Tag: Web Traffic

Welcome to Part Five of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we explain how to automate traffic to your website using the WordPress CMS platform.

So far, here is what we have covered in this article series:

In Part One of this series, we describe the traffic automation process, and explain why using an expertly configured WordPress website is the key to automating traffic to your website …

(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do is publish fresh content on a consistent basis to attract more web traffic!)

In Part 2, we look at the setup phase of this blueprint. We help you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a website yet, how to set everything up if you already have a site, and what to do if your website was built using WordPress.

(In Part two we show you where to set up a WordPress website on your domain)

In Part Three, we discussed important configuration decisions. We configured all the settings that affect your site’s ability to generate traffic automatically …

(In Part Three you learn how to configure all the settings that can affect your site’s ability to generate traffic automatically)

In Part 4, we looked at ways to automate traffic to your website using WordPress plugins.

(Publish once to WordPress and automate the distribution of your content to all other marketing channels!)

In Part 5 of the WordPress web traffic automation blueprint series, we look at ways to optimize the traffic-getting process using different tools and methods.

WordPress Traffic System – Systems

In addition to having an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, the key to generating targeted traffic consistently is having a clearly-defined business vision, careful digital planning, and excellent systems and process in place.

(Generating consistent traffic is the result of a business vision, sound planning, and great systems)

Let’s briefly review the systems that will help you grow and manage all traffic.

These systems include:

• Marketing Systems – The processes and methods used to create new traffic for your website.
• Technical Systems – The systems and processes used to keep your digital presence up and running for receiving traffic.
• Business Systems – How you manage and respond to traffic.

(Use systems to grow and manage your traffic)

Let’s review the above systems briefly:

Marketing Systems

Your marketing systems consist of the processes and methods used to drive new traffic to your website. You can test your online marketing systems by asking questions such as:

• What channels do you plan to use to drive new traffic (e.g. blogging, video marketing, etc)?
• What resources and portion of your budget will you allocate to these channels?
• How will you create your content, sales funnels, and run your marketing campaigns?
• How will you track conversions and measure the results of your online campaigns?

During the setup and configuration phase, you should have installed an analytics program (e.g. Google Analytics). If you’re just starting out, you may want to consider investing in some paid advertising to help generate some initial data, such as the keywords people are searching online to find your site, which you can use to create content better targeted to your audience.

Technical Systems

Your technical systems keep your digital presence optimized for receiving new traffic. There’s no point sending traffic to your site if your site is experiencing problems or your pages are taking a very long time to load.

Your technical systems need to handle areas like webhosting, site maintenance and support, installing and updating new applications (e.g. plugins), customization, integration, troubleshooting, etc.

You can test your technical systems by questions such as:

• Who is looking after my server?
• Who will look after my website and keep my site, plugins, themes, etc. maintained and up-to-date?
• Who will fix errors, troubleshoot problems, provide technical support and advice, etc. if you experience difficulties?

Many potential problems can be minimized if your website planning and setup and configuration phases have been completed correctly. As with all technology, however, there will always be new problems. Your technical systems need to be robust enough to handle these.

Business Systems

You need good operational systems and processes in place to help you manage and respond to the influx of traffic. These include:

• Communication systems
• Managing human and financial resources
• Handling sales enquiries
• Order fulfillment
• Customer service/training
• etc.

If you intend to outsource your digital marketing and technical maintenance, then you will need to put good systems in place for managing all outsourcing processes.

WordPress Traffic System – Optimizing Traffic Generation

With clear business objectives and great systems in place, all you need to focus your efforts on is developing, optimizing and automating your “traffic loop”.

Let’s go through an example of implementing, optimizing, and automating a traffic loop. Take a look at the flowchart below …

(Implementing, optimizing and automating your traffic loop)

Increase Reach And Visibility Online

The first step of the process is to get your business exposed to as many members of your target audience as your resources will allow.

Traffic Ideas

• Your expertly configured WordPress site will allow you to automatically publish your content on places like Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, etc. The easiest way to increase your reach and visibility online, therefore, is to simply publish more content through your expertly configured WordPress site.
• As mentioned earlier, investing in some paid advertising can help generate actionable data such as the keywords people are searching online to find your website, which you can use to create web content better targeted to your audience.
• Repurpose your content to leverage the power, appeal, and reach of different media formats.
• Continue learning about ways to attract more traffic using methods like Twitter ads, videos, updates, etc.

