In Part One of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series overview, we explained that the key to turning your site into an automated traffic generation machine is to use an “expertly configured” WordPress website.
As we also explained, an expertly configured WordPress website or blog is different than a professionally-configured WordPress website. An expertly configured WordPress blog is a web site that is not only driven by WordPress, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take full advantage of the tremendous power, ease-of-use and built-in functionality of WordPress and its integration with various sites, specifically in areas like search engine optimization, external site syndication and reporting.
(With an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, all you have to do is publish great content on a regular basis to generate more web traffic!)
Once your WordPress site has been expertly configured and fully set up, all you then need to do to bring traffic is publish great content on a regular basis.
As outlined in Part One of this article series, the components of this automated online traffic system are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we look at 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 System – Setup
If You Haven’t Got A Website Yet
If you haven’t got a web presence yet, then it’s really quite simple … build a WordPress site!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and easy-to-use content management system available. We provide many articles, tips, and tutorials on this site about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to grow your business online.
For example, to see just how popular WordPress has become with businesses, see this article: WordPress: Facts And Figures
After choosing to build your web presence with WordPress, the next step is to choose which type of WordPress platform you will use to run your web presence on.
This step is very important as there are 2 types of WordPress platforms available …
WordPress.org vs WordPress.com
(WordPress.org vs WordPress.com)
WordPress offers users a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
With the “self-hosted” option you can download the full-featured WordPress CMS application for free from WordPress.org and host a WordPress site or blog under your own domain name.
In 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 WordPress.com hosts it at no cost.
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 platform. 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 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 website, check first if the site has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Blog Runs On WordPress
If your existing website runs on 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 web site is not powered by WordPress, you have to make some choices.
Take a look at the simple flowchart below …
(Use the above flowchart to help you choose how to set up a WordPress website on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing site with a WordPress-driven site, or
- Keep your existing website 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 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 design and style of your existing website using a suitable WordPress theme.
To use WordPress as your main site, install the platform in the “root” directory of your domain (i.e. mydomainname.com).
If you 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 the subdirectory whatever you want).
If you have an existing 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 Part 2
To read more, click on the link below:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive series of articles designed to help business owners learn how to grow their business online inexpensively and drive traffic organically using a WordPress-driven website and proven online marketing methods.
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