In Part 1 of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series overview, we explained that the key to turning your site into an automated web traffic generation machine is to use an “expertly configured” WordPress website.
As we also explained, an expertly configured WordPress website or blog is not the same as a professionally-configured WordPress website. An ”expertly configured” WordPress website is a site that is not only driven by the WordPress CMS platform, 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 built-in functionality of WordPress and how it can be integrated with various sites, specifically in areas like SEO, content syndication and reporting.
(With an expertly configured WordPress blog, all you have to do to start driving web traffic is add great content on a regular basis!)
Once your WordPress site has been expertly configured and fully set up, all you need to do to drive web traffic is add great content on a regular basis.
As outlined in Part 1 of this article series, the components of the automated web traffic system are as follows:
- Setup
- Configure
- Automate
- Optimize
In this article, we discuss the “Setup” phase of the traffic automation process. We will help you understand the best way to get started if you don’t have a web presence yet, or if you already have an existing site that may or may not have been built using WordPress.
WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – Setup
If You Haven’t Got A Website Yet
If you don’t have a website yet, it’s quite simple … get WordPress!
WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and easy-to-use content management system available. We provide loads of 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 is, see this article: WordPress: Some Facts And Figures
After making the choice to build your website 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 as there are two types of WordPress platforms available …
WordPress Hosted Or WordPress Self-Hosted?
(WordPress – Hosted vs Self-Hosted)
WordPress offers website owners a ”hosted” and a “self-hosted” option.
WordPress.org allows you to download the full-featured WordPress CMS application 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 blog for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, a number of limitations on what you can and can’t do with your site 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 you should choose the “self-hosted” WordPress version. 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 options 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 Have An Existing Website
If you already own an existing web site, check first if it has been built using WordPress.
If you need help with this step, check this article: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Web Site And Free WP-Checking Tools
If your web site 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 existing website was not built with WordPress, then you have some decisions to make.
Take a look at the flowchart below. It will help you choose how to set up a WordPress website or blog on your domain …
(Use the above flowchart to choose how to set up a WordPress web site on your domain)
Basically, you have two choices:
- Replace your existing web site with a WordPress-powered 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 website.
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 of your existing website using a closely-matching theme.
To use WordPress for your main site, install it in the “root” folder of your domain (i.e. 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 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 its internal settings. This step is addressed in the next article in the WordPress Traffic Blueprint series.
This is the end of Section 2
To read more, click here:
This tutorial is part of a comprehensive series of articles aimed at helping you learn how to grow your business online inexpensively using a WordPress website and proven online marketing methods.
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