In Part One of our WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, we explained that the key to creating an automated traffic generation machine is to use an “expertly configured” WordPress website.
As we also explained, an expertly configured WordPress website or blog is not the same as a professionally-configured WordPress web site. An ”expertly configured” WordPress site is a website that is not only driven by the WordPress CMS platform, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take full advantage of the enormous power, features and built-in functionality of WordPress and the way it can be integrated with other sites, specifically in areas like SEO, third-party site syndication and reporting.
(With an expertly configured WordPress website, all you have to do to automatically bring traffic is publish content regularly!)
Once you have your WordPress site expertly configured and fully set up, all you need to do is add great content on a regular basis to bring web traffic.
As outlined in Part 1 of this article series, the components of the automated web traffic blueprint are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we discuss the “Setup” phase of the automation process. We will help you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a web presence yet, or if you already have an existing site that may or may not have been built using WordPress.
WordPress Traffic System – Setup
If You Have No Website Yet
If you haven’t got a website yet, then it’s really quite simple … get WordPress!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and the easiest to use content management system on the planet. We provide loads of articles, tutorials, and tips on this site about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to see just how popular WordPress has become as a platform for building a web presence, see this article: WordPress: Usage And Popularity
After choosing to build your web presence with WordPress, the next step is to decide which type of WordPress platform you will run your web presence on.
This is important because there are two types of WordPress platforms you can choose from …
WordPress – Hosted Or Self-Hosted?
(WordPress Hosted Or WordPress Self-Hosted?)
WordPress offers a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
WordPress.org allows you to download the full-featured WordPress software for free and self-host a WordPress site or blog under your own domain name. This is the “self-hosted” WordPress option.
With the “hosted option”, WordPress will host your blog for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, a number of limitations on what you can and can’t do with your blog when WordPress.com hosts it at no cost.
If you are planning to build a professional business presence online and you want to set up the traffic system described here, then choose the “self-hosted” WordPress platform. The benefits of choosing the “self-hosted” option (WordPress.org) far outweigh those of hosting a free blog at WordPress.com. You can fully customize 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 by hosting a WordPress site on your domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Already Have An Existing Website
If you already have an existing site, check to see if it has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Blog Was Built Using The WP CMS Platform
If your existing blog was built using WP software, 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 runs on something other than WordPress, you have some decisions to make.
Take a look at the diagram below …
(Use this simple diagram to decide how to set up WordPress on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing site so that your main website is built using WordPress, or
- Keep your existing web site and add a WordPress blog. Your WordPress 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 a domain name and web hosting, but allows you to fully configure your blog’s settings and customize the design and style of your existing web site using a closely-matching theme.
To use WordPress for your main site, install it in the “root” directory of your domain name (i.e. http://www.mydomainname.com).
If you have a website, then you will want to install WordPress in a subfolder of your domain, e.g. www.mydomainname.com/blog (you can name your subfolder anything you like).
If you have a site that you don’t want to delete or replace with a WordPress site, you can choose 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 site
Once you have set up your WordPress site, the next step is to configure it. This step is covered in the next article in the series.
This is the end of Part 2
To keep reading this article, click here:
This article is part of an article series aimed at helping small business owners learn how to grow their business using a WordPress-driven website and proven marketing strategies that are easy and quick to implement.
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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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