Welcome to Part 4 of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series, where we explain how to create an automated web traffic machine using the WordPress CMS.
So far, here is what we have covered in this article series:
In Part 1, we explain why using an expertly configured WordPress website or blog is the key to automating traffic to your site …
(With an expertly configured WordPress blog, all you have to do is post web content on a consistent basis to automatically drive web traffic!)
In Part 2, we discuss critical setup decisions. We explain the best way to get started if you don’t have a web presence yet, how to set everything up if you already have a site, and what to do if your existing website is built with WordPress.
(In Part two we show you how to set up a WordPress website or blog on your domain)
In Part Three, we looked at important configuration decisions.
Here, we configure all the settings that can affect your site’s traffic-getting ability …
(In Part 3 you learn how to configure hosting settings, WordPress settings, and external settings that can affect your site’s ability to generate traffic automatically)
In this section of the article series, you will learn how to set up various plugins that can help get visitors automatically to your site.
Contents
Why Automate Your Traffic-Getting Process?
Depending on which marketing gurus you get your advice from, you could end up trying to spend an hour a day (or more) promoting your business on social media while also managing your business, your content and your web presence.
Most small businesses lack the time, human resources and budget to run a full-time marketing and content creation department and engage in the kind of content marketing that many marketing experts are prescribing. If you spent most of your time posting updates on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter in addition to writing content for your blog or website, how would anything else in your business ever get done?
(Small business owners spend most of their working hours keeping their businesses up and running. Infographic source: NFIB)
Many business owners spend most of their time simply keeping their businesses up and running. In addition to running a business, there’s sales and marketing. After all, businesses need to stay competitive and grow in order to survive.
Marketing research conducted by email and social media marketing company Vertical Response found that:
- Almost half of all businesses surveyed spent around 6 hours each week on social media (the other half spent even more time – between 6 and 21+ hours per week). This was a 66% increase from the previous year, so if the same research was conducted today, the numbers would probably be even higher.
- More than half of all small businesses surveyed spent 1-3 hours or more creating a blog post.
- Finding and posting content for social media consumed the most time online.
(Small businesses are spending more time marketing and promoting themselves online. Infographic: VerticalResponse)
As businesses spend increasingly larger amounts of time promoting and marketing themselves online as a matter of business survival and competition, this puts more and more pressure on businesses to focus their time on other vital areas …
(Businesses with limited time, resources, and budget and many business areas to focus on need to plan their marketing strategy very carefully.)
Another important thing to consider is that, in addition to spending time social media websites, all of your efforts are going into virtual real estate that you have no control over. You don’t own Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. These companies often will make decisions that can significantly impact your business without consulting you. Why invest so much effort and time building a business on someone else’s real estate? With a self-hosted WordPress website, you can have complete control of your own real estate and post your content automatically to other online accounts.
Automating systems and process to leverage time is nothing new. Businesses of all sizes have been doing it since the Industrial Age. In the Digital Age, however, the exponential growth channels for marketing and promoting a business creates a number of dilemmas for business owners, especially for those with limited resources, time, and marketing budget. For example:
- Which of these channels do you focus more time, budget, and your efforts on?
- Should you invest so much time and effort building assets on sites that you do not control (e.g. YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.) while ignoring your own domain?
- Do you create new content for every channel you plan to include in your marketing strategy?
The Benefits Of Automating Your Traffic-Getting Process With WordPress
What I’d like to share with you now, is a free, simple, and effective method for automating your traffic-getting process with WordPress.
With this strategy, you will be able to:
- Save time creating web content and other marketing channels (e.g. social media),
- Save money on content creation and unnecessary online marketing channels,
- Determine which channels you should focus more of your efforts, time, and budget on,
- Invest most of your efforts building your own asset and still benefit from other people’s marketing channels.
Many automated web traffic solutions tend to focus on black hat methods, such as manipulating search engine results. This is not what the focus of this article series is about. In fact, we strongly urge you to avoid using black hat strategies, websites, tools, and anything designed to “game” or violate the policies and terms of service of sites like Twitter, Google, Facebook, etc..
(Automating your web traffic does not require using black hat methods!)
What we are focusing in this article is to show you how to automate your content distribution so you can leverage your time and marketing efforts, and increase your exposure online to websites that your target audience frequents.
An Automated Content Distribution, Traffic And Lead Generation, And Sales & Marketing System
We’ve just seen that many businesses lack the time, human resources and financial means to engage in the kind of content marketing that many experts advise. What you want to do, then, is work smart within your limited resources.
So, instead of doing this …
(Posting content to marketing channels individually is extremely time-consuming!)
Why not choose a smarter, time-saving strategy like this instead …
(Set up an automated content distribution, lead and traffic generation, and sales and marketing system with WordPress)
With an expertly configured WordPress site, you can build more than just a website for your business … you can set up an automated traffic and lead generation and sales & marketing system, where all you do is publish your content and WordPress then automates the rest.
With WordPress, you can publish content one-time, and automate the distribution of your content to all other marketing channels.
