Welcome to Part Three of our WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to turn your website into an automated traffic generating machine using the WordPress CMS platform.
In Part 1 of this series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress site is the key to automating traffic to your website …
(With an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, all you have to do to start generating new web traffic is add new content on a regular basis!)
In Part Two, we discussed 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 website was built with WordPress.
(In Part two we show you where to set up a WordPress web site on your domain)
In this section of the series, we discuss the configuration stage of the WordPress traffic automation system. You will learn how a WordPress site should be configured to ensure that new traffic will automatically start flowing as you begin posting content to your website.
WordPress Web Traffic System – Configuration Phase
Finding ways to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by most website owners as one of their greatest challenges online. With business becoming increasingly more competitive, it’s worth exploring any advantage available to improve your results and performance online.
Having the ability to generate traffic on demand can provide you with a tremendous advantage over other competitors. For WordPress users, having an expertly configured website allows their business to get off with a flying start as soon as their site is launched.
The Configuration Phase Is The Difference
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 its fullest advantage.
Here’s a simple way to understand the differences:
With a WordPress site that has been expertly configured you get a professional web presence with an automated online business marketing system!
(An expertly configured site gives you a web presence and a built-in automated online business marketing process!)
Not only does a whole lot more work go into building and integrating an automated online business marketing system into your website, it also takes a special type of expert knowledge.
Allow me to illustrate this point with an amusing little story.
Ludicrous Or Fair? You Decide …
Everything was moving along in the gizmo-making assembly line when things came to a sudden stop.
No one could figure out what happened and so the plant manager decided to call in an expert to try and fix the problem.
Shortly after arriving, the expert headed immediately towards the main control box. After staring silently at the electronic components for less than 5 minutes or so, the expert then produced a tiny hammer and made a single tap near the top-left edge of the box.
Immediately, everything inside the factory floor sprang to life once again.
The floor manager was greatly overjoyed as he thanked the expert, who left just as quickly as he had arrived.
A couple of days after resolving the incident, the manager received a request for payment of $5,000.
The manager rang back the expert, demanding to know why they were charged such an exorbitant fee for so little time spent delivering such minimal amount of work. He promptly requested an itemized invoice before hanging up.
The next day, an invoice notice arrived and was placed 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 factory stand to lose when the equipment ground to a halt and no one on the business had the expertise required to get things up and running again? Did the expert not have every right to demand fair compensation for having spent years acquiring the knowledge, skills and expertise that allowed him to assess and avert a serious crisis?
Similarly, if you could have your WP blog set up so all you ever had to do is publish content to it and search engines, social media 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?)
While many experts often make difficult solutions look easy, it rarely turns out to be that way.
Expertly configuring a WordPress site is more than adding some pages with content and configuring a few basic settings. It also involves knowing where to tap! In other words, knowing things such as:
- Which programs need to be installed to add various functionalities to your site.
- Which third-party accounts need to be set up and activated to get desired results
- Which internal and external settings need to be configured to make sure processes will work as planned, etc.
(Generating web traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires knowledge and expertise)
This part of the traffic automation system is not technically difficult, but it’s quite involved and time-consuming. It’s not just about installing and configuring a solution, clicking on a button or two, or configuring some settings in your dashboard area … it’s all this and so much more.
Expertly configuring your website involves the integration of different parts such as your web hosting server, your website or blog, and various third-party sites and/or online services …
(The configuration stage involves more than just configuring a few settings in WordPress)
If we were to create a simplified diagram showing the activities involved in the configuration process, it would look something like this …
(A simplistic flowchart of the steps involved in the configuration process)
Let’s take a better look at these areas.
Server Configuration
We’re not talking here about the process of configuring your webhosting account for website installation purposes (this should have been done during the Setup phase). What we are talking about, is fine-tuning settings in your server that affect how your site will handle all web traffic …
(In the configuration phase, your hosting account settings need to be fine-tuned for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all web traffic is welcome traffic. Some of the traffic your business will attract will be unwanted traffic like bot spam, security threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This part of the configuration process, therefore, requires planning for good and bad traffic and adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This can include things like integrating spam protection and preventing security threats, to configuring domain and email forwarding, etc …
(Have you configured your hosting control panel settings for handling things like email forwarding, page errors, etc?)
