In Part One of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series overview, we explained that the key to creating an automated web traffic generation machine is to use an “expertly configured” WordPress website.
As we also explained, an expertly configured WordPress web site is not the same as a professionally-configured WordPress site. An ”expertly configured” WordPress site is a website 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 built-in functionality of WordPress and its integration with various services, specifically in areas like SEO, content syndication and analytics.
(With an expertly configured WordPress website, all you have to do to start driving traffic is publish content on a regular basis!)
Once you have your WordPress site expertly configured and fully set up, all you then need to do to automatically generate more traffic is add great content regularly.
As outlined in Part 1 of this article series, the components of this automated website traffic machine are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we discuss the “Setup” phase of this process. You will learn 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 System – Setup
If You Don’t Have A Website Yet
If you don’t have a web presence yet, then it’s really quite simple … build a WordPress website!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and easy-to-use content management system available. We provide many articles, tutorials, and tips on this site about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to learn just how popular WordPress is with businesses worldwide, see this article: Some Facts And Figures About WordPress
After making the choice to build your site with WordPress, the next step is to choose which WordPress platform you will use to build your web presence on.
This is important because there are 2 types of WordPress platforms you can choose from …
WordPress – Self-Hosted Or Hosted?
(WordPress – Hosted Or Self-Hosted?)
WordPress offers website owners a “self-hosted” and a “hosted” option.
WordPress.org allows you to download the full-featured WordPress application at no cost and host a WordPress site or blog under your own domain name. This is the “self-hosted” WordPress option.
With the “hosted option”, WordPress hosts your site 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 for free.
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 version. 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 options by upgrading to a paid option, but then why not just start off with a WordPress site hosted on your own domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Have An Existing Web Site
If you already own an existing site, first check to see if the website has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Website Was Built Using WP Software
If your 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 website runs on something other than the WP CMS platform, you will need to make some choices.
Take a look at the simple diagram below …
(Use this simple diagram to help you choose how to set up WordPress on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing web site with a WordPress website, or
- Keep your existing 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 web site and add a WordPress-powered 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 an appropriate WordPress theme.
To use WordPress for your main site, install the software in the “root” directory of your domain (i.e. 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 subdirectory whatever you like).
If you already 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 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 series.
This is the end of Section Two
To read more, click on the link below:
This tutorial is part of an tutorial series aimed at helping website owners learn how to grow their business online inexpensively and drive traffic automatically using a WordPress website and proven web marketing strategies.
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group
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