My WordPress Website Redirects to Another Website
I use the WordPress content management system (CMS) to power my website. For many years, I’ve been using the platform to build and grow my blog – a space that I’ve made for myself to share my thoughts and work through the problems that all humans face. The system provides me with a vibrant online presence and an opportunity to connect with people all over the world. Since I value the freedom of speech that WordPress provides, I can openly discuss any topic that I want to and connect with like-minded individuals to have open and honest dialogue.
A few months back, I published a blog post titled How to Create a Successful Blog. In the post, I discussed the many ways that the WordPress platform can help you build a successful blog. While many of the tips and tricks discussed there still hold true, I now need to revisit the subject matter because my website has redirected to a different domain.
As I wrote the post, I was running a small business – a cake delivery company – and I was just getting started with my blog. Back then, I hadn’t yet invested heavily in domain names or web hosting, so all of my blog posts were published to my initial website hosted on WordPress.com. With little to no resources at my disposal, I knew that I had to take matters into my own hands if I wanted to continue publishing content to the blog. Hence, I developed a strategy where I would purchase a popular domain name and redirect my website to the blog. In this way, I could keep my original domain name and all of the existing content published to it would be preserved for future generations.
Over the years, I’ve had to adjust my thinking as the online world has changed. Back then, I mainly focused on organic reach and authority in regards to my content. However, over the past year, as more and more people have shifted to an ad-free model, prioritizing revenue over growth, and moved towards subscription business models, my original strategy has become ineffective. So, in an attempt to reverse the effects of time, and return to the golden era of online marketing, I’ve had to revisit my strategy and find a new way to bring traffic to my blog.
Subscribe & Get Notified Of Important Changes
WordPress provides me with multiple opportunities to stay informed of important changes to the platform and how they might affect my website. For example, one of the most useful features is its ability to notify you via email when someone else makes an important change to your site. This feature, known as Site Activity, keeps track of the various changes that take place on your site and notifies you when something important happens. You can also access this feature from your site’s dashboard.
In addition to keeping tabs on changes, you can subscribe to receive notifications about important announcements, product updates, and more via email.
One of the most useful things about the site activity feature is that it keeps track of all of the activity that occurs on your site. Even if you’re not technically trained, you’ll certainly be able to comprehend the various reports and analysis that are generated from this data. The information is presented in an easy-to-use format and even those with no technical background will be able to get the gist of what’s being reported.
It’s also worth mentioning that you can use the site activity feature to keep track of all of the traffic that comes to your site. In this way, you can better understand how people are finding your content and what they’re doing once they’re on your site. The data is presented in an easy-to-read format, making it accessible even to those with no technical background. The reports provided through this feature can be very useful in understanding what’s working and what needs to be changed to improve engagement and growth.
Avoid Getting Stuck In The Sand
One of the greatest things about WordPress is that it provides you with the opportunity to get started with a fresh start rather quickly. If you run into problems, you can always pull down the existing site and launch anew. Because the platform is so flexible, you have the opportunity to really get your feet wet quickly and develop your skills while also taking your time to get the site built the way that you want it. Just remember to be careful about going too far down this road because it can very easily lead to you getting stuck in the sand. Once you’re in the sand, it’s very difficult to get out without losing a considerable amount of time. Make sure that you have all of the appropriate backups in place just in case things go wrong.
Find & Maintain A Regular Stream Of Income
In addition to being able to get started quickly with WordPress, one of its greatest perks is that it provides you with the opportunity to find a way to make money online. You don’t necessarily need to turn to ads to do this, as many of the WordPress plugins allow you to start an affiliate program. Through this program, you’ll be able to earn a commission when someone clicks a monetized link or buys a product that’s promoted on your site. The great thing about this option is that it allows you to keep your profits, and therefore, you don’t need to worry about making a profit only to lose out to a change in the payment processors’ policies. Furthermore, you can choose to either promote a single product or a group of products that are relevant to your niche. The affiliate program provides you with all of the tools that you need to get started, allowing you to find a way to make money online without risking too much capital.
In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges that newcomers to the affiliate arena face is staying motivated. Once you’ve found a lucrative niche, it’s very easy to sit back and enjoy the profits but, as noted, ad-free models don’t provide you with the same level of incentive as paid models do. To combat this, you can utilize several tactics. One effective method is to find ways to personalize the experience for your audience. For example, if you’re selling weight loss products, you might want to consider creating a blog post series where you talk about your own personal struggles with weight. In this way, you’re not just another shill trying to sell you a diet product, you’re someone’s trusted personal anecdote about their own journey to lose weight. In a similar fashion, if you’re an affiliate for dog food products, you could write a guide to help owners of dog foods find the best type of food for their animals based on their own particular needs and circumstances. In this way, you’re not just another affiliate trying to push a product, you’re providing value and a trustworthy guide on how to choose the right food for your dog. This trust and transparency is what will keep you fresh in the affiliates’ minds and what will encourage them to continue doing business with you rather than someone else who is trying to up-sale their products.
Avoid Opinions And Stay Objective
Speaking of which, let’s talk about something that I believe to be one of the greatest weaknesses of WordPress: the inability to effectively mute the voices in our heads when we publish content. For many years now, I’ve been using the platform to develop my personal blog, sharing my thoughts on a variety of topics and earning a tiny bit of money along the way. However, like many other content creators, I’ve also used the platform to voice my opinions about various matters.
Opinions are great. I have tons of them, and I enjoy sharing them with the world. I feel that it’s important to have an open dialogue about events, ideas, and topics relevant to our niche, and I believe that everyone else should, too. Just make sure that whatever point you’re trying to make is one that is supported by evidence or other reputable sources. In addition, keep in mind that with every opinion comes a dissenting one, so make sure that you’re prepared to defend your stance on any topic that you choose to voice an opinion on. Once you’ve established yourself as an authoritative voice in your niche, people will naturally come to you for opinions on various matters. However, until then, just keep your opinions to yourself.
Last but not least, it’s worth mentioning that WordPress is open source software. As a result, anyone can check out the code and, in theory, suggest changes or add new features to the platform. In practice, this becomes a nightmare because, as you well know, a lot of people have different opinions about what should be done with the software and, as a result, there are often conflicts. It would be much easier to just keep things the way that they are and, if you really want to add something new, hire someone to do the coding for you.
If you’ve been thinking about creating a blog but aren’t sure where to start, I highly recommend that you check out WordPress.com. With a WordPress.com account, you’ll be able to get started quickly and with little to no ongoing cost. Furthermore, you’ll be able to take advantage of all of WordPress’ perks and features without needing to worry about maintaining your own servers or figuring out advanced hosting configurations.