Welcome to Part Three of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to automate traffic to your site using WordPress.
In Part One of this series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website is the key to automating traffic to your site …
(With an expertly configured WordPress site, all you have to do is post great content on a consistent basis to attract more traffic!)
In Part Two, we looked at the setup phase. 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 site, and what to do if your existing site was built using WordPress.
(In Part two we show you how to set up a WordPress website or blog on your domain)
In this section of the series, we will look at the configuration phase of this process. We will show you what makes an expertly configured site different, and just what type of work is required to ensure that when all is fully set up and configured, you will bring new visitors automatically simply by posting fresh content to your website.
WordPress Traffic System – Configuration
Finding ways to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by many business owners as the greatest challenge they face online. Businesses are becoming ever more competitive on a global scale and are exploring any advantage available to get better results online.
Being able to generate traffic on demand can be a huge advantage over other competitors. With an expertly configured WordPress site, you have a flying start as soon as your website is launched.
Configuration Is The Difference
There is a significant 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 can offer you.
Here is a simple way to understand the difference:
An expertly configured WordPress site 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 it take additional labor to build and integrate an automated online business marketing system into your website, it also takes a special type of expertise.
Let’s illustrate this with a joke.
Are Experts Worth The Money They Charge?
Everything was going just fine in the widget workshop when things ground to a sudden halt.
As no one could figure out what was wrong, the manager decided to call in an expert to try and fix the problem.
Shortly after arriving, the expert immediately headed to the control box. After staring at the wiring diagrams for less than 3 minutes, the expert then took out a little hammer from his pocket and made a very gentle tap about three cm from the left-hand side of the unit.
Immediately, the whole workshop lit up and began working once more.
The plant manager was delighted as he thanked the expert, who left as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days later, the manager received a service bill for $5,000.
The factory manager dialed the expert, demanding to know why he had charged them so much for less than 5 minutes work and promptly requested an itemized invoice before hanging up.
The next day, an invoice notice arrived on the manager’s desk. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he saw:
The #1 challenge most businesses face online is being able to drive traffic to their sites.
How much money did the plant stand to lose when production ground to a halt and no one in the factory floor was able to get things up and running again? Did the expert not have every right to get paid fairly for having invested years developing the knowledge, skills and expertise that allowed him to quickly assess and fix a very costly problem?
Similarly, if you could have a blog set up so all you had to do is publish content to it and Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and dozens of other web properties would be immediately 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 site?)
Although the solution to many problems is often ridiculously easy once it’s been implemented, it rarely is that simple or easy.
Knowing how to expertly configure a WordPress site involves more than installing a website and configuring a few basic settings. It also involves knowing where to tap! In other words, knowing things like:
- Which programs you need to install to add various functionalities to your site.
- Which services you need to set up and activate to achieve certain outcomes
- Which options you need to configure to ensure that everything functions as planned, etc.
(Generating traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires knowledge and expertise)
Although this stage of the traffic automation system may not seem technically challenging, it can be quite complicated. It’s not as easy as installing one or two plugins, clicking on a button or two, or tweaking some options and settings in your admin area … it’s all of this and much more.
The configuration phase is a complex process that involves your server, your web site, and a number of external sites and services …
(The configuration phase involves more than just configuring a few settings in WordPress)
If the activities involved in the configuration process were to be flowcharted, it would look like this …
(A simplified diagram of the configuration process)
Let’s examine these areas in more detail.
Web Server Configuration
We’re not talking here about the process of configuring your web-hosting account for site installation purposes (this should have been done during the Setup phase). What we are talking about, is fine-tuning settings and options in your web-hosting account that affect how you will handle web traffic …
(During the configuration phase, your web server settings need to be fine-tuned for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all traffic is positive traffic. Some of the traffic your business may attract will be unwelcome traffic like bot spam, malicious threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This part of the configuration process, therefore, requires evaluating your needs, planning for good and bad traffic and adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This could include things like server-level spam protection and preventing security threats, to configuring domain and email redirections, setting up htaccess redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your webhosting settings for handling things like emails, page errors, etc?)
