In Part One of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, 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 is not the same as a professionally-configured WordPress web site. An ”expertly configured” WordPress site is a website or blog that is not only built with the WordPress CMS, 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 services, specifically in areas like search engine optimization, content syndication and analytics.
(With an expertly configured WordPress website, all you have to do to automatically bring more traffic is publish content on a regular basis!)
Once your WordPress site has been fully set up and expertly configured, all you need to do then is publish great content regularly to automatically drive traffic.
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 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.
Contents
WordPress Web Traffic System – Setup
If You Have No Website Yet
If you haven’t got a web presence yet, it’s quite simple … get WordPress!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and the easiest 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 learn just how popular WordPress has become as a platform for building a web presence, see this article: How Popular Is WordPress? Statistics About WordPress Usage
After making the choice to build your site with WordPress, the next step is to decide which type of WordPress platform you will use to build your web presence on.
This step is important as there are two types of WordPress platforms you can choose from …
WordPress.org Or WordPress.com?
(WordPress.org Or WordPress.com?)
WordPress offers both a “self-hosted” and a “hosted” option.
WordPress.org lets you download the full-featured WordPress CMS application at no cost and host a WordPress site or blog under your own domain name. This is the “self-hosted” WordPress option.
In the “hosted option”, WordPress will host your blog for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, a number of limitations to what you can and can’t do with your blog when WordPress.com hosts it at no cost.
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 platform. The benefits of choosing the “self-hosted” option (WordPress.org) far outweigh those of hosting a free site at WordPress.com. You get to have full control over your web presence and avoid the limitations of the hosted option. Keep in mind that you can overcome the limitations of the free hosting platform by upgrading to a paid option, but then why not just 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 web site, first check to see if it has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: How To Check If A Website Is A WordPress Site
If your existing web site runs on WP 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 web site is not a WP web site, then you will need to make some choices.
Take a look at the diagram below. It will help you decide where to set up a WordPress site on your domain …
(Use the above flowchart to help you choose where to set up WordPress on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing site with a WordPress-driven website, or
- Keep your existing web site and add a WordPress-driven blog. Your WordPress blog will then be used to drive traffic to your main 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 look and feel of your existing website using an appropriate WP theme.
To use WordPress as your main website, install the platform in the “root” folder of your domain name (i.e. www.mydomainname.com).
If you have an existing 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 already 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 blog
Once you have set up your WordPress site, the next step is to configure its internal settings. This step is explained in the next article in the series.
This is the end of Part 2
To read the rest of this article, click here:
This article is part of a comprehensive series of articles aimed at helping you learn how to grow your business online with a WordPress-driven website and proven marketing strategies that are easy to implement.
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