You can:
- Distribute content automatically to social media services and social bookmarking sites,
- Automatically distribute content (and comments) to other blogs and online properties using RSS
- Automatically import content (e.g. videos)
As your business evolves, you can add more functionality and automate processes like:
- Sell products and services with e-commerce,
- Capture leads with opt-in forms and add your subscribers to newsletters and autoresponders,
- Allow visitors to register on your site with different membership levels,
- And so much more!
You can do all of this using inexpensive WordPress plugins. Once these plugins are installed and configured on your site, just direct your visitors to the appropriate sections (e.g. your store, subscription forms, membership area, etc.)
How do you get all of this done?
Simple … first, set up your WordPress website or blog as explained in Part Two. Then, get it all configured as shown in Part Three. After all this is in place, you then connect all of the dots with plugins like the ones discussed in the section below.
The video below shows you how everything works once your WordPress site has been expertly configured …
WordPress Web Traffic Automation System – Traffic-Getting Plugins
Let’s take a look now at a few traffic-generation plugins that can:
- Syndicate content automatically to social media sites and social bookmarking accounts
- Syndicate comments automatically to other blogs
- Distribute content to other sites via RSS
Jetpack WordPress Plugin
You can get your posts automatically distributed to sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Google+ and more as soon as you publish your content using a WordPress plugin like JetPack.
Download URL: https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack
Jetpack is a free WordPress plugin with loads of great functions.
After Jetpack has been installed, you will need to connect the plugin to your WordPress.com account (as described in Part 3.) …
(Make sure the Jetpack plugin is connected to your WordPress.com account)
Next, activate the Publicize feature …
(Jetpack – Publicize feature)
Once this section is configured, you will be able to automatically share your posts on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, GooglePlus, LinkedIn, and more …
(Share your content on various social media networks.)
After configuring all of the account and plugin settings, your content is ready for distribution.
The Publicize feature adds a new section to your Publish box …
(Publicize account options displays in the post publishing box.)
Now, whenever you publish new content, it will automatically be shared online to all of the accounts you have set up …
(As soon as posts are published, they will be automatically shared online.)
To learn more about this great plugin, go here: Jetpack
CommentLuv
(CommentLuv)
WordPress has a built-in commenting system that lets your site users engage with your website, post comments, reply to existing comments and engage with your content.
You can enhance the WordPress default commenting feature with a 3rd-party plugin that integrates your comments with social media, helping to share and spread them online.
For example, using a plugin like CommentLuv (Pro version) can help make your site more attractive to commenters by offering them a choice of backlinks if they +1, like, or tweet your content. This plugin will visit the site of the comment author while they enter their comment and retrieve their most recent blog posts, which they can include with their comment when they click the submit button.
(CommentLuv Premium version can help attract more comments and traffic and improve user engagement on your web site.)
Visit this website to learn more about this handy plugin: CommentLuv Premium WP Plugin
SocialLinkMachine
(SocialLinkMachine – WordPress content distribution plugin)
Social LinkMachine is a plugin for WordPress that allows you to syndicate your content to many online sites, build backlinks, include relevant images and videos, and create second-tier links and social signals on auto-pilot …
(SocialLinkMachine – syndicate and drip-feed content to many traffic-generating sites)
With SocialLinkMachine installed, you can automatically drip-feed content to many social sites, including:
- Social Bookmarking Platforms: e.g. Delicious, Folkd, Kippt, Zotero, etc.
- Blogs: e.g. Blogger, Sett, Tribe, etc.
- Social Platforms: Google Plus, Twitter, etc.
- Image Sharing Platforms: e.g. Pinterest, etc.
- Document Sharing: e.g. Docdroid, Scribd, etc.
Go here to learn more about the benefits of using this handy plugin: SocialLinkMachine
Also, if you would like to know more about setting up social media tracking (so you can get actionable information about your content distribution campaigns), or to learn more about social media tracking tools that will help you identify new business opportunities, track competitor activity, see what online conversations are taking place that could affect your business,etc, see this article: Social Media Tools Every Business Owner Should Know About
The above are just some examples of the many content distribution plugins that WordPress makes available.
Kickstart Your WordPress Traffic System
After your traffic automation system has been set up, we recommend kickstarting the process of driving traffic to your site with the steps shown in this tutorial:
How To Kickstart The WordPress Traffic Automation Process To Your Website Or Blog
WordPress Traffic Blueprint: Content Sharing Phase – Summary
Once you have your website and plugins fully set up and expertly configured, all you then have to do is add web content on a consistent basis to automatically drive traffic organically.
If you need great ideas for content that you can post on your website or blog, then subscribe to our email training series on content marketing here:
Once you have expertly configured your WordPress site, the next step is to optimize the process. This step is addressed in the next article in our WordPress Traffic Automation System series.
This is the end of Part Four
To read more, click on the link below:
WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint Part Five – Learn How To Create An Automated Traffic-Getting Machine
***
"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
Disclaimer: We have no association with WordPress or any WordPress-related products reviewed on this website. We may receive a financial benefit or affiliate commission from sales of third-party services and products advertised on this site. All product images remain the copyright of their respective owners, comply with all license terms and agreements of use are used solely for training and illustrative purposes.
***
Have you found this tutorial useful? Please use the share buttons below to share this page with others.
Like It? Share It:
