WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint – Part 2 (Setup)

This is part 2 of a 5-part series on how to create an automated traffic generation system for your WordPress site. This tutorial explains the processes and methods used in this system.

WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint Part Two - Learn How To Increase Your Website Visitors For Your BusinessIn Part 1 of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, we explained that the key to creating 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 different than a professionally-configured WordPress web site. An expertly configured WordPress web site is a website or blog that is not only powered by WordPress, but has also been expertly set up and configured (either by yourself or professionally) to take advantage of the enormous power, features and functionality of WordPress and its integration with other sites, specifically in areas like SEO, content syndication and reporting.

With an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, all you have to do is add great content on a regular basis to bring traffic!

(With an expertly configured WordPress web site, all you have to do to drive web traffic is add content regularly!)

Once your WordPress site has been fully set up and expertly configured, all you then need to do to automatically start driving traffic is publish content regularly.

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 automation process. We will 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 Traffic System – Setup

If You Haven’t Got A Website

If you don’t have a website yet, then it’s really quite simple … build a WordPress site!

WordPress is the most powerful, flexible, cost-effective and the easiest to use content management system available. We provide many articles, tutorials, and tips 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 content publishing platform, see this article: WordPress: How Popular Is It? Some Useful Statistics About WordPress

After choosing to build your web presence with WordPress, the next step is to choose which WordPress platform you will build your web presence on.

This step is important because there are 2 types of WordPress platforms you can choose from …

Self-Hosted Or Hosted WordPress Site?

WordPress Hosted vs WordPress Self-Hosted

(WordPress.org vs WordPress.com)

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 using your own domain name. This is the “self-hosted” WordPress option.

With the “hosted option”, WordPress hosts your site for free at WordPress.com. There are, however, a number of limitations to what you can and can’t do with your blog 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 can fully customize 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 by hosting a WordPress site on your domain and avoid the hassles of upgrading later?

If You Have An Existing Web Site

If you already own an existing web site, check to see 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 Website Runs On WordPress

If your site is a WP web site, 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 WordPress website, you have some decisions to make.

Take a look at the diagram below. It will help you decide where to set up a WordPress web site on your domain …

Where to set up WordPress on your domain

(Use this simple flowchart to choose where to set up WordPress on your domain)

Basically, you have two choices:

  1. Replace your existing site so that your main website is built using WordPress, or
  2. Keep your existing website and add a WordPress-powered blog. Your WordPress blog will then be expertly configured and used to drive traffic to your main site.

Practical Tips

If you choose to keep your existing website and add a WordPress-powered blog, make sure to use the self-hosted version of WordPress, which requires a domain name and web hosting, but allows you to fully configure your site’s settings and customize the look and feel of your existing website using a closely-matching theme for WordPress.

To use WordPress as your main website, install the platform in the “root” directory of your domain (i.e. http://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 the subdirectory anything you like).

If you already have a 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 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 WordPress Traffic Blueprint series.

Website Traffic Blueprint Part Two - How To Get More Traffic For Your Business

This is the end of Part Two

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This article is part of a comprehensive series of articles designed to help small business owners learn how to grow their business online and drive traffic organically with a WordPress-powered website or blog and proven online marketing strategies.

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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum

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Originally published as WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint – Part 2 (Setup).