Welcome to Part 3 of our WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to drive traffic automatically to your website using the WordPress CMS platform.
In Part One of this series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress site is the key to automating traffic to your site …
(With an expertly configured WordPress site, all you have to do is post content consistently to automatically begin bringing new traffic!)
In Part Two, we looked at the setup phase. We explained the best way to start if you don’t have a web presence yet, how to set everything up if you already have a website, and what to do if your existing website has been built with WordPress.
(In Part two we show you where to set up WordPress on your domain)
In this article, we look at the configuration stage of the traffic system. We will show you how a WordPress site should be configured to bring new visitors automatically simply by consistently adding web content on your website.
WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – Configuration Phase
The ability to attract more visitors to one’s website is often cited by many business owners as the greatest challenge they face online. With business becoming increasingly more competitive on a global scale, it’s worth exploring any advantage that can help you get better results online.
The ability to generate traffic on demand can provide website owners with a huge competitive advantage. With an expertly configured WordPress site, you have a significant advantage from the very beginning.
The Configuration Process Is What Makes The Difference
There is a difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a site that has been professionally set up by an expert website developer but not necessarily configured to take advantage of everything WordPress can offer you.
Here is a simple way to describe the difference:
With a WordPress site that has been expertly configured you get a web presence and an automated online business marketing tool!
(An expertly configured website gives you a professional web presence and an automated online business marketing process!)
Not only is more work required to build and integrate an automated online business marketing process into your website, it also takes a special type of expertise.
Let me illustrate this with a story.
A Semi-True Story …
Everything was going just fine in the gizmo plant when all equipment suddenly came to a complete stop.
As no one could figure out what happened, the floor manager decided to call in an expert to fix the problem.
Shortly after arriving, the expert walked immediately towards the main control box. After staring silently at the circuit board for 5 minutes or less, the expert then produced a teeny-weeny hammer and made a single tap about one cm from the top-left corner of the control unit.
Immediately, everything sprang to life.
The floor manager was grateful and relieved as he thanked the expert, who left just as quickly as he had arrived.
A couple of days after resolving the incident, the manager received a service bill for $5,000.
The factory manager rang back the expert, demanding to know why they were charged such a large amount of money for so little time spent delivering a minimal amount of work. He promptly requested an itemized invoice before hanging up.
The next day, an invoice statement arrived in the manager’s in-tray. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he saw:
The #1 challenge most businesses face online is driving web traffic to their sites.
How much money did the widget plant stand to lose when the equipment ground to a halt and no one in the factory floor had the expertise required to get things up and running again? Did the expert not have the right to demand fair compensation for having invested years building up the knowledge, skills and expertise that allowed him to assess and avert a crisis?
Similarly, if you could have your WP web site set up and configured so all you had to do is publish content to it and search engines, social sites and dozens of other web properties would be automatically notified, how much time and money would you save?
(How much better would your business be if you could automate the process of attracting new visitors to your site?)
Although the solution to many problems often seems ridiculously easy once implemented, it rarely turns out to be that way.
Expertly configuring a WordPress site requires more than just installing a website and configuring basic settings. It also involves knowing where to tap! This includes knowing things like:
- Which plugins you need to install to add certain functionalities to your site.
- Which 3rd-party services you need to set up and activate to get certain results
- Which internal and external settings you need to configure to ensure that everything will work as planned, etc.
(Generating traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires knowledge and expertise)
This part of the WordPress traffic automation system is not technically difficult, but it’s quite involved and complicated. This is because it’s not just about installing a plugin, tweaking some settings in your admin area … it’s all this and much more.
The configuration stage involves the integration of different components such as your web server, your website, and various third-party sites and services …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring some settings in WordPress)
If we try to flowchart the configuration process, it would look something like this …
(A simplified flowchart of the steps involved in the configuration phase)
Let’s take a look at what’s involved in more detail.
Web Hosting
We’re not talking about the process of configuring your web-hosting account for site installation purposes (this should have been done during the Setup phase). What we are talking about, is tweaking settings in your web hosting account specifically for handling web traffic …
(During the configuration phase, your web server settings need to be checked for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all web traffic is beneficial traffic. Some of the web traffic your website may attract will be unwelcome traffic like spam, security threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This aspect of the configuration process, therefore, is all about planning for both good and bad traffic and adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This includes looking at things like configuring server-level spam protection and threat prevention, to configuring domain and email forwarding, setting up htaccess file redirections, etc …
(Have you configured your hosting control panel settings for handling things like email forwarding, page error redirects, etc?)
After checking your web server settings and configuring these (if required), the next step of the configuration phase is to set up a number of third-party sites.
External Accounts
The idea behind setting up external sites is that all content should be published to a central location (your site) and from there, it will get syndicated automatically to other parts of your traffic system, or notify traffic-related web properties and applications.
