Welcome to Part 3 of our Web Site Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to drive traffic automatically to your website using the WordPress CMS platform.
In Part 1 of this series, we provided an overview of the process, and explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website is the key to generating automated traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress website, all you have to do to start generating new traffic is publish fresh content consistently!)
In Part Two, we discussed the setup phase. We helped you understand the best way to start if you don’t have a web presence yet, how to set everything up if you already have a website, and what to do if your site has been built using WordPress.
(In Part 2 we show you where to set up a WordPress web site on your domain)
In this section, we will discuss the configuration phase of the traffic blueprint. We will show you how to configure a WordPress site to ensure that traffic will automatically start flowing simply by consistently posting web content to your web site.
WordPress Traffic Automation System – Configuration Phase
Being able to drive more traffic to one’s website is often cited by many business owners as their greatest challenge online. With business getting so much more competitive worldwide, it’s worth learning about every advantage that can help you get better results online.
The ability to generate traffic on demand can provide website owners with a huge advantage. For WordPress users, having an expertly configured website means having an immediate advantage from the very beginning.
The Difference Is In The Configuration Process
There is a difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a website that has been professionally installed and set up by an expert website developer but not necessarily configured to take advantage of everything WordPress has to offer.
Here is a simple way to explain the main difference:
With a WordPress site that has been expertly configured you get a professional web presence with online business marketing automation!
(An expertly configured website gives you a web presence with an automated online business marketing process!)
Not only is extra work 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 anecdote.
Ludicrous Or Fair? You Decide …
Things were going just fine in the gizmo plant when the machinery suddenly ground to a complete stop.
As no one could figure out what was wrong, the floor manager decided to call in an expert to fix the problem.
The expert arrived shortly afterward and, without saying a word, immediately went towards the control box. After staring silently at the wires and circuitry for less than 5 minutes or so, the expert then took out a tiny hammer and made a single tap near the right edge of the box.
Immediately, the machinery returned to normal.
The plant manager was greatly overjoyed as he thanked the expert, who left as quickly as he had arrived.
A couple of days later, the factory manager received a request for payment of $5,000.
The factory manager called the expert, demanding to know why they were expected to pay such a ridiculously high fee for so little time spent delivering such minimal amount of work and promptly requested an itemized invoice before hanging up.
The next day, an invoice statement arrived and was placed on the manager’s desk. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he saw:
The #1 challenge most businesses face online is driving traffic to their sites.
How much money did the gizmo plant stand to lose when the equipment ground to a halt and no one in the factory floor was able to get things up and running again? Did the expert not have every right to demand fair compensation for investing years acquiring the knowledge and expertise that enabled him to repair a very costly problem?
Similarly, if you could have your website configured so all you ever had to do is publish content to it and search engines, social networking sites 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 site?)
Although the solution to many challenges is often quite simple once it’s been implemented, it rarely is that simple or easy when you try to work things out.
Knowing how to expertly configure a WordPress site requires more than simply installing a website and configuring a few basic settings. It involves knowing where to tap! In other words, knowing things such as:
- Which programs you need to install for specific things to occur on your site.
- Which services you need to set up to achieve desired results
- Which internal and external settings you need to configure in order to ensure that things will function as expected, etc.
(Generating web traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires expertise)
This part of the WordPress traffic automation system is not so technically challenging, but it’s quite involved. This is because it’s not as simple as installing and configuring one or two plugins, clicking a couple of buttons, or configuring some settings in your dashboard area … it’s all this and much more.
Expertly configuring your website is a process that involves your server, your web site, and various external sites or online services …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring some settings in WordPress)
If we try to flowchart the steps involved in the configuration process, it would look something like this …
(A simplified diagram showing the configuration process)
Let’s take a look at these areas in more detail.
Your Web Server
We’re not talking here about the process of configuring your hosting account for website installation purposes. We’re talking about fine-tuning settings and options in your server specifically for handling all web traffic …
(During the configuration stage, your server settings need to be fine-tuned for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all traffic is beneficial traffic. Some of the web traffic you can attract will be unwelcome traffic like bot spam, security threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This stage of the configuration process, therefore, is all about evaluating your needs, planning for both good and bad traffic and then adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This includes things like implementing server-level spam protection and threat prevention, to configuring your domain and email redirections, setting up htaccess file redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your webhosting settings for handling things like email forwarding, page errors, etc?)
After fine-tuning your web server settings and configuring these, the next step is to configure various external sites and services.
Configuring External Sites
The concept behind setting up external sites is that all content gets published from a central location (your site) and from there, it then gets distributed automatically to other parts of your web traffic system, or notify traffic-related web properties and services.
After adding these external sites to your configuration, content linked back to your site gets automatically added to search, social and aggregator sites. Your content and website will be exposed to a new audience and new sources of traffic.
Some sites and services will need to have accounts set up before configuring your site to help 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 before configuring your WordPress settings:
Google Webmasters
(Google Webmaster Tools – create a Google-friendly site)
Google Webmaster Tools lets you tell Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for automatic page indexing, and provides site owners with a range of essential data, tools, and reports about their website.
After setting up your account, the details can be used with web traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress (e.g. using plugins like Yoast SEO) and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your site’s results, SEO, user engagement, marketing efforts, and more, by tracking all user engagement, pages visited, keywords searched for, organic referrals, etc.
After setting up your account, your account code can be added to all pages in WordPress using any of several Google Analytics plugins used with other applications and reporting tools.
Bing Data And Tools
(Drive more traffic with Bing Data And Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmasters. After setting up your account and entering site data, this information can be used to automate web traffic-related settings 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 provides users with the option of a hosted vs self-hosted website. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress version if you are planning to grow a professional online presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great tools, which can be accessed by various WordPress plugins. We recommend setting up an account with WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll explain how to integrate this into your traffic generation system in Part 4 of this series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media sites and social bookmarking accounts and bring new traffic to your site)
You will need to have already set up your various social media and social bookmarking 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 and social bookmarking accounts and bring new visitors to your site.
Make sure you have accounts set up with all the big social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.
There are loads of social sites you can You can post your content to lots of social bookmarking sites. You don’t need to go crazy, just pick those that will work with your setup and/or content sharing tools (we discuss some of these tools in more detail in the Automation phase).
(There are lots of social bookmarking sites you can syndicate your content to. Image source ShareThis.com)
Additional Sites, Aggregators, Etc.
There are many online platforms and content aggregators that can act as second-tier traffic generation sources. Some are free or provide free accounts, and some offer a range of pricing plans.
For example, here is a content aggregator that allows you to add an RSS feed from your site …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your RSS feeds and social profiles. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your own RebelMouse social feed.
There are many different solutions that can be incorporated into your own traffic system. Please contact us if you need assistance exploring some of these further, or to discuss a configuration strategy to suit your needs.
After you have configured your web server and set up accounts with external sites, it’s time to configure your WordPress site’s settings.
Configuring Your WordPress Site
The first step in configuring your site for traffic is to make sure that its global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some key areas.
Global Settings
By default, all WordPress installations include a Settings menu that allows you to configure your site’s global settings …
(WordPress menu – Settings)
General Settings
Fields like Site Title and Tagline can affect your site’s SEO, search results, etc …
(Settings Menu – General Settings)
Writing Settings
The Writing Settings area contains one of the most important and often overlooked traffic notification systems available to WordPress users …
(WordPress Settings – 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 have purposely configured your site 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 text area
By default, when WordPress is installed, this section includes only one entry …
(Update Services)
WordPress lets you notify dozens of update services automatically – just add a list of all the update services you want to notify as soon as you publish a new post to this section and WordPress will do the rest …
(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 Settings
This section affects how visitors will see your content when they visit your home page and blog pages.
The syndication settings in this section can influence web traffic. For example, choosing to display the full content vs a summary of your post, affects how your content displays 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 site to read the rest of the content from excerpts, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
The main setting here as far as traffic is concerned is whether the Search Engine Visibility check box is ticked or not.
Normally, you want to encourage search engines to visit your site. Leaving the box unchecked allows WordPress to instantly notify the update services list when a new post is published (see Writing Settings above). Unless there is a specific reason to discourage search engines from visiting your site, make sure this box is left unticked …
(WordPress Settings – Reading Settings Section)
Discussion
Although the settings in this section 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 posts, 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 you to display posts with SEO-friendly URLs …
(Global Settings – Permalinks Section)
The examples below show some of the options for configuring your site’s permalink URLs …
(Configuring search-friendly URLS)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks in WordPress here: How To Configure Your WordPress Permalinks
WordPress Plugins – Configuration
The WordPress developer community makes available thousands of plugins that help to add almost every type of functionality to your website, including traffic generation.
Here are examples of plugin categories and plugins that improve traffic generation
Blog Defender Security Plugin
Once again, it’s important to configure your WordPress site for handling both good traffic and bad traffic. No blog is safe from a cyber-attack.
(WordPress Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your blog invisible to hackers and bots.
To learn more, go here:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugins help drive traffic by making your web pages more search engine friendly …
(WP SEO Plugin – Yoast SEO)
A plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) can improve your SEO. When properly configured, the Yoast SEO plugin not only makes your web pages easier for search engines like Google to find and index, it allows you to specify how your content will show up in Google’s search results and social media pages, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
Social Plugins
Allowing visitors to share your content with members of their social networks can help drive significant traffic to your site, especially if you post content that adds value to readers.
(You can easily add social sharing to your site with free or inexpensive WordPress plugins)
There are many free or inexpensive social sharing plugins to choose from.
Most social share plugins allow you to specify which social sites visitors can share your content to, embed social buttons into your content, set up custom post messages, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of shares), etc. Some social sharing plugins even allow you to protect content which users can unlock by sharing your page.
WordPress Traffic Theme Features – Configuration
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that can help grow your site’s traffic.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring design and layout aspects of your site, many themes also provide options for improving search optimization and site linking structure for better indexing, add analytics code, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WP themes like Graphene (a highly customizable free theme) can be configured for better traffic results)
With a number of themes, adding social sharing buttons to your website is as easy as selecting the option to enable this functions …
(Many WordPress themes include built-in social sharing features that can be easily enabled on with the click of a button)
Configuring Other WordPress Sections
Last but not least in the traffic configuration process, are the elements that need to be set up outside of the global settings.
This includes:
Compliance Web Pages
Once again, when preparing your website for a growth in visitor numbers, it’s important to plan not only how to handle bad and good traffic but also for all the situations that can damage your business as more and more people begin to visit your website.
If you do business online, it’s important that your website is compliant with legal requirements of government agencies that regulate business practices online.
(Does Your Website Or Blog Comply With All Legal Requirements?)
We have created a detailed article about how to quickly add all necessary legal pages to your site here:
WordPress Categories & Tags
WordPress post categories & tags help improve traffic by improving your site’s search engine optimization.
(Post categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better understand and index your web pages.)
As we strongly recommend in this article, it’s best to review and set up your website’s categories and tags during the Website Planning Stage.
In the configuration phase, you will want to review and make sure that the tags and categories that have been set up.
Add A Site Map To Your WordPress Site
A site map that displays all of your site’s posts and pages to visitors is not only a useful navigation tool, it can also help external sites discover your online 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 site just using an XML sitemap (which a plugin like Yoast SEO can provide – see earlier section), allowing visitors to find more pages on your site can result in increased traffic.
404 Page Not Found – An Additional Source Of Web Traffic!
When online visitors enter the wrong URL or click on an invalid link, they are presented with a 404 Not Found page …
(Default WordPress 404 Not Found error page)
A 404 Not Found page can be configured to redirect confused visitors to your functional pages …
(Configuring your 404 Not Found page allows you to recover traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 page can be set up in your server, there are several WordPress plugins that allow you to easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress admin.
WordPress Traffic System: Configuration Process – Summary
Once you have your website fully set up and expertly configured, all you need to do is publish great content on a consistent basis to automatically start generating new traffic organically.
The process of expertly configuring a WordPress site, however, can be quite involved and requires the configuration and integration of different components and external web properties …
(Traffic System – Configuration Checklist)
The skills and expertise involved in expertly configuring a WordPress site can take some website professionals months to acquire.
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 covered in the next article in our WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint series.
This is the end of Part Three
To read the rest of this article, click here:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive tutorial series aimed at helping you learn how to grow your business online and drive traffic sustainably with a WordPress website or blog and proven online marketing methods.
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