Welcome to Part Three of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to turn your site into an automated traffic generation machine using WordPress.
In Part 1 of this article series, we 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 start generating more web traffic is post content on a consistent basis!)
In Part Two, we discussed the setup phase. We explained the best way to start 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 site has been built with WordPress.
(In Part 2 we show you how to set up a WordPress site on your domain)
In this section of the series, we look at the configuration stage of this process. We will show you how a WordPress site should be configured to ensure that traffic will automatically start flowing when you post new content to your website.
WordPress Web Traffic Automation System – Configuration
Being able to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by many business owners as the greatest challenge they face online. With business becoming so much more competitive, it’s worth exploring any and every advantage available to get better results online.
Being able to automatically generate traffic on demand can provide website owners with a huge advantage. With an expertly configured WordPress site, your business has an immediate advantage from the word “go”.
The Configuration Stage Is What Makes All The Difference
There is a significant difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a website that has been professionally set up by an expert website builder but not necessarily configured to take advantage of everything WordPress has to offer.
Here is a simple way to understand the differences:
An expertly configured WordPress site gives you a web presence plus an automated online business marketing process!
(An expertly configured site gives you a professional web presence and a built-in automated online business marketing system!)
Not only is extra labor required to build and integrate an automated online business marketing system into your website, but also a special type of expert knowledge.
Let’s illustrate this with an amusing little story.
Ludicrous Or Fair? You Decide …
All was moving along in the gizmo assembly line when suddenly, the equipment stopped.
No one could figure out what went wrong and so the plant manager decided to call in an expert to fix the problem.
Promptly after arriving, the expert headed immediately towards the main control box. After staring silently at the wiring diagrams for 2 minutes, the expert then took out a tiny hammer from his tool belt and made a gentle tap about 3 inches from the right side of the box.
Immediately, the whole workshop lit up and returned to normal.
The manager was filled with joy as he thanked the expert, who left just as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days after resolving the incident, the manager received a bill for $5,000.
The factory manager dialed the expert, demanding to know why they were being charged such a ridiculously high fee for less than five minutes work and then requested an itemized invoice before hanging up.
The next day, an invoice arrived and was placed in the manager’s in-tray. Upon opening it, this is what he saw:
The number one challenge most businesses face online is being able to drive visitors to their sites.
In the story we’ve just described, how much money did the gizmo factory stand to lose when the machines ground to a halt and no one in the factory floor had the expertise to get things up and running again? Did the expert in our story not have every right to demand fair compensation for having invested years developing the knowledge, skills and expertise that allowed him to quickly assess and avert a serious crisis?
Similarly, if you could have a website fully set up and configured so all you have to do is publish new content and search engines, social networks and dozens of other online properties would be instantly notified, how much time and money would you save?
(How much time and money would you save if you could automate the process of attracting new visitors to your website?)
While the solution to many challenges can seem quite simple in hindsight, it rarely turns out to be that way.
Expertly configuring a WordPress site is more than adding some pages with content and configuring basic settings. It involves knowing where to tap! In other words, knowing things such as:
- Which plugins need to be installed for specific things to occur on your site.
- Which third-party accounts you need to set up and activate to get desired outcomes
- Which settings you need to configure in order to make sure things will work as envisioned, etc.
(Generating web traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires knowledge and expertise)
Although this stage of the traffic automation system may not seem technically difficult, it can be quite involved. The reason why is because it’s not as simple as installing and configuring a solution, clicking a couple of buttons … it’s all this and so much more.
Expertly configuring your website is a complex process that involves your web server, your site, and a number of external sites and online services …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring some WordPress settings)
If we try to flowchart all the steps involved in the configuration process, it would look something like this …
(A simplistic diagram of the configuration process)
Let’s examine what’s involved.
Your Web Server – Configuration
We’re not talking about the process of configuring your hosting account for site installation purposes. What we are talking about, is tweaking settings and options in your server specifically for handling web traffic …
(During the configuration stage, your web server settings need to be fine-tuned for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all traffic is welcome traffic. Some of the traffic you will attract will be unwanted traffic like spam, malicious threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This area of the configuration process, therefore, is all about evaluating your needs, planning for both bad and good traffic and adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This could include things like configuring server-level spam protection and securing server files, to configuring your domain and email redirections, setting up htaccess file redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your webhosting settings for handling things like emails, page error redirections, etc?)
Once your web server settings have been checked and configured (if required), the next step is to set up and configure various third-party sites and services.
External Sites
The purpose of setting up external sites is that all content will be published to one central location (your WordPress site) and from there, it will be distributed automatically to other components of your traffic generation system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
After adding these external services to your system, content with links pointing back to your site will be automatically added to these platforms, indexed by search engines and distributed to social media accounts, even to users of the platform itself. Your website receives exposure online, helping your business tap into new sources of traffic.
Some third-party sites will need to have accounts set up before configuring your WordPress site to 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 Webmasters – create a Google-friendly website)
Google Webmasters lets you tell Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for automatic page indexing, and provides site owners with useful data, SEO tools, and diagnostic reports about their website.
Once your account with Google Webmasters have been set up, the details can be used with web traffic-related 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 performance, SEO, user engagement, marketing campaigns, and more, by tracking all user engagement, pages visited, keywords searched for, social media referrals, etc.
After setting up your account, you can add visitor tracking information to all of your web pages in WordPress using a plugin and feed data instantly to other applications and reporting tools.
Bing Webmaster Tools
(Bing Webmaster Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Search Console. After setting up your account with Bing Webmaster Tools, this information can be used with web traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As explained in Part 2, WordPress offers the option of a hosted vs self-hosted website. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress option 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 show you how to integrate this into your automated traffic system in the next installment of this article series.
Social Media Pages
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media and social bookmarking accounts and bring new traffic to your site)
You will need to set up your various social media accounts in order to 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 sites and social bookmarking accounts and bring new traffic to your site.
Make sure you have set up accounts and profile pages with all the leading social networks – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.
There are lots of social bookmarking sites you can You can syndicate your content to many social sites. You don’t need to go crazy, just pick those that will work well with your system and/or content syndication tools (we discuss some of these tools in greater detail in the Automation phase).
(You can post your content to loads of social sites. Image source ShareThis.com)
Additional Solutions, Aggregators, Etc.
There are a number of emerging platforms and content aggregators that can act as secondary-level sources of traffic. Some are free or provide free accounts, and some are paid services.
For example, here is a content aggregator site that lets you add a feed from your WordPress site …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Publishing platform for distributed content)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your page.
There are various technologies and third-party applications that can be incorporated into your traffic blueprint. Please contact us if you need assistance exploring some of these further, or to discuss a configuration plan to suit your needs.
After you have configured your server settings and set up accounts with external sites, it’s time to configure WordPress.
WordPress Site Configuration
The first step in configuring your site for traffic is to make sure that its global settings have been correctly set up.
Let’s go over some of the important areas.
Global Settings
By default, all WordPress installations include a Settings menu that allows you to set up your site’s global settings …
(WordPress settings section)
General Settings
Sections like Site Title and Tagline affect traffic by influencing your site’s SEO, search results, etc …
(WordPress Settings – General Settings Section)
Writing Settings
The Writing Settings area contains one of the most powerful and frequently overlooked traffic notification systems available to website owners …
(Settings Menu – Writing Settings Screen)
As stated in the Update Services section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you or your webmaster have intentionally configured your site settings to discourage search engines from indexing your site – see next section, then your site will automatically ping the services entered into the Update Services field
By default, when WordPress is installed, only one service is available …
(Writing Settings – Update Services)
You can notify dozens of update services automatically with WordPress – just add a list of all the update services you want to notify as soon as you publish a new post to this section …
(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 your content gets seen by visitors when they visit your home page and blog pages.
The syndication settings on this page can influence traffic. For example, choosing to display the full content vs a summary of your post, affects how your content appears in RSS readers and RSS email campaigns, and could play a part in someone’s choice to explore your site further, and whether or not they will visit your site to view the rest of the content from summaries, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
The most important setting in this section as far as your traffic system is concerned is whether the Search Engine Visibility feature is ticked or not.
Generally, you want to encourage search engines to visit your site. Leaving this box unchecked allows your site to instantly ping 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, make sure this box is left unchecked …
(WordPress Settings – Reading Settings)
Discussion
Although discussion settings are 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 …
(WordPress Settings – Discussion Settings)
Permalink Settings
Your Permalink settings allow your site to publish posts with search engine-friendly URLs …
(Settings Menu – Permalink Settings)
Here are some of the ways site’s permalinks can be configured …
(Configuring permalink URLs)
To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this step-by-step tutorial: Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO
Plugin Settings
The WordPress developer community makes available plugins that can add almost every type of functionality imaginable to your website, including plugins with features that help to improve traffic generation.
Here are examples of plugin categories and plugins that can help improve traffic generation
Security Plugins – Blog Defender
Once again, it’s important to configure your website for handling both good traffic and bad traffic. No site is completely immune from being targeted.
(WordPress Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress blog invisible to bot and hacker attacks.
More info:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
SEO plugins help drive traffic by making your site more search engine friendly …
(SEO plugins like Yoast SEO help increase traffic by improving the search engine friendliness of your website)
A plugin like Yoast SEO can significantly improve your website’s search engine optimization. Properly configured, the Yoast SEO plugin not only makes your site easier for search engines like Google to find, classify and index, it also lets you configure how your content will show up in Google’s search results and social media pages, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, and GooglePlus.
WordPress Social Plugins
Allowing your visitors to easily share your content online can help to increase traffic to your site, especially if you publish content that adds value to readers.
(You can easily add social features to your site with free or inexpensive plugins)
There are many social sharing plugins to choose from.
Most social share plugins let you choose which social sites your content can be shared to, embed social buttons into your content, set up default post messages, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of likes), etc. Some social plugins even allow you to ‘lock’ content or downloads which users can unlock by sharing your page.
WordPress Theme Settings – Configuration
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that help you drive more traffic to your site.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring design and layout aspects of your website, some themes also include options for improving SEO and site linking structure for better indexing, easily add tracking code, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WordPress themes can be configured for better traffic results)
With many WordPress themes, adding social sharing features to your content is as easy as clicking a few buttons and enabling the feature …
(Many WordPress themes include built-in social sharing features that can be easily turned on with the click of a button)
Configuring Additional Features Of WordPress For Increased Traffic Results
Last (but by no means least) in the configuration process, are the areas that need to be set up outside of the global settings.
These include the following:
Legal Pages
Once again, when preparing your website for an increase in traffic, it’s important to plan not only for how to handle bad and good traffic but also for all the situations that can seriously affect your business when more and more people find and begin to visit your website.
If you do any type of business online (or are planning to), you need to make sure that your website stays compliant with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate business online.
(Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With The Law?)
If you need help adding legal pages to WordPress, see this article:
Categories And Tags
Tags and post categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better index your website.
(Post categories help to improve your site’s search engine optimization, which improves traffic.)
As we recommend in this article, your site’s tags and categories should be reviewed and set up during the Website Planning Stages.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that the categories and tags that have been set up.
Add A Site Map To Your WordPress Site
A visitor site map that lists all of your site’s posts and pages is not only a useful navigation tool, it can also help external tools find your web content …
(Site Map – great for site visitors and beneficial for web traffic too!)
An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are not the same things. Only search engine bots can understand XML sitemaps. Although search engines like Google will index your pages 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.
Configure Your 404 Page
When visitors searching online for your site enter the wrong web address into their browser or click on hyperlinks pointing to pages on your website that no longer exist, they will normally be greeted with a 404 Not Found page …
(Default WordPress 404 Not Found error page)
Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to redirect traffic that may otherwise be lost. …
(Configuring your 404 Not Found page allows you to recover traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 Not Found page can be set up in your server, there are plugins for WordPress that let you easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress admin area.
WordPress Traffic Automation System: Configuration Process – Summary
Once you have your website or blog fully set up and expertly configured, all you need to do then is add web content consistently to drive web traffic organically.
The process of expertly configuring your WordPress site, however, is quite involved , requiring the configuration and integration of a number of different components and web properties …
(WP Traffic System – Configuration Checklist)
The kind of knowledge and expertise required to perform the configuration stage of the traffic automation process can take many web developers a long time to acquire.
Once you have configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the aspects of the process that can be automated. This step is covered in the next section of the series.
This is the end of Part Three
To read the rest of this article, click on the link below:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive series of tutorials designed to help website owners learn how to grow their business online and drive traffic organically with a WordPress-powered website and proven marketing strategies that are easy and quick to implement.
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