Once these external platforms have been added to your setup, content pointing back to your site will be automatically syndicated to search, social and aggregator accounts. Your content receives additional exposure online, helping your business tap into new audiences and new sources of traffic.
Some of the sites and online solutions will need to be set up before configuring your WordPress settings to help speed up the configuration process and some will need to be done later, during the automation phase.
For example, here are just some of the accounts you will need to have set up before configuring your site’s settings:
Google Search Console
(Google Webmasters)
Google Webmasters lets you inform Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for automatic page indexing, and provides site owners with a range of important data, tools, and reports about their website.
After setting up your account, use the account information to automate web traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO (see further below) and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your website’s performance, SEO, marketing efforts, and more, by tracking all user behavior, pages visited, keywords searched for, social media referrals, etc.
Once your Google Analytics account is set up, tracking information can be integrated with WordPress using a simple plugin used with other applications and reporting tools.
Bing Data And Tools
(Bing Webmaster Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmaster Tools. After setting up your account, use your account information to automate traffic settings and notifications in WordPress (e.g. using plugins like Yoast SEO – see further below) and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As explained in Part Two, WordPress offers the option of a hosted vs self-hosted website. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress platform if you are planning to grow a professional web presence.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great features, which a number of WordPress plugins can access. We recommend setting up an account with WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll explain how to integrate this into your automated web traffic system in the next installment of this series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking Sites
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media accounts and bring new traffic to your site)
You will need to have already set up your social media accounts before you can integrate these with your traffic generation system.
After setting up and configuring everything, you will be able to syndicate your content automatically to your social media and social bookmarking accounts and drive new visitors to your site.
Set up accounts with all the popular social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.
There are loads of social sites you can You can syndicate your content to many social bookmarking sites. You don’t need to create accounts with all of them, just select the ones that will work well with your setup and/or content sharing tools (we will look at some of these tools in greater detail in the Automation phase).
(You can post your content to lots of social sites. Image source ShareThis.com)
Additional Services, RSS Aggregators, Etc.
There are many emerging web platforms and content aggregators that can act as secondary-level sources of traffic. Some are free or provide free accounts, and some offer a range of pricing plans.
For example, here is a content aggregator site that allows you to add an RSS feed from your site …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Distribute social content to social networks)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your social profiles and RSS feeds. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and users can follow your RebelMouse website.
There are various platforms you can add to your traffic blueprint. Please contact us if you need assistance exploring this area further, or to discuss a strategy to suit your needs.
After you have configured your server settings and set up accounts with external services, it’s time to configure your site.
WordPress – Configuring Your Website
The first step in configuring your site for traffic is to ensure that your global settings have been correctly set up.
Let’s go over some key areas.
Global Settings – WordPress
The WordPress admin area contains a Settings menu that allows you to configure your site’s global settings …
(WordPress menu – Settings)
General Settings
Content entered into fields like Site Title and Tagline affect traffic by influencing your site’s SEO, search results, etc …
(Global Settings – General Settings)
Writing Settings
The Writing Settings section contains an important and frequently overlooked built-in traffic notification system …
(Settings Menu – Writing Settings Area)
As described in this section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you or your webmaster have specifically chosen to prevent search engines from indexing your site, then your site will automatically ping the list of update services entered into the Update Services field
By default, when WordPress is installed, this section lists only one entry …
(Update Services)
WordPress lets you notify dozens of update services automatically …
(WordPress lets you notify dozens of update services automatically!)
Download A Comprehensive List Of Ping Services For Your WordPress Site!
Click the link below to download a comprehensive list of reliable and authoritative ping services for your WordPress site or blog:
Download A List Of Ping Services For Your WordPress Site
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Note: If you need help setting up the list of ping services on your site, we recommend using a professional web services provider. You can find professional WordPress service providers in our WordPress Services Directory.
Reading
This section affects how your content gets seen by visitors when they visit your home page and blog pages.
The syndication settings on this page can have an influence traffic. For example, choosing to display the full text vs summaries of your post, affects how your content appears in RSS readers and RSS email campaigns, and could impact someone’s decision to explore your site further, and whether or not they will visit your website to get the rest of the content from a partial feed, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
As far as traffic is concerned, however, the most important setting in this section is whether the Search Engine Visibility check box is enabled or not.
