As a web site developer, I make a habit of trying out different CMS and ecommerce platforms so I can counsel clients on the best option for their business. But my favorite standby’s are Joomla and WordPress.
Many people are familiar with the standard self-hosted version of WordPress (available for download at WordPress.org) and the hosted version at WordPress.com. However, not as many people are familiar with WordPress Multi User (commonly referred to as WordPress MU or WPMU,) which is a shame because it blasts the possibilities open for publishing multiple and collaborative sites.
What is WordPress MU
Again and again on various forums I read common misconceptions about the WordPress MU platform. Many people believe that it can only be used for sites that provide users blogs on a subdomain such as WordPress.com does (username.wordpress.com.)
It can do that, but that is not the only way it can be used. It can also be used to run separate sites on their own domain. For example, let’s say you have a thing about scrapbooking and you want to create several sites for the different forms of scrapbooking. So you buy the domains creative-scrapbooking.com, digital-scrapbooking.com, and wedding-scrapbooks.com.
(This is just an example and I’m just throwing them out there. I have no idea if they are available or how competitive or how good the keywords are.)
Next, you go to your hosting account and install WordPress MU using one of the domains for the base install. You then go to the WPMU administration panel to add the second and third sites. You now have three separate sites with unique domain names on one installation of WPMU.
- http://creative-scrapbooking.com
- http://digital-scrapbooking.com
- http://wedding-scrapbooks.com
Each site will have it’s own administration area that can be accessed by going to http://domain.com/wp-admin/. Each site can have it’s own unique theme, different plugins can be used on each, and additional users can be added to one or all of the sites.
Now let’s say your friend Mary is a wedding photographer and wants to blog about wedding photos and creating a photo list for shots that will work well in scrapbooks. You can create a subdomain on the wedding-scrapbooks.com site, photos.wedding-scrapbook.com, and add her as a user to that blog. Mary will have access to her own admin panel for photos.wedding-scrapbooks.com but not to the main site, wedding-scrapbooks.com or either of the other two domains that are on that WordPress MU platform. Pretty cool isn’t it?
So now you have three sites with a total of four “blogs.”
- http://creative-scrapbooking.com
- http://digital-scrapbook.com
- http://wedding-scrapbooks.com
- http://photos.wedding-scrapbooks.com
WordPress MU can be used for multiple sites and multiple subdomains with blogs at the same time.
Why Use WordPress MU?
So why use WPMU rather than multiple installations of the standard version of WordPress?
The main reason is that it makes updates extremely easy. If you have three, thirty or three hundred sites on individual WordPress installs, even though WordPress is very easy to keep updated, it still takes time to go through all the installations to update the platform and the plugins. With WPMU, you only have one platform and one set of plugins to update.
It also saves a huge amount of time when setting up your site. There are a number of programs out there that automate WordPress installations, but with WordPress MU, after redirecting your new domain, it is a three minute process to add a new site. Also, you don’t have to install plugins again. They are already installed and just have to be activated for that particular site.
The same is true of themes. Multiple themes can be available on the WPMU installation and you can specify which themes are available to each blog. When installing themes on a WPMU installation, remember that one theme may be used on a number of different sites. So it is better to go with themes that have a theme administration panel for features that need to be unique to a particular site rather than having them hard coded in the theme itself.
Is WPMU for Me?
If you are planning on having more than one web site on WordPress MU, I think that it makes sense. However, in the next major update of the WordPress platform, 3.0, the WordPress and WPMU projects will be merged and every installation of WordPress will have multi site and multi user capabilities.
If you are just now starting out with online publishing, I would frame your site and content strategy based on a multi site portal.
WordPress MU is Now WordPress Multisite
As of WordPress 3.0, WordPress Multi User and the single version edition of WordPress have merged into one platform offering. Each install of WordPress is now capable of operating in multisite mode. If you have an existing WPMU site that needs to be migrated or would like to launch WordPress using the multisite platform, please contact us.
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The great thing about WordPress is that each of their themes is simple yet efficient. None of the themes go overboard, but all will leave a lasting impression on those who see it. Of coursework, it is how you run the blog & what content you place on it that matters most. But simultaneously, you need a visual that is appealing & not distracting.
Great post Carla! We’re actually using MU with large firms or associations and their members, including a site for the firm or association that aggregates the content of it’s members into organized channels.
I absolutely love WP 3.0. If you run multiple sites, installation and updating can become a massive pain in the neck. I tried using MU for a while for that purpose but just wasn’t happy with it (required too much extra learning and decided to hold off). Then I heard 3.0 would have the multisite capabilities that MU had and I was thrilled.
That said, to anyone looking for a similar solution, the multisite setup is geared toward hosting multiple blogs on different subdomains of the same TLD or subdirectories, rather than different domains entirely. Although it’s not much more of an effort to get it going on multiple domains….it’s just that there’s not a ton of documentation out there to help you do it.
