WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint – Part 5 (Optimization)

Welcome to Part 5 of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we explain how to drive new visitors automatically to your site using the WordPress CMS platform.

So far, here is what we have covered in this series:

In Part One, we provide an overview of the traffic automation process, and explain why using an expertly configured WordPress site is the key to automating traffic to your website …

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

In Part Two, we focus on the setup phase of the traffic automation process. We help you understand the best way to start if you don’t have a web presence yet, how to set things up if you already have a website, and what to do if your existing site has been built using WordPress.

(In Part two we show you how to set up WordPress on your domain)

In Part 3, we focused on the configuration phase. We explained how to configure all the settings (hosting, WordPress and external) that can affect your site’s traffic-getting ability …

(In Part Three you will configure hosting settings, WordPress settings, and external settings that can affect your website’s ability to generate traffic automatically)

In Part Four, we explained how to set up various WordPress plugins that can help get new visitors automatically to your site.

(Publish once and automate your content distribution to all other services!)

In Part Five of the WordPress web traffic automation blueprint series, we discuss ways to optimize traffic generation using different tools and strategies.

WordPress Web Traffic Automation System – Systems

In addition to getting your WordPress website or blog expertly configured, the key to generating consistent traffic of high quality is having a clearly-defined business vision, sound digital planning, and good systems and process in place.

(Automating traffic is the result of having a clear business vision, sound planning, and systems)

Let’s review the systems that will help you grow and manage your new traffic.

These include:

• Marketing Systems – The processes and strategies used to drive traffic to your website.
• Technical Systems – How you keep your online presence operating efficiently for receiving traffic.
• Business Systems – How you manage and respond to traffic.

(Use systems to grow, automate, and manage your web traffic)

Let’s briefly review how important the above systems are:

Marketing Systems

Your marketing systems consist of the processes and methods used to drive traffic to your website. You can test your marketing systems by asking questions such as:

• What is your online marketing strategy?
• How will you apportion your marketing budget and resources to these channels?
• How will you create your content, sales funnels, and marketing campaigns?
• How will you measure the cost-effectiveness of your online marketing campaigns?

During the setup and configuration phase, you would have installed an analytics program (e.g. Google Analytics). If you’re just starting out, you may want to consider investing in some paid advertising (e.g. Google AdWords) to help generate some results. If you’re tracking your marketing campaigns correctly, this should yield some actionable data, such as the keywords people are searching online to find your site, which you can use to create content better targeted to your audience.

Technical Systems

Your technical systems keep your digital presence optimized for receiving new traffic. There’s no point sending traffic to your website if your site is down or your pages are taking a very long time to load.

Your systems need to handle areas like webhosting, site maintenance and support, installing and updating software (e.g. plugins), customization, integration, troubleshooting, etc.

You can test your technical systems by questions such as:

• Who will look after my webhosting?
• Who looks after my website and keeps my site maintained and up-to-date?
• Who will fix errors, troubleshoot problems, provide technical support and advice, etc. should things go wrong?

Many potential issues can be minimized if your planning and setup and configuration phases have been completed correctly. As with all technology, however, you should expect to face problems. You will need the right technical systems in place to handle these.

Business Systems

You need good business systems in place to help you manage the influx of new traffic. This includes:

• Communication systems
• Resources management – human, financial
• Handling sales enquiries
• Order fulfillment
• Customer training/service
• etc.

If you intend to outsource your digital marketing and technical maintenance, then make sure you have implemented good systems to manage all outsourcing.

WordPress Web Traffic Automation System – Traffic Loops

With clear business objectives and great systems in place, all you need to focus on is how to grow and optimize your “traffic loop”.

Let’s walk through an example of how to implement, optimize, and automate a traffic loop. Take a look at the chart below …

(Implementing, automating and optimizing your traffic loop)

Increase Reach And Visibility

The first step of the process is to increase visibility for your website.

Useful Tips

• Your expertly configured WordPress site will allow you to automatically syndicate your content to places like Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, etc. The easiest way to increase your reach and visibility online, therefore, is to simply publish more content.
• As mentioned earlier, investing in some paid advertising can help you generate some initial data, which you can use to create content targeted specifically to your audience.
• Repurpose your content to leverage the power and reach of different media formats.
• Continue learning about ways to get more visitors using methods like Pinterest, YouTube, updates, etc.

Tools & Strategies

We’ve already covered many excellent plugins, tools, and methods in earlier sections of this article series.

Also, if you haven’t already, look for plugins that allow you to easily add the following to your site:

• Share your posts online with others,
• Run contests, offer discounts or downloads for likes/shares,
• Display user generated content, feeds, etc.
• Distribute content online in other media formats (e.g. videos, PDF guides, audio, etc.)

Build Authority And Credibility

Getting more content published is a great first step, but to make this activity more effective, your content needs to be building authority and credibility with users.

Publishing better quality content improves your chances of getting more people to share it with others and hence more visitors.

Tips

• Focus on content that adds value to users and that showcases your expertise. This includes content that educates and informs readers, training content, case studies, adding testimonials, etc.
• Consider publishing PDF guides or special reports that you can sell or distribute online.

Tools, Plugins, & Methods

We have created a complete email course designed to help you come up with endless content ideas for your site:

Also, if you haven’t already, learn more about plugins that allow you to easily add the following to your website or blog:

• Legal Pages
• Testimonials
• Customer Support (e.g. Helpdesk, Live Chat, etc.)
• Ratings
• User Reviews
• Badges/Certificates Of Trust

Grow Influence & Engagement

At some point, you may want to consider developing “traffic on tap.” You can do this by building a list or starting an online group.

With “Traffic On Tap,” most of your traffic comes from an audience of existing customers or subscribers – people who already like you and trust you. Your influence and credibility can be used to generate traffic with every blog post you publish or broadcast you send out.

Tips

• Encourage commenting and discussions on your site.
• Add an autoresponder training course and encourage people to subscribe.
• Add a free or paid membership site, online forum, or social community.
• Start or join an online group on Facebook.

Tools, Plugins, And Strategies

Many solutions and plugins are available that can help increase your online influence and improve engagement. For example:

• List-Building Solutions (e.g. Aweber, GetResponse, etc.)
• Contact Forms, Live Chat
• Forums & Social Communities (e.g. bbPress, BuddyPress)
• Polls & Surveys
• Webinars (e.g. Webinar JEO)
• Comment sharing
• Add media, image galleries, etc.

Identify Needs And Provide Solutions

By taking advantage of incoming traffic to find out what problems your users are trying to solve, you should have no problem coming up with ideas for new products, services, and solutions, all of which can provide you with new opportunities to generate additional web traffic.

Traffic Tips

• Consider creating an e-learning course.
• Publish instructional PDF guides or special reports that you can sell or distribute online.
• Add e-commerce to your site.

Plugins, Tools, & Methods

If you plan to provide products, services, and solutions online (as opposed to just providing information), look for plugins that let you easily add the following to your website:

• Membership Sites (e.g. Wishlist Member, S2 Member, etc.)
• Learning Management Systems (e.g. Courseware)
• Event Registrations (e.g. EventEspresso)

Analyze Data & Feedback

The final step of the process is the collection and analysis of data. Learning to gather and interpret data from existing traffic lets you discover new traffic opportunities.

You should already have installed an analytics program (e.g. Google Analytics) on your site. Make sure you can also understand the data.

WordPress Web Traffic System – Summary

All you have to do once you implement the above strategies is rinse and repeat, fine-tuning and refining your methods as you go to grow your traffic and improve your results.

In summary:

• Begin with an expertly configured WordPress site backed by good marketing, technical and business systems,
• Implement a content marketing strategy (consider also investing in some paid advertising to drive initial traffic and generate useful data) to increase your reach and visibility online,
• Add plugins, list-building strategies, and other methods if necessary to help build authority and credibility, and also to increase engagement with users,
• Promote any new solutions, products or services using your existing channels and strategies to generate additional streams of traffic,
• Analyse your data and your results, automate your processes wherever possible, and begin the cycle again.

Hopefully, this article has given you a blueprint that will help you automate and optimize the process of driving visitors to your web site and improve your business online.

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