Typically, you would want search engines to visit your site. Leaving the box unchecked allows your site to ping various update services when new posts are published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason to discourage search indexing spiders from visiting your site, leave this box unchecked …
(Settings Menu – Reading Settings Screen)
Discussion
Although the settings in this section are mostly concerned with how users engage with content on your site, you have the option to allow notifications to sites linked to from your content, and to allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks). This can work for you, but it can also drive bad traffic in the form of SPAM comments …
(Settings Menu – Discussion Settings Screen)
Permalinks
Permalinks allow you to create SEO-friendly URLs …
(Global Settings – Permalinks Screen)
The examples below show some of the ways post permalinks can be configured …
(Configuring SEO-friendly URLs)
We have created a detailed tutorial on using WordPress permalinks here: Configuring WordPress Permalinks
WordPress Traffic Generation Plugin Settings – Configuration
WordPress provides users with plugins that can add just about every type of functionality imaginable to your website, including plugins that add traffic generation capabilities.
Let’s take a brief look at some types of plugin categories that affect traffic and plugin examples
Blog Defender Security Plugin
Once again, it’s important to configure your site for dealing with both good traffic and bad traffic. No website is safe from cyber attacks.
(Security Plugins stop bad traffic from causing your website harm)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress site invisible to bots and hackers.
To learn more, go here:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
SEO plugins help drive traffic by making your website more search engine friendly …
(SEO plugins like Yoast SEO help drive more traffic by improving your site’s ability to rank better in search engines)
Use a plugin like Yoast SEO (previously called WordPress SEO by Yoast) to improve your SEO. When properly configured, this plugin not only makes your site easier for search engines to find and index, it also gives you control over how your content is presented to Google’s search results and social media pages, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, and GooglePlus.
WordPress Social Plugins
Allowing your visitors to easily share your content with their social networks can help drive more traffic to your site, especially if your site provides content that adds real value to readers.
(WordPress users can easily add social features to their website with WordPress plugins)
There are many social sharing plugins available for WordPress users.
Most social plugins let you specify which sites visitors can share your content to, embed social buttons into your content, set up custom update notifications, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of followers), etc. Some social share plugins even allow you to set up protected content areas on your site which visitors can unlock by liking your page.
Configuring WordPress Theme Settings For Traffic Generation
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that help grow your site’s traffic.
For example, as well as options and settings for configuring the layout and design of your website, many themes also provide built-in options for improving search optimization and site navigation structure for faster indexing, add tracking, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many themes like Graphene (a highly customizable free theme) have built-in traffic optimization features)
With a number of quality themes, adding social sharing buttons to your pages is as easy as clicking a few buttons and enabling the feature …
(Many WordPress themes have built-in social sharing features that can be easily turned on with the click of a button)
WordPress Traffic System – Other Areas To Consider
Last but not least in the traffic configuration process, are the elements that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
These include:
Legal Web Pages
Once again, when preparing your site for a growth in visitor numbers, it’s important to plan not only how to handle good and bad traffic but also for all the things that can go wrong as more and more people start finding and visiting your website.
If you are making money online (or plan to), it’s important that your site is compliant with regulatory agencies.
(Does Your Website Comply With All Legal Requirements?)
To learn more about how to quickly and easily add all necessary legal pages to your site, refer to this article:
Post Categories & Tags
Tags and post categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better classify and index your web pages.
(WordPress categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to classify and index your web pages.)
As we strongly recommend in this article, it’s best to review and set up your website’s post tags and post categories during the Website Planning Stages.
When considering ways to automate and improve traffic, you will want to review and make sure that the post tags and post categories that have been set up.
A Site Map Of Your Posts And Pages
A site map that displays all of your posts and pages to visitors is not only a useful navigation tool, it can also help external sites discover your web content …
(A site map is not just great for visitors, but for web traffic too!)
An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are not the same thing. Although search engines like Google can index your pages just using an XML sitemap (which a plugin like Yoast SEO can provide – see earlier section), allowing visitors to find more pages on your site can result in increased traffic.
404 Error Page – Don’t Lose Traffic!
When visitors type in the wrong URL or click on hyperlinks pointing to an incorrect destination on your website, they are greeted with a 404 error page …
(A WordPress 404 Error Page)
A 404 Not Found error page can be configured to redirect confused visitors to your functional web pages …
(Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to redirect web traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 Not Found error page can be set up in your server, there are several WordPress plugins that allow you to easily configure your 404 page from your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress Traffic Automation System: Configuration Process – Summary
Once you have your WordPress site fully set up and expertly configured, all you then need to do is post content on a regular basis to bring web traffic organically.
The process of expertly configuring a WordPress site, however, can be quite involved and requires the configuration and integration of various elements and external web properties …
(WordPress Traffic Blueprint – Configuration Phase Checklist)
The expertise involved in expertly configuring a WordPress site can take many website professionals months to acquire.
Once you have configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate as much of the process as you can. This step is addressed in the next article in the WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint series.
This is the end of Section Three
To read more, click on the link below:
This article is part of an article series aimed at helping you learn how to grow your business online inexpensively and drive traffic sustainably using a WordPress website or blog and proven online marketing methods.
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