After checking your server settings and configuring these, the next step is to set up and configure various third-party sites and/or online solutions.
External Sites & Solutions – Configuration
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, radiate outwards to other components of your traffic generation system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
After adding these external services to your traffic system, content linked back to your website is automatically published on your search, social and aggregator accounts. Your content and website will receive exposure online, helping your business tap into new sources of traffic.
Some third-party sites and solutions will need to have accounts set up before configuring your WordPress settings to help 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:
Google Search Console
(Google Webmaster Tools – create a Google-friendly website)
Google Webmasters lets you tell Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for faster page indexing, and provides you with a range of essential information, SEO tools and diagnostic reports about your website.
After setting up your account, your information can be used to integrate and automate traffic 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 traffic results, SEO, user engagement, marketing efforts, and more, by tracking all user behaviour, pages visited, keywords searched for, social media referrals, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account is set up, you can add traffic tracking information to WordPress via a simple plugin and feed data instantly to other useful applications and reporting tools.
Bing Data And Tools
(Drive more traffic with Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmaster Tools. After setting up your account and entering site details, this information can be used with web traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress (e.g. using plugins like Yoast SEO) and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As discussed in Part Two, WordPress offers a hosted and a self-hosted option. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress platform if you plan to build a professional web presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great features, which various WordPress plugins can access. We recommend setting up an account at WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll show you how to integrate this into your automated web traffic generation system in Part Four of this series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media and social bookmarking accounts and drive new traffic to your site)
You will need your various social media and social bookmarking accounts set up before you can integrate these with 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 attract new traffic to your site.
Make sure you have set up accounts and profile pages with all of the popular social networks – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.
There are loads of social sites you can set up accounts with and post your content to. You don’t need to go crazy, just pick those that will work with your system and/or content sharing tools.
(There are lots of social bookmarking sites you can post your content to. Image: ShareThis.com)
Additional Services, Content Aggregators, Etc.
There are many new online platforms and content aggregators that can serve as second-tier traffic generation sources. Some are free or provide free levels, and some offer a range of pricing plans to suit different user types.
For example, here is a content aggregator site that allows you to add an RSS feed from your WordPress blog …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Distribute social content to social networks)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your social profiles and RSS feeds. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and users can follow your account.
There are various sites and platforms that can be incorporated into your own web traffic blueprint. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to explore some of these and discuss a configuration plan to suit your needs.
After you have configured your web server and set up external site accounts, it’s time to configure your site’s settings.
WordPress – Configuring Your Site For Traffic
The first step in configuring your site for traffic is to ensure that your global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some key areas.
Global WordPress Settings
By default, your WordPress dashboard area includes a Settings section that allows you to modify your site’s main settings …
(WordPress settings menu)
General Settings
Fields like Site Title and Tagline can affect your site’s SEO, search results, etc …
(Settings Menu – General Settings)
Writing
The Writing Settings section contains a powerful and often overlooked traffic notification system …
(Global Settings – Writing Settings Screen)
As described below the Update Services section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you have specifically chosen to prevent search engines from indexing your site, then your site will automatically ping the list of services entered into the Update Services box
By default, when WordPress is installed, only one service is available …
(Writing Settings – Update Services)
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 and WordPress will do the rest …
(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 influence web traffic. For example, your choice of displaying the full text vs a summary of your post, affects how your content displays in RSS readers and blog post digests, and could impact someone’s choice to explore your content further, and whether or not they will visit your website to get the rest of the content from excerpts, 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 here is whether the Search Engine Visibility check box is enabled or not.