After your web server settings have been fine-tuned and configured, the next step is to set up and configure various external sites.
External Services
The idea behind setting up external sites is that all content gets posted to a central location (your WordPress site) and from there, it then gets automatically distributed to other parts of your web traffic system, or notify traffic-related web properties and applications.
Once you add these external services to your traffic system, content linking back to your site will get automatically syndicated to search, social and aggregator sites. Your content and business will benefit from added exposure online, helping you tap into a whole new audience and traffic source.
Some of these external sites will need to be set up before configuring your WordPress settings to help speed up the configuration 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 before configuring your WordPress site’s settings:
Google Webmasters
(Google Search Console)
Google Webmaster Tools lets you tell Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for faster page indexing, and provides you with important information, tools and diagnostic reports about your website.
After setting up your account and entering site details with Google Search Console, the details can be used with web traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your site’s performance, SEO, user engagement, marketing campaigns, sales conversions, and more, by tracking all user engagement, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine and social media referrals, etc.
After setting up your Once you have set up Google Analytics, you can add visitor tracking information to all of your pages in WordPress via a Google Analytics plugin and send data automatically to other applications.
Bing Data And Tools
(Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmaster Tools. Once your Bing Webmaster Tools account and site data have been set up, you can use this information with web traffic settings in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As explained in Part Two, WordPress offers website owners the option of a hosted vs self-hosted website. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress platform if you are planning to build a professional business presence online.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides a number of useful tools, which various 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 web traffic system in the next installment of this article series.
Social Media Pages
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media accounts and drive new visitors to your site)
You will need your social media 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 and social bookmarking accounts and bring new traffic to your site.
Make sure you have pages set up with all of the leading social networks – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.
There are many social bookmarking sites you can set up. You don’t need to create accounts with all of them, just choose the ones that will work with your system and/or content sharing tools (we discuss some of these tools in greater detail during the Automation phase).
(You can syndicate your content to lots of social sites. Image: ShareThis.com)
Additional Platforms, RSS Aggregators, Etc.
There are many emerging technology platforms and content aggregators that can act as secondary sources of traffic. Some are free or provide free accounts, and some are more suitable for enterprise-level applications.
For example, here is a content aggregator that lets you add an RSS feed from your site …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Publishing platform for distributed content)
RebelMouse is a news aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your page.
There are many different platforms that can be added to your traffic blueprint. Please feel free to contact us if you need assistance exploring this area further, or to discuss a configuration plan to suit your needs.
Once you have configured your server settings and set up accounts with external sites, it’s time to configure your WordPress site’s settings.
Configuring Your WordPress Site
The first step in configuring your WordPress site for traffic is to ensure that its global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some key areas.
Global WordPress Settings
By default, your WordPress admin area includes a Settings menu that allows you to modify your site’s main settings …
(WordPress settings section)
General Settings
Content entered into fields like Site Title and Tagline can affect your site’s SEO, search indexing, etc …
(Settings Menu – General Settings Screen)
Writing Settings
The Writing Settings section contains a powerful and frequently overlooked automated traffic notification system …
(WordPress Settings – Writing Settings)
As described below 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 chosen to discourage search engines from indexing your site, then your site will automatically ping the list of services entered into the Update Services field
By default, when WordPress is installed, only one service is listed …
(Writing Settings – 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
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 a summary of your post, affects how your content shows up in RSS readers and blog post digests, and could affect someone’s decision to explore your site further, and whether or not they will visit your website 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 main setting here as far as traffic is concerned is whether the Search Engine Visibility checkbox is enabled or not.
