In Part 1 of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, we explained that the key to turning a website into an automated web traffic generation machine is to use an “expertly configured” WordPress website.
As we also explained, an expertly configured WordPress site is different than a professionally-configured WordPress site. An expertly configured WordPress site is a site that is not only built with the WordPress CMS platform, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take advantage of the tremendous power, features and functionality of WordPress and its integration with other services, specifically in areas like SEO, 3rd-party site notification and analytics.
(With an expertly configured WordPress website, all you have to do is publish great 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 is add great content on a regular basis to start driving traffic organically.
As outlined in Part One of this article series, the components of this automated web traffic blueprint are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we look at the “Setup” phase of the traffic automation process. You will learn the best way to start 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 Blueprint – Setup Phase
If You Have No Website
If you don’t have a web presence yet, it’s quite simple … get a WordPress site!
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 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 web content management system, see this article: Statistics And Market Share Of WordPress
After choosing to build your web presence with WordPress, the next step is to choose which WordPress platform you will run your web presence on.
This step is important because there are two types of WordPress platforms available …
WordPress – Hosted vs Self-Hosted
(WordPress Hosted Or WordPress Self-Hosted?)
WordPress offers users a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
The “self-hosted” option allows you to download the full-featured WordPress software for free from WordPress.org and host a WordPress site or blog under your own domain name.
With the “hosted option”, WordPress hosts your blog for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, some limitations on what you can and can’t do with your site when it is hosted for free at WordPress.com.
If you are planning to build a professional business presence online and you want to set up the traffic system described here, then you should 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 can fully customize your web presence and avoid the limitations of the hosted option. Keep in mind that the free hosting limitations can be overcome by upgrading to a paid option, but then why not start off by hosting a WordPress site on your own domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Already Have An Existing Site
If you already own an existing web site, check first if it has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Blog And WordPress-Checking Tools
If your existing blog was built using WordPress 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 website runs on something other than the WP CMS platform, you have to make some choices.
Take a look at the flowchart 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 web site with a WordPress site, or
- Keep your existing web site and add a WordPress blog. This blog will then be expertly configured and used to drive traffic to your main web site.
If you choose to keep your existing website and add a WordPress blog, make sure to use the self-hosted version of WordPress, which requires your own domain name and web hosting, but allows you to fully configure your blog’s settings and customize the design of your existing web site using a suitable WP theme.
To use WordPress as your main site, install it in the “root” directory of your domain name (i.e. http://mydomainname.com).
If you already have a website, then you will want to install WordPress in a subdirectory of your domain, e.g. www.mydomainname.com/blog (you can name your subfolder whatever you want).
If you have an existing 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 it. This step is covered in the next article in the series.
This is the end of Section Two
To read the rest of this article, click here:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive series of tutorials designed to help website owners learn how to grow their business and drive traffic automatically with a WordPress-driven website and proven marketing methods that are easy to implement.
Get Notified When New WordPress Tutorials Are Published – Subscribe To WPCompendium.org!
***
"Your training is the best in the world! It is simple, yet detailed, direct, understandable, memorable, and complete." Andrea Adams, FinancialJourney.org
***