Hi! As I’ve been developing all my minisites in WordPress, I’ve always heard about WordPress MU which is supposed to give me an easier time updating multiple blogs / websites. What I always do is I install a new wordpress for each of my site which really takes time. So I decided to use WordPress MU.
I am a joomla man, however, learning the possibilities of WP 3.0 has made me want to take another look. It is definitely worth looking into. Thank you for your information.
Quick question – how many websites can I host with a MU installation?
What do you think the upper end of the number is and is it based on the database or something else?
I’m thinking about hosting about 100 – 300 sites and wonder if it might get too cumbersome – thanks!
John,
I think a few hundred would be fine. There are some sites that use WPMU and have several thousand blogs on subdomains. Just make sure that you are with a good host. Everyone is on the WordPress bandwagon, but not all hosts can actually handle it.
At that point, you would have to look at optimizing your database though.
Carla
so, what host is good for WPMU? Any suggestions?
wordpress is one of the most popular in terms of blogs and sites. and with wordpress MU you have full access to the site you want to in just a few minutes of working on it. Very flexible and Very elegant sites just have some tweak to make it more personal…
I think WordPress MU is interesting because it creates the new multi-site functionality. It also provides an option of updating multiple blogs easier. I am not sure if I could be able to use it since I am already busy enough with one site. Thanks for the interesting article.
Hi, thanks so much to share with me regarding to WordPress. Really it is very nice multiuser platform. I’ll would also like to create my websites on this platform.
WordPress MU is a resource that many online marketers have ignored. Considering the benefits and scale of unique online models that can be built on the back of WordPress MU, it’s surprising that more people don’t use MU.
Thanks for putting the spotlight on this amazing platform.
Gogo
I wish I would have come across this article earlier. I currently have 5 WordPress blogs each running on a separate installation. I will definitely try out WP MU on my next set of blogs I will come back and let you know how it goes.
Yes, WPMU (or Multi Site as it is now called) is great for simplifying things.
I always assumed Multi Site was just for subdomains. I didn’t realize that it can be used on addon domains too. I wonder if there’s a way to take a group of blogs that are already created and add Multi Site?
Markus,
That’s a good question. Each blog on the installation has its own database and WordPress does have the import function. I think you could set up the domain on the MS install and then import the posts. But you would still have to do the configuration of the settings.
I’m not sure about a straight transfer. There are settings that tie into the main database. There may be a plugin out there that will do it.
Its sounds like great thing to me I can use some of my friend as a sub domain blogger for more attractive website form, with the different topics one single place this is really great I’ll give it a try and see if its working or not.
Thanks for the insight Carla, I’d be interested in trying this out for our websites as we have several domains. Seems like WordPress MU is a really versatile tool. I’ll give it a go.
I’ve been hearing about it for years, but after reading the clear explanation, it seems that WPMU is really interesting.
I just did some research and found that it also support bbPress integration, that’s amazing.
Thanks for the informative post.
This was really interesting to me. I actually have at least 15 different wordpress installations, and it is an absolute hassle to update them. Let alone change passwords, etc.
Justin,
Yes, WPMU, or WordPress Multi Site as it is now known, makes it much easier to run multiple domains on WordPress.
The only caveat to that is that if you are planning on selling or transferring the site later on, it probably makes more sense to keep it on a standalone version.
Wow, Carla your blog is chance gift. I was thinking of starting my own site and then proceed from there to add some more in time. The blog guided me a lot. Thank you. Can I do the site myself or will I need a developer? Assume I will go for 3.0 version only. How are the business possibilities in this format? will I have opportunity of putting advertisements? Can e-commerce features or transactional features also provided, so many questions, apologies, thank you for the piece of information.
Hi Owen,
There are many businesses that use WordPress for their web site from brick and mortar stores to online publications.
Advertisements: Yes, you can add code both within pages as well as in “widget” spots (or spaces for other contet.)
Ecommerce: Any open source code can be extended for ecommerce capabilities; however, WordPress was designed as a blogging platform rather than ecommerce. Can you sell things online using WordPress? Yes. It is the best option? It depends. If you want a hard core online store, I would probably go with something else such as maybe Magento. If you have a site that is more social and user oriented with content, Drupal and Ubercart might be the way to go. If you are more heavy in content and publishing with some social, then Joomla and Virtuemart is an option.
If your site is mainly information and a blog, you just have a few things to sell and you aren’t necessarily going to be managing the order process online but just want something to list product information and collect payments, then WordPress might work with a theme designed for ecommerce such as Shopper Press.
Do you need a developer? It depends on how comfortable you are with the technical aspects of setting up the site. There are easy installation options for WordPress, but there is more to a successful site than a stock installation. I do have tutorials available online at my WordPress training site, Marketing Savvy.
Hey Carla Alvarez! You are absolutely right, shame on those who use a lot WordPress stand alone installation and don’t aware of WordPress MU existence and you know what I am one of them. :p
After reading your article I find it very interesting and definitely I’ll give it a try and I am sure about that I’ll going to love it after seeing many lovely comments here.
Thanks for sharing this beautiful article and please keep updating us on wonderful things like this. 🙂