In Part One of our WordPress 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 site is not the same thing as a professionally-configured WordPress website or blog. An ”expertly configured” WordPress website is a website that is not only built with WordPress, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take advantage of the tremendous power, ease-of-use and built-in functionality of WordPress and how it integrates with various services, specifically in areas like search engine optimization, content syndication and analytics.
(With an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, all you have to do is publish content regularly to bring traffic!)
Once you have your WordPress site expertly configured and fully set up, all you need to do then is add great content regularly to generate more traffic.
As outlined in Part One of this article series, the components of the automated traffic machine are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we look at the “Setup” phase of this process. We will help you understand the best way to start 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 Web Traffic Automation Blueprint – Setup
If You Don’t Have A Web Presence Yet
If you don’t have a website yet, it’s quite simple … build a WordPress site!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and easy-to-use content management system on the planet. We provide many articles, tips, and tutorials about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to learn just how popular WordPress is around the world, see this article: Some Useful Facts And Figures About WordPress
After choosing to build your site with WordPress, the next step is to choose which type of WordPress platform you will use to build your web presence on.
This step is important because there are two types of WordPress platforms available …
Hosted Or Self-Hosted WordPress?
(Self-Hosted Or Hosted WordPress Site?)
WordPress offers users a “self-hosted” and a “hosted” option.
WordPress.org lets you download the full-featured WordPress software for free and host a WordPress site or blog using your own domain name. This is the “self-hosted” WordPress option.
In 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 site when it is hosted for free at WordPress.com.
If you plan 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 get to have complete control over 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 domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Already Have An Existing Web Site
If you already have an existing site, first, check if your website has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Web Site Runs On The WP CMS Platform
If your existing blog was built using the WP CMS platform, 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 site is not a WP web site, you will need to make some choices.
Take a look at the diagram below. It will help you decide where to set up WordPress on your domain …
(Use the above flowchart 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 website and add a WordPress-driven blog. This blog will then be used to drive traffic to your main site.
If you choose to keep your existing 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 site’s settings and customize the design of your existing site using a closely-matching WP theme.
To use WordPress as your main website, install the software in the “root” directory of your domain (i.e. mydomainname.com).
If you already 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 the subfolder anything you like).
If you already have a website 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 site
Once you have set up your WordPress site, the next step is to configure it. This step is explained in the next article in the WordPress Traffic Blueprint series.
This is the end of Section Two
To continue reading about this topic, click here:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive series of tutorials designed to help you learn how to grow your business online inexpensively and drive traffic organically using a WordPress-powered website and proven marketing strategies that are easy to implement.
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