In Part One of our Web Site 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 website is different than a professionally-configured WordPress website. An ”expertly configured” WordPress website or blog is a site that is not only driven by WordPress, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take advantage of the enormous power, ease-of-use and functionality of WordPress and how it can be integrated with other services, specifically in areas like SEO, content syndication and analytics.
(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do is add content on a regular basis to automatically drive traffic!)
Once your WordPress site has been expertly configured and fully set up, all you then need to do to generate more traffic is publish great content regularly.
As outlined in Part One of this article series, the components of this automated website traffic system are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we discuss the “Setup” phase of this process. The focus of this section is to 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 Phase
If You Don’t Have A Web Presence Yet
If you don’t have a website yet, then it’s really quite simple … get 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, tutorials, and tips about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to see just how popular WordPress is around the world, see this article: How Popular Is WordPress? Statistics About WordPress Usage
After choosing to build your website with WordPress, the next step is to choose which WordPress platform you will use to run your web presence on.
This is important because there are two types of WordPress platforms available …
Self-Hosted Or Hosted WordPress?
(WordPress – Self-Hosted vs Hosted)
WordPress provides users with a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
WordPress.org lets you download the full-featured WordPress software for free and 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, some limitations to 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 web presence 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 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 just start off with a WordPress site hosted on your domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?
If You Already Have An Existing Website
If you already own an existing site, check 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 WordPress Software
If your site is powered by WordPress, 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 is not a WordPress site, then you have to make some decisions.
Take a look at the flowchart below. It will help you decide how to set up a WordPress website on your domain …
(Use this simple flowchart to help you decide how to set up a WordPress site on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing website so that your main website is powered by WordPress, or
- Keep your existing site and add a WordPress blog. Your WordPress blog will then be used to drive traffic to your main website.
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 webhosting, but allows you to fully configure your site’s settings and customize the look and feel of your existing web site using a closely-matching theme.
To use WordPress as your main website, install the software in the “root” folder of your domain name (e.g. http://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 want).
If you have a website 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 its internal settings. This step is covered in the next article in the WordPress Traffic Blueprint series.
This is the end of Part 2
To read more, click here:
This article is part of an article series aimed at helping you learn how to grow your business and drive traffic sustainably with a WordPress website and proven marketing methods that are easy and quick to implement.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)
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