Generally, you want to encourage search engines to visit your site. Leaving the box unchecked allows WordPress to ping the update services list whenever a new post is published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason why search engines should not visit your site, do not check this box …
(WordPress 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 blogs linked to from your articles, 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
Permalinks allow you to create SEO-friendly URLs …
(Global Settings – Permalink Settings)
Here are some of the ways SEO-friendly URLs can be configured …
(Configuring search-friendly URLS)
For a detailed tutorial about setting up permalinks, go here: Changing Your WordPress Permalinks
Plugin Settings
WordPress provides users with plugins that help to add just about every kind 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 help your site generate more traffic
Security Plugins – Blog Defender
Once again, it’s important to configure your site for handling both good traffic and bad traffic. No web site is safe from a cyber attack.
(Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress site invisible to attacks from hackers and botnets.
Go here for more info:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
SEO plugins help drive traffic by making your web content easier for search engines to index …
(WordPress Plugin – Yoast SEO)
A plugin like Yoast SEO (previously known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your SEO. When properly configured, this plugin not only makes your web pages easier for search engines like Google and Bing to find and index, it also lets you specify how your content will show up in Google’s search results and social media sites Twitter, Facebook, and GooglePlus.
Social Sharing Plugins
Allowing your visitors to share your content with their friends and members of their social networks can help drive significant traffic to your site, especially if you post content that adds real value to readers.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing features to their site using free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
You can easily add social sharing buttons to your website with free or inexpensive WordPress plugins.
Many social plugins allow you to specify which social sites your content can be shared to, embed social buttons into your content, set up default update notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of shares), etc. Some plugins even allow you to protect content which users can unlock by linking or tweeting your page.
Configuring WordPress Theme Settings
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that can help you drive more traffic to your site.
For example, as well as options and settings for configuring layout and design aspects of your site, some themes also give you built-in features that let you improve SEO and site linking structure for better indexing, add tracking, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WordPress themes can be configured for improved traffic results)
With many quality themes, adding social sharing buttons and features to your pages is as easy as clicking a button …
(Many WordPress themes include built-in social sharing features that can be easily enabled on with the click of a button)
Other Areas To Configure For Increased Traffic Flow
Last but not least in the web traffic system configuration process, are the areas 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 for how to handle good and unwanted traffic but also for all the things that can go wrong when more and more people start finding and visiting your website.
If you make money online, it’s important that your site remains compliant with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate business practices online.
(Is Your Website Or Blog Legally Compliant?)
If you need help adding legal pages to WordPress, see this article:
Categories & Tags
WordPress categories & tags help improve traffic by allowing search engines to classify and index your website.
(Categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better understand and index your website.)
As we recommend in this article, it’s best to set up your site’s post categories and tags during the Website Planning Phases.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that your site’s post categories and tags have been set up correctly to deliver optimal benefits and results.
Site Map
A site map that displays all of your posts and pages is not only a useful navigation tool, it can also help external sites discover more of your online content …
(A site map is not just great for visitors, but for traffic too!)
It’s important to note that an HTML site map and an XML sitemap are different things. HTML site maps provide readers with a visual map of how your content is structured, while XML sitemaps are mostly code that only search bots can understand. Although Google can index your pages 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.
Your Site’s 404 Page Not Found
When visitors searching for your website type in the wrong web address or click on links pointing to pages on your site that no longer exist, they are greeted with a 404 error page …
(Default WordPress 404 Error Page)
Configuring your 404 page allows you to recover traffic that may otherwise be lost. …
(Configuring your 404 page allows you to recover web traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 error page can be set up on your server, there are WordPress plugins that let you easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint: Configuration Phase – Summary
Once your website or blog has been fully set up and expertly configured, all you then have to do is publish great content consistently to begin attracting web traffic.
The process of expertly configuring a WordPress site, however, can be quite involved , requiring the configuration and integration of a number of different elements and web properties …
(WordPress Traffic System – Configuration Phase Checklist)
The skills and knowledge required to perform this process can take many website professionals months to acquire.
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 WordPress Traffic Blueprint series.
This is the end of Section 3
To read more, click here:
This article is part of a comprehensive series of tutorials designed to help you learn how to grow your business and drive traffic automatically with a WordPress-powered website or blog and proven online marketing strategies.
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