Welcome to Part Three of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to drive new traffic automatically to your site using the WordPress CMS.
In Part 1 of this series, we described the process, and 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 automatically bring more web traffic is add content consistently!)
In Part Two, we focused on the setup phase. We explained the best way to get started if you don’t have a website yet, how to set everything up if you already have a website, and what to do if your website was built using WordPress.
(In Part 2 we show you where to set up WordPress on your domain)
In this section of the series, we will discuss the configuration stage of the traffic system. We will show you how a WordPress site should be configured in order to ensure that traffic will automatically start flowing simply by consistently publishing fresh content to your WordPress site.
WordPress Traffic Automation System – Configuration Phase
The ability to drive more traffic to one’s website is often cited by most website owners as one of the greatest challenges they face online. With business becoming ever more competitive on a global scale, it’s worth looking into every advantage that can help you improve your results online.
Having the ability to automatically generate traffic on demand is a tremendous competitive advantage. For businesses, having an expertly configured website gives WordPress users a flying start from the moment their site is launched.
Configuration Is The Difference
There is a significant difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a site that has been professionally installed and set up by an expert website builder but not necessarily configured to its fullest advantage.
Here is a simple way to describe the difference:
With a WordPress site that has been expertly configured you get a web presence plus online business marketing automation!
(An expertly configured website gives you a professional web presence with a built-in automated online business marketing system!)
Not only does a whole lot more work go into building and integrating an automated online business marketing system into your website, but also a special type of expertise.
Let’s illustrate this with an anecdote.
A True Story (Kind Of) …
All is going well in the gizmo-making factory when things suddenly stop.
No one can figure out what’s happened and so the floor manager decides to call in an expert.
Soon afterwards, the expert arrives and heads directly towards the main control box. After staring silently at the wiring board for 3 minutes, the expert then produces a tiny hammer and makes a single tap about two and half cm from the right-hand side of the control unit.
Immediately, the machinery begins to work once more.
The floor manager is overjoyed as he thanks the expert, who then leaves just as quickly as he had arrived.
A couple of days later, the manager receives an invoice for $5,000.
Furious, the factory manager dials the expert. Demanding to know why they were expected to pay such a large amount of money for less than five minutes work, he then requests an itemized invoice to be sent and hangs up.
The next day, an invoice arrives in the manager’s in-tray. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he sees:
The #1 challenge most businesses face online is being able to consistently drive visitors to their sites.
How much money did the widget factory stand to lose when the equipment ground to a halt and no one on the factory floor had the expertise to get things up and running again? Did the expert not have the right to demand fair compensation for having spent years developing the knowledge, skills and expertise that enabled him to immediately avert a crisis?
Similarly, if you could have a WP web site configured so all you have 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 time and money would you save if you could automate the process of attracting new visitors to your website?)
Although experts often make difficult solutions look easy, it rarely turns out to be that way.
Expertly configuring a WordPress site requires more than adding some pages with content and configuring some basic settings. It involves knowing where to tap! In other words, knowing things like:
- Which plugins you need to install for certain things to occur on your site.
- Which accounts you need to set up to get specific results
- Which options need to be configured in order to ensure that everything functions as envisioned, etc.
(Generating traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires expertise)
This part of the WordPress traffic automation system is not technically difficult, but it’s quite involved and complicated. The reason why is because it’s not just about installing and configuring a solution, configuring some settings in your dashboard area … it’s all of this and so much more.
The configuration stage involves the integration of different components such as your web hosting server, your site, and a number of third-party sites and services …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring a few settings in WordPress)
If all the steps involved in the configuration process were to be flowcharted, it would look something like this …
(A simplistic diagram of the steps involved in the configuration process)
Let’s take a better look at these areas.
Your Web 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). We’re talking about fine-tuning settings in your web-hosting account that affect how your website will handle all web traffic …
(During the configuration phase, your web hosting account settings need to be checked for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all web traffic is beneficial traffic. Some of the web traffic you may attract will be unwanted traffic like bot spam, malicious threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This aspect of the configuration process, therefore, is all about planning for both good and unwanted traffic and then adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This includes looking at things like integrating spam protection and preventing security threats, to configuring your domain and email redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your webhosting settings for handling things like emails, page errors, etc?)
After checking your web server settings and configuring these (if required), the next step of the configuration phase is to set up a number of third-party sites and online services.
3rd-Party Sites Integration
The basic idea of setting up external sites is that all of your content will be posted to one central location (your site) and from there, it will get distributed automatically to other parts of your web traffic system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
After incorporating these external sites into your configuration, content linked back to your website will get automatically posted to search, social and aggregator sites. Your website will receive increased exposure online, helping you tap into a whole new audience and traffic source.
Some of these external web properties and online services will need to have accounts set up before configuring your site’s settings to 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:
Google Webmasters
(Google Webmasters)
Google Search Console lets you inform Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for automatic page indexing, and provides you with useful data, SEO tools and diagnostic reports about your website.
Once your account and site details with Google Webmasters have been set up, the details 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 performance, SEO, marketing efforts, and more, by tracking all user engagement, pages visited, keywords searched for, social media referrers, etc.
After setting up your account and site data, your account information can be integrated with WordPress via a plugin and and fed to other useful applications and reporting tools.
Bing Data And Tools
(Drive more traffic with Bing Webmaster Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Search Console. Once your account with Bing Webmaster Tools are set up, use your information to integrate and automate web traffic settings and notifications in WordPress (e.g. using plugins like Yoast SEO – see further below) and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As explained in Part Two, WordPress offers a hosted (WordPress.com) and a self-hosted (WordPress.org) option. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress version if you plan to grow a professional online presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides a number of useful tools, which can be accessed by a number of WordPress plugins. We recommend setting up an account with WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll explain how to integrate these features into your automated traffic generation system in the next installment of this article series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking Accounts
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media sites and attract new traffic to your site)
You will need to have already set up your social accounts 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 accounts and get new visitors to your site.
Make sure you have pages set up with all of the leading social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.
There are many social sites you can set up accounts with. You don’t need to create accounts with all of them, just choose those that will work well with your system and/or content syndication tools (we will look at some of these tools in greater detail in the Automation phase).
(There are loads of social sites you can post your content to. Image source ShareThis.com)
Additional Services, RSS Aggregators, Etc.
There are a number of emerging web platforms and content aggregators that can act as secondary-level traffic generation sources. Some are free or provide free accounts, and some are paid services.
For example, here is a content aggregator site that allows you to add a feed from your site …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Distribute social content to social networks)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content is displayed in a Pinterest-like format and users can follow your website.
There are many different technologies and third-party applications you can incorporate into your traffic system. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to explore some of these further and discuss a configuration strategy to suit your needs.
After you have configured your web server and set up accounts with third-party sites, it’s time to configure WordPress.
WordPress Site Configuration
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 Settings
Your WordPress administration area contains a Settings section that allows you to configure your site’s global settings …
(WordPress settings section)
General Settings
Fields like Site Title and Tagline affect traffic by influencing your site’s SEO, search listings, etc …
(Global Settings – General Settings)
Writing
The Writing Settings section contains one of the most important and frequently overlooked built-in traffic notification systems available to WordPress users …
(Settings Menu – Writing Settings)
As described 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 settings to discourage search engines from indexing your site, then your site will automatically ping the list of update services entered into the Update Services field
By default, this section contains only one entry …
(Writing Settings – WordPress Update Services)
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 on this page can have an influence web traffic. For example, your choice of displaying the full text vs a summary of your post, affects how your content displays to users in RSS readers and blog post digests, and could affect someone’s choice to explore your site further, and whether or not they will visit your website or blog to view 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 traffic is concerned, however, the most important setting in this section is whether the Search Engine Visibility checkbox is ticked or not.
Normally, you want to encourage search engines to visit your site. Leaving the box unchecked enables your site to notify various update services whenever new posts get published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason why search engines should not visit your site, do not check this box …
(Settings Menu – Reading Settings Screen)
Discussion
Although discussion settings 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 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 …
(Global Settings – Discussion Settings)
Permalink Settings
Permalinks allow your site to publish posts with search engine-friendly URLs …
(Global Settings – Permalinks)
The examples below show some of the options for configuring your search-friendly URLS …
(Configuring permalinks)
To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, refer to this tutorial: How To Improve Your WordPress SEO Using SEO-Friendly URLs
Configuring WordPress Plugin Settings
WordPress provides users with thousands of plugins that can add just about every type of functionality imaginable to your website, including traffic generation.
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 WordPress site for dealing with the effects of both good traffic and bad traffic. No website or blog is guaranteed immunity from cyberattacks.
(Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress site invisible to botnet and hacker attacks.
More information:
SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
SEO plugins help drive more traffic by making your web content more indexable …
(WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast SEO help drive more traffic by improving your site’s SEO)
Use a plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your site’s SEO. Properly configured, the Yoast SEO plugin not only makes your website easier for search engines to index, it also lets you specify how your content will show up in Google’s search results and social media sites Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
Social Sharing Plugins
Allowing visitors to easily share your content online can help to increase traffic to your site, especially if you publish content that adds real value to readers.
(WordPress users can easily add social sharing buttons to their site with WordPress plugins)
You can add social sharing buttons to your site easily using WordPress plugins.
Many social sharing plugins allow you to specify which sites visitors can share your content to, embed social buttons into your content, set up custom notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of likes), etc. Some social plugins even allow you to ‘lock’ content which visitors can unlock by liking your page.
Theme Settings
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that can help grow your traffic.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring the layout and design of your site, some themes also include options for improving search optimization and site navigation structure for better indexing, easily add tracking code, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many 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 couple of buttons and enabling the function …
(Many WordPress themes come with built-in social sharing features)
Configuring Other WordPress Settings
Last but not least in the traffic configuration process, are the areas that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
This includes:
Legal Pages
Once again, when preparing your site for an increase in traffic numbers, it’s important to plan not only 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 do business online (or are planning to), it’s important that your site complies with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate business online.
(Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?)
We have written a detailed article about adding compliance pages to WordPress here:
Post Categories And Tags
Categories & post tags help to improve your site’s search engine optimization, which improves traffic.
(Categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better understand and index your pages.)
As we strongly recommend in this article, your site’s post tags and post categories should be discussed and set up earlier on, during the Website Planning Stage.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that the post categories and tags you have set up.
Add A WordPress Site Map
A site map that lists all of your site’s pages and posts is not only a useful navigation tool, it can also help external sites find more of your web 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 not the same thing. Although search engines like Google can index your pages just using an XML sitemap (which a plugin like Yoast SEO will create for you – see earlier section), making it easier for visitors to find more pages on your site results in increased traffic.
Your 404 Page Not Found
When online visitors enter the wrong URL or click on a link pointing to a destination on your site that no longer exists, they will normally be greeted with a 404 error page …
(Default WordPress 404 Page)
A 404 Error Page can redirect confused visitors to your functional pages …
(Configuring your 404 page allows you to redirect web traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 error page can be set up on your web server, there are WordPress plugins that allow you to easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress admin.
WordPress Traffic System: Configuration Stage – Summary
Once you have your WordPress site fully set up and expertly configured, all you have to do then to start attracting traffic is publish great content on a consistent basis.
The process of expertly configuring your WordPress site, however, can be quite involved and requires the configuration and integration of a number of different components and external web properties …
(WordPress Traffic System – Configuration Checklist)
The kind of skills and knowledge involved in expertly configuring a WordPress site typically takes many website developers a long time to learn.
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 explained in the next article in the WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint series.
This is the end of Section Three
To read the rest of this article, click on the link below:
This article is part of a comprehensive series of tutorials aimed at helping you learn how to grow your business online with a WordPress-driven website and proven online marketing strategies.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum
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