Generally, you would want search engines to visit your site. Leaving this box unchecked enables your site to ping all the update services you have listed in the Update Services box whenever new posts get published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason to discourage search engines from visiting your site, leave this box unchecked …
(Global Settings – Reading Settings)
Discussion Settings
Although this section is 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 search engine-friendly URLs …
(Global Settings – Permalinks)
The examples below show some of the options for configuring your site’s search-friendly URLS …
(Configuring permalinks)
For a detailed tutorial on setting up WordPress permalinks, go here: How To Improve Your WordPress SEO With SEO-Friendly URLs
Plugins
The WordPress developer community makes available thousands of plugins that help to add just about every type of functionality to your site, including plugins that add traffic generation capabilities.
Here are some types of plugin categories that affect traffic and plugin examples
Security Plugins – Blog Defender
Once again, it’s important to configure your website for dealing with the effects of both good traffic and bad traffic. No site is immune from cyber-attacks.
(Security Plugins stop bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress blog invisible to bots and hackers.
More information:
SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive more traffic by making your website more search engine friendly …
(SEO plugins like Yoast SEO help drive traffic by making your site more search engine friendly)
A plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your website’s search engine optimization. Properly configured, the Yoast SEO plugin not only makes your web pages easier for search engines like Google to find and index, it allows you to specify how your content will show up in Google’s search results and social media sites Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
WordPress Social Sharing Plugins
Allowing your visitors to easily share your content online 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 features to their site using free or inexpensive plugins)
WordPress users can easily add social sharing to their site with free or inexpensive plugins.
Many social share plugins allow you to select which sites visitors can share your content to, embed social buttons into your content, set up default notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of shares), etc. Some social plugins even allow you to ‘lock’ content which visitors can unlock by sharing your page.
WordPress Traffic Features In Themes
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that help grow your traffic.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring layout and design elements of your website, many themes also include built-in features that let you improve SEO and site navigation structure for better indexing, easily add analytics, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many themes allow you to configure settings and options for improved 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)
Additional Features Of WordPress To Configure
Last but not least in the WordPress traffic blueprint configuration process, are the areas that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
These include the following:
Legal Pages
Once again, when preparing your website for a growth in traffic numbers, it’s important to plan not only for how to deal with good and unwanted traffic but also for all the things that can go wrong as more and more people start finding and visiting your website.
If you make money online, it’s important that your site remains compliant with all government laws and regulations.
(Is Your Website Or Blog Compliant?)
For a detailed article about how to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your WordPress website, see this article:
Tags And Categories
Tags and categories help search engines index your web pages, which helps to increase traffic.
(Post categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better understand and index your web pages.)
As we strongly recommend in this article, it’s best to set up your site’s post tags and categories during the Website Planning Phases.
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 benefits.
Visitor Site Map
A site map that lists all of your posts and pages 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!)
Note: An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are different things. HTML site maps are web pages that link to all other content on your site and provide visitors with a an understandable map of how your content is organized, while XML sitemaps are code that only search bots can interpret. Although Google can index your site just from an XML sitemap (which a plugin like Yoast SEO will create for you – see earlier section), allowing visitors to find more pages on your site can result in increased traffic.
Don’t Forget Your Site’s 404 Error Page
When visitors searching for your site enter the wrong URL or click on links pointing to an incorrect destination on your website, they will typically be greeted with a 404 Not Found page …
(A WordPress 404 Page)
Configuring your 404 page allows you to redirect web traffic that may otherwise be lost. …
(Configuring your 404 page allows you to redirect traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 page can be set up on your server, there are plugins for WordPress that let you easily configure your 404 page from your WordPress admin area.
WordPress Traffic System: Configuration Stage – Summary
Once your website or blog has been expertly configured and fully set up, all you need to do then is publish new content consistently to automatically bring more traffic.
The process of expertly configuring a WordPress site, however, can be quite involved and requires the configuration and integration of various elements and web properties …
(Traffic Blueprint – Configuration Checklist)
The kind of expertise required to perform this process typically takes some website professionals months to learn.
Once you have configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the process. This step is addressed in the next section of the WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint series.
This is the end of Part Three
To read the rest of this article, click here:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive article series designed to help business owners learn how to grow their business online inexpensively and drive traffic automatically using a WordPress website or blog and proven online marketing methods.
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