WordPress Traffic Automation Blueprint – Part 5 (Optimization)

Welcome to Part 5 of our Website Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to automate traffic to your website using the WordPress CMS.

So far, we have covered the following in this article series:

In Part One of this article series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website or blog is the key to generating automated traffic …

(With an expertly configured WordPress site, all you have to do is publish new content regularly to begin attracting more web traffic!)

In Part 2, we discuss the setup phase. We explain 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 website was built with WordPress.

(In Part 2 we show you where to set up a WordPress website on your domain)

In Part 3, we look at the configuration phase of the traffic automation system. We configured all the settings (hosting, internal and external) that can affect your site’s traffic-getting ability …

(In Part Three you will configure all the settings that affect your website’s traffic-getting ability)

In Part Four, we showed you how to set up various plugins that can drive new visitors automatically to your site simply by posting fresh content on a consistent basis.

(Publish once, automate the rest!)

In this article, we look at ways to optimize traffic generation using various tools and strategies.

WordPress Traffic Blueprint – Systems

In addition to getting your WordPress site expertly configured, the key to generating successfully on a consistent basis is having a well-defined business vision, great digital planning, and great systems and process in place.

(Optimizing traffic is the product of a business vision, sound planning, and great systems)

Let’s review briefly the systems that will help you grow and manage this traffic.

These include:

• Marketing Systems – The processes and strategies used to create traffic for your website.
• Technical Systems – How you keep your web presence optimized for receiving traffic.
• Business Systems – The systems and processes used to manage and respond to new traffic.

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

Let’s briefly review the above systems:

Marketing Systems

Your marketing systems consist of the processes and methods used to create new traffic for your website. Your online marketing systems can be tested by asking questions such as:

• What is your online marketing strategy?
• How will you apply your marketing budget and resources to these channels?
• How will you create and optimize your content, sales funnels, and marketing campaigns?
• How will you measure the results of your marketing campaigns?

During the setup and configuration phase, you should 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 to help you generate some initial data, such as the keyword phrases people are searching online to find your website, which you can use to create web content targeted specifically to your audience’s needs.

Technical Systems

Your technical systems ensure that your web presence remains up and running for receiving 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 technical areas like webhosting, website maintenance and support, installing and updating new applications (e.g. plugins), integration, customization, troubleshooting, etc.

You can test your technical systems by questions such as:

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

Many potential problems can be minimized if your website planning and setup and configuration phases have been completed correctly. Like all technology, however, you should expect to face problems. Your technical systems need to be able to handle these.

Business Systems

Your business systems and processes 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 support, then make sure you have implemented good systems to manage all outsourcing processes.

WordPress Web Traffic Automation Blueprint – Optimizing Traffic Generation

With clear business objectives and great systems in place, all you need to do is focus on developing, optimizing and further automating your “traffic loop”.

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

(Implementing, automating and optimizing a traffic loop)

Increase Reach & Visibility

Step 1 of the process is to get your business exposed to as many potential users as you can.

Useful Tips And Ideas

• An expertly configured WordPress site will allow you to automatically publish your content on sites like Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, etc. The easiest way to increase your reach and visibility online, therefore, is to simply publish more content through your expertly configured WordPress site.
• As mentioned earlier, investing in some paid advertising can help generate some initial actionable and intelligent data, which you can use to create web content targeted specifically to your audience’s needs.
• Repurpose your content to leverage different media formats.
• Continue learning about ways to bring visitors using methods like Pinterest, banner ads, email, etc.

Plugins, Tools, And Strategies

We’ve covered a number of useful tools and methods in earlier sections of this article series.

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

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

Build Authority And Credibility

Getting more content published is great, but to make this more effective, your content needs to build authority and credibility with visitors.

Publishing authoritative content improves your chances of getting more shares and views and hence more visitors.

Traffic Optimization Tips

• Create and publish content that will add value to potential users and showcase your expertise. This includes content that educates and informs readers, training content, case studies, adding testimonials, etc.
• Consider publishing expert reports that can be sold or distributed online.

Tools, Plugins, And Methods

We have created a complete email training series designed to help you never run out of content for posting to your website:

Also, look for 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

As your business grows, you may want to consider developing “traffic on demand.” You can achieve this by building a list or starting a community.

With “Traffic On Demand,” most of your traffic comes from customers or subscribers – people who already know you and trust you. Your influence and reputation can be used to generate new traffic with a single blog post or broadcast.

Useful Tips And Ideas

• Encourage visitors to leave comments and start 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 a Facebook/LinkedIn Group.

Plugins, Tools, & Strategies

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

• Autoresponders/Email Newsletters (e.g. Aweber, MailChimp, etc.)
• Contact Forms, Live Chat
• Forums and Social Communities (e.g. bbPress, BuddyPress)
• Polls and Surveys
• Webinars (e.g. Webinar JEO)
• Comment sharing
• Add media, image galleries, etc.

Identify Needs/Problems And Provide Solutions To These

If you take advantage of incoming traffic to find out what users want, you should have no problem developing new services, products, and solutions, all of which can provide you with new opportunities to generate additional web traffic.

Useful Tips

• Create an online training course.
• Publish a PDF guide that you can sell or distribute online.
• Add e-commerce to your business.

Plugins, Tools, And Methods

If you plan to provide services and products online (as opposed to just providing information), see other posts on this site to learn more about plugins that let you easily add the following to your website or blog:

• Membership Sites (e.g. Wishlist Member, S2 Member, etc.)
• e-Learning Courses (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 allows you to discover new ways to generate content that can bring you additional traffic.

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

WordPress Web Traffic Automation Blueprint – Summary

Once you implement the above strategies, all you have to do is repeat the process over and over again, 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 solid 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 solutions as required to build authority and credibility, and also to increase engagement with visitors,
• 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, now you have a blueprint that will help you drive more traffic automatically to your website and build a more successful business online.

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