tagline can affect your site’s SEO, search listings, etc …
(Settings Menu – General Settings)
Writing
The Writing Settings section contains one of the most important and often overlooked traffic notification systems available to WordPress users …
(Global Settings – Writing Settings)
As stated in the Update Services section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you or your webmaster have purposely configured your site settings to prevent search engines from indexing your site – see next section, then your site will automatically notify the list of services entered into the Update Services box
With an ‘out of the box’ WordPress installation, this section displays only one entry …
(Writing Settings – WordPress Update Services)
You can notify dozens of update services automatically …
(Notify dozens of update services automatically with WordPress!)
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 Settings
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 web traffic. For example, your choice to display the full text vs summaries of your post, affects how your content displays in RSS readers and RSS email campaigns, and could impact someone’s choice 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.
The most important setting here as far as your traffic system is concerned is whether the Search Engine Visibility checkbox is ticked or not.
Typically, you want search engines to visit your site. Leaving this box unchecked allows your site to notify all the update services you have listed when a new post gets published (see Writing Settings above). Unless there is a specific reason why search engines should not visit your site, do not check this box …
(Global Settings – Reading Settings Section)
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 …
(Settings Menu – Discussion Settings)
Permalinks
Permalinks allow you to create SEO-friendly URLs …
(Settings Menu – Permalinks)
The examples below show some of the ways your SEO-friendly URLs can be configured …
(Configuring SEO-friendly URLs)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here: Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO
WordPress – Traffic Generation Plugins
WordPress provides users with 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
WordPress Security Plugins – Blog Defender
Once again, it’s important to configure your WordPress site for handling both good traffic and bad traffic. No site is completely safe from a cyber-attack.
(WordPress Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from causing your website harm)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress site invisible to attacks from hackers and botnets.
More info:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive more traffic by making your website more search engine friendly …
(WordPress SEO plugins help drive traffic by making your website more search engine friendly)
A plugin like Yoast SEO (formerly known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) can significantly improve your website’s search engine optimization. Once 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 sites Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
Social Plugins
Allowing visitors to share your content with others online can help drive significant traffic to your site, especially if you publish content that adds value to readers.
(WordPress users can easily add social features to their site with free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
There are loads of free or inexpensive social sharing plugins available for WordPress users.
Many social plugins allow you to choose which social sites your content can be shared to, embed social buttons into your content, set up default post messages, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of shares), etc. Some social plugins even allow you to ‘lock’ content or downloads which visitors can unlock by sharing your page.
WordPress Traffic Theme Settings – Configuration
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that can help improve your site’s traffic generation capabilities.
For example, as well as options and settings for configuring the design and layout of your website, some themes also provide built-in options for improving search optimization and site navigation structure for faster indexing, add tracking, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WordPress themes can be configured for improved traffic results)
With many WordPress themes, adding social sharing buttons to your website is as easy as clicking a few buttons to enable the function …
(Many WordPress themes provide users with built-in social sharing features)
Other Areas To Configure For Improved Traffic
Last (but by no means least) in the WordPress traffic blueprint configuration process, are the areas that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
This includes the following:
Compliance Pages
Once again, when preparing your site for an increase in visitor numbers, it’s important to plan not only for how to handle good and unwanted traffic but also for all the situations that can seriously affect your business as more and more people start finding and visiting your website.
If you are making money online (or plan to), you need to ensure that your website is compliant with regulatory agencies.
(Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?)
If you need help adding legal pages to WordPress, go here:
WordPress Tags & Categories
Categories & post tags help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better understand and index your website.
(WordPress categories help to improve your site’s SEO, which helps you get more traffic.)
As we recommend in this article, it’s best to discuss and set up your site’s post tags and post categories during the Website Planning Phase.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that the post categories and tags that have been set up.
Add A WordPress Site Map
A site map that lists all of your site’s posts and pages to visitors is not only a useful navigation tool for users, it can also help external tools discover more of your website content …
(A site map is not just great for visitors, but for traffic too!)
An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are different things. Although search engines like 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 results in increased traffic.
404 Page – A Source Of Lost Traffic Opportunities!
When visitors type in the wrong web address or click on a dead hyperlink, they will typically be presented with a 404 error page …
(A WordPress 404 Page)
Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to recover traffic that may otherwise be lost. …
(Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to redirect traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 error page can be set up on your server, there are several WordPress plugins that allow you to easily configure your 404 page from your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress Traffic Automation System: Configuration Process – Summary
Once you have your WordPress site fully set up and expertly configured, all you have to do is publish fresh content consistently to start driving traffic organically.
The process of expertly configuring your WordPress site, however, is quite involved and elaborate , requiring the configuration and integration of a number of different components and web properties …
(Traffic Blueprint – Configuration Checklist)
The kind of knowledge and expertise involved in expertly configuring a WordPress site can take many web developers months to acquire.
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 covered in the next article in the WordPress Traffic System series.
This is the end of Part 3
To read the rest of this article, click here:
This article is part of a comprehensive tutorial series aimed at helping business owners learn how to grow their business online using a WordPress website and proven marketing strategies that are easy to implement.
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