Tools & Strategies

We’ve covered a number of useful tools, plugins, and methods in earlier sections of this article series.

Also, if you haven’t already, learn more about plugins that allow you to easily add the following to your WordPress site:

• Share your posts online,
• Run contests, offer discounts/downloads for likes/shares,
• Accept user generated content, feeds, etc.
• Distribute content online in other media formats (e.g. videos, PDF guides, infographics, etc.)

Build Authority And Credibility

Getting more of your content out there is good, but to make this more effective, your content needs to build authority and credibility with visitors.

Publishing authoritative content not only helps to establish your credibility, it also improves your chances of getting more views from social sharing and hence more traffic.

Useful Tips And Ideas

• Focus on content that adds value to potential visitors and that showcases your expertise. This includes content that educates and informs readers, training content, user reviews, adding testimonials, etc.
• Consider publishing expert reports that you can sell or distribute online.

Tools, Plugins, & Methods

We have created a detailed course on content creation that you can plug into at no cost here:

Also, see other posts on this site to learn more about plugins that let you easily add the following to your website:

• Legal Pages
• Testimonials
• Customer Support (e.g. Helpdesk, Live Chat, etc.)
• Ratings
• User Reviews
• Badges/Certificates Of Trust

Grow Influence And Engagement

As your business grows, you may want to consider developing “traffic on demand.” You can do this by building a list or starting a group.

With “Traffic On Demand,” most of your traffic will come from customers or subscribers – people who already know you and trust you. Your influence and reputation can be used to generate traffic with a single blog post or email.

Tips

• Encourage visitors to leave comments and start discussions on your site.
• Add an autoresponder newsletter and encourage people to subscribe.
• Add a free, paid, or ‘freemium’ membership site, online forum, or social community.
• Create or join a Facebook/LinkedIn Group.

Tools, Plugins, & Strategies

Many solutions and WordPress plugins are available that are easy to implement and can help increase your online influence and improve user engagement. For example:

• Autoresponders (e.g. Aweber, MailChimp, etc.)
• Contact Forms, Live Chat
• Forums and Social Communities (e.g. bbPress, BuddyPress)
• Polls & Surveys
• Webinars (e.g. Webinar JEO)
• Comment sharing
• Add media, image galleries, etc.

Identify Problems And Provide Solutions

By taking advantage of incoming traffic to listen to what your visitors need, you can develop new services and products, all of which provide new opportunities to generate new sources of web traffic.

Useful Tips

• Create a free or paid e-learning course.
• Consider publishing a “how to” guide that you can sell or distribute online (e.g. sell on Amazon.
• Consider adding an e-commerce store to your business.

Plugins, Tools, And Strategies

If you plan to provide solutions online (as opposed to just providing information), then some of the more useful WordPress plugins you may want to add to your website or blog include:

• Membership Sites (e.g. Wishlist Member, S2 Member, etc.)
• Learning Management Systems (e.g. Courseware)
• Event Registrations (e.g. EventEspresso)

Analyze Data & Feedback

The final step of the process is the collection and analysis of data. Learning to interpret data gathered from existing traffic lets you discover new ways to create additional traffic.

You should already have installed an analytics tool like Google Analytics on your site. Make sure you can also understand the data.

WordPress Web Traffic Automation Blueprint – Summary

All you have to do once you implement the above strategies is repeat the cycle, fine-tuning and refining your methods as you go to grow your traffic and improve your results.

In summary:

• Begin with an expertly configured WordPress site backed by good marketing, technical and business systems,
• Implement a content marketing strategy (consider adding some paid advertising to drive initial traffic and generate useful data) to increase your reach and visibility online,
• Add plugins, list-building strategies, and other solutions if required to help build authority, trust, and credibility, and also to improve engagement with visitors,
• Promote any new solutions, products or services using your existing channels and strategies to generate additional streams of traffic,
• Analyse your data and your results, automate your processes wherever possible, and begin the cycle again.

Hopefully, this article has given you a blueprint that will help you automate and optimize the process of driving traffic to your WordPress web site and build a more successful business online.

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