A Complete Guide To WordPress Multisite

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WordPress Multisite is a popular website feature of WordPress that allows you to build and run multiple websites with the same WordPress installation on your server. In other words, you can manage multiple different WordPress websites from a single dashboard.

However, sometimes people are unsure how to use this feature. This guide will help answer questions about what WordPress Multisite is, who needs it, and how to install it.

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Let’s start with the basics.

1. What is WordPress Multisite?

WordPress Multisite is a feature that allows you to build and run multiple WordPress websites from a single WordPress dashboard. It used to be called WordPress Multi-User or WPMU. WordPress multisite is not a new feature. It is an advanced feature on the WordPress platform that has been around since the launch of WordPress 3.0. You can use it for a variety of purposes such as B. to update all your sites with a single click, or to charge your subscribers for creating a site in your multisite network.

2. Key Features of WordPress Multisite

WordPress Multisite offers several unique features. For starters, you can run a network of blogs and websites from a single WordPress installation. It allows you to create a network of subdomains like https://john.example.com or directories like https://www.example.com/john/. Alternatively, you can have a separate domain for each website on the network. It’s also easier to replicate functionality across a network of sites.

In WordPress Multisite, you can control the entire network as a super admin. As a normal website administrator, you can only control one website on the network. As a super admin, you control the accessibility of users who want to create an account and set up their own WordPress blog or website.

A super admin can install new themes and plugins and make them available to the user Websites on the network and also customize the themes for all websites. Another feature is the ability to create websites and online stores for specific languages, regions and currencies.

Both the super admin and the website admin can control content. While this control extends across the network for a super admin, the website administrator has the right to choose what content from the main domain is displayed on their respective website. Plugins are also under the control of a Super Admin. However, a website administrator can enable and disable plugins on their website as needed.

3. Who should and shouldn’t use WordPress Multisite?

While WordPress Multisite offers several features, it’s not always the right choice. The main concern is that the sites in a multisite network would share the same database. In other words, you can’t just back up a single website. Because of this, all websites on a network must belong to the same master domain.

Let me explain with an example. A university could use WordPress Multisite to create different websites for each department, student and faculty blogs, and forums. Since the websites would share their database with the university’s main domain, they would be easier to manage in a multisite network.

So are banks and financial institutions with a national or global network of offices, digital publications with multiple content areas, Government agencies with multiple departments, hotel chains, stores with multiple branches, e-commerce companies, and website design companies like Wix could also use a multisite network to their advantage.

A web designer couldn’t multisite Use to manage multiple independent client projects. If one of the customers decides to move their website to another location, it would be a problem as the website would share its database with others on the network. Multisite makes it difficult to secure a single website on the network. In this case you should better use a single installation.

4. Pros and Cons of WordPress Multisite

Now that we know who should and shouldn’t be using WordPress Multisite, let’s take a look at the technical pros and cons. You need to consider them carefully before making a decision.

Advantages

• The main advantage is the ability to manage multiple websites from a single dashboard. This is useful if you run multiple websites managed by different teams under one parent domain, e.g. B. an e-commerce store with different country-specific subpages.
• However, you can also assign a different administrator to each website in your network.
• With a single download, you can add plugins and Install and activate themes for all websites on your network.
• You can also manage updates with a single master installation for all websites on your network.

Disadvantages

• Since all websites share the same network resources, they will all fail if the network goes down.
• A sudden increase of traffic on one website affects all others on the network. Unfortunately, beginners often find it difficult to manage traffic and server resources on a multisite network.
• Similarly, if one website is hacked, the entire network is compromised.
• Not all WordPress Plugins support a multisite network.
• Similarly, not all web hosting providers have the necessary tools to support a multisite network.
• If your hosting provider lacks the server requirements, you will not be able to use the multisite feature. For example, some hosting providers do not allow you to add a domain to the same hosting server. In this case, you may need to change or upgrade your hosting plan or switch providers.

5. WordPress Multisite Requirements

Once you understand the technical pros and cons, you must have decided if multisite is the right option for you. If you want to use it, you must first meet some technical requirements.

One of the first things you need is a web hosting service provider that can manage multiple domains in a single web hosting plan. Although you could use shared hosting for a few low traffic sites, you should use VPS hosting or a dedicated server due to the nature of the WordPress multisite network.

You must also have the basic knowledge to install by WordPress. It would be an added benefit if you already have a WordPress installation. However, you must secure it. You must also disable all plugins.

Make sure you have FTP access. You also need to know the basics of manipulating files with FTP. Finally, you need to enable pretty permalinks. In other words, your URLs shouldn’t look like https://example.com/?p=2345, but like https://example.com/my-page.

6. Multisite domain mapping

By default, you can create additional websites in your multisite network as subdomains or subfolders of the main website. They look like this:

subsite.network.com

or something like this:

You may not always want this though, as you are prompted to create for each website has a unique domain name. This is where domain mapping comes to the rescue. You can use this feature within the multisite network to map additional websites to show up as domain.com. When using domain mapping you will see:

subsite.network.com = domain.com

or:

See also: How to make Website Mobile Friendly?

Before WordPress 4.5 you had a domain mapping Plugin to use to map the additional websites. However, in version 4.5+, domain mapping is a native feature.

7. Multisite Hosting and SSL

As you probably know, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) allows you to transport data securely over the Internet. The data remains unreadable for malicious users, bots and hackers.

However, some hosting providers offer free SSL certification for the main domain only. You may need to purchase it separately for each subdomain. If one of the websites in your multisite network does not have SSL certification, the security of all other websites will be compromised. Therefore, make sure that all websites in your WordPress multisite network have SSL certificates.

8. Installing and Setting Up WordPress Multisite for New and Existing Websites

First you need to install WordPress. After installation, you need to enable the multisite feature. You can also enable it on your existing WordPress website. However, backup your website first.

• Use an FTP client or the cPanel file manager to connect to your website and open the wp-config.php file for editing.
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  • Add the following code just before /* to your wp-config.php file:

  /* Multisite */ define( ‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true );Now save and upload your wp-config.php file back to the server. That’s all!

  Next you need to set up the multisite network. If you’re already logged into your WordPress dashboard, refresh the page to continue with the next steps. If not, you will need to log in again.

  • If you set up the multisite network on your existing website, you must disable all plugins. Go to the Plugins » Installed Plugins page and select all plugins. Select the Disable option from the Bulk Actions drop-down menu and click Apply.

  

  Now go to Tools » Network Setup. If you see a notