In Part One of our WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint article series, we explained that the key to turning your site into an automated traffic generation machine is to use an “expertly configured” WordPress website.
As we also explained, an expertly configured WordPress website is not the same as a professionally-configured WordPress website. An ”expertly configured” WordPress blog is a site that is not only driven by WordPress, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take full advantage of the tremendous power, features and functionality of WordPress and its integration with various sites, specifically in areas like SEO, content syndication and reporting.
(With an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, all you have to do is publish content on a regular basis to automatically generate web traffic!)
Once your WordPress site has been expertly configured and fully set up, all you then need to do to automatically bring traffic is add great content regularly.
As outlined in Part 1 of this article series, the components of the automated website traffic machine are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we discuss the “Setup” phase of the traffic automation process. The focus of this section is to help you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a website yet, or if you already have an existing site that may or may not have been built using WordPress.
WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint – Setup Phase
If You Don’t Have A Web Presence
If you don’t have a website yet, it’s quite simple … build your website with WordPress!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and the easiest to use content management system available. We provide loads of articles, tutorials, and tips about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to learn just how popular WordPress has become with businesses worldwide, see this article: WordPress: Statistics And Popularity
After making the choice to build your website with WordPress, the next step is to decide which WordPress platform you will use to run your web presence on.
This step is important because there are two types of WordPress platforms available …
Self-Hosted vs Hosted WordPress
(WordPress.org vs WordPress.com)
WordPress offers users a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
WordPress.org lets you download the full-featured WordPress software at no cost and host a WordPress site or blog under your own domain name. This is the “self-hosted” WordPress option.
In the “hosted option”, WordPress will host your site for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, some limitations on what you can and can’t do with your blog when WordPress.com hosts it at no cost.
If you plan to build a professional business presence online and you want to set up the traffic system described here, then choose the “self-hosted” WordPress version. The benefits of choosing the “self-hosted” option (WordPress.org) far outweigh those of hosting a free site at WordPress.com. You have complete control over your web presence and avoid the limitations of the hosted option. Keep in mind that you can overcome the limitations of the free hosting platform by upgrading to a paid option, but then why not start off with a WordPress site hosted on your own domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Have An Existing Website
If you already own an existing web site, first check to see if it has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: How To Tell If Your Web Site Is A WordPress Web Site
If your existing site is a WordPress site, move to the next step, and make sure that your site’s internal settings have been properly configured. We cover this step in more detail in another tutorial.
If your existing web site is not a WP site, then you have some decisions to make.
Take a look at the diagram below …
(Use the above flowchart to help you decide where to set up WordPress on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing site with a WordPress site, or
- Keep your existing website and add a WordPress blog. This blog will then be used to drive traffic to your main web site.
If you choose to keep your existing web site and add a WordPress blog, make sure to use the self-hosted version of WordPress, which requires your own domain name and webhosting, but allows you to fully configure your site’s settings and customize the look and feel of your existing web site using a suitable theme.
To use WordPress as your main site, install the platform in the “root” folder of your domain name (e.g. www.mydomainname.com).
If you have an existing website, then you will want to install WordPress in a subfolder of your domain, e.g. www.mydomainname.com/blog (you can name the subfolder anything you want).
If you already have a site that you don’t want to delete or replace with a WordPress site, the other option you have is to set up your WordPress site or blog on an entirely different domain.
This way:
- mydomainname.com – goes to your existing website
- myotherdomain.com – goes to your WordPress blog
Once you have set up your WordPress site, the next step is to configure its internal settings. This step is addressed in the next article in the WordPress Traffic Blueprint series.
This is the end of Section Two
To keep reading this article, click here:
This article is part of an article series aimed at helping business owners learn how to grow their business with a WordPress website or blog and proven online marketing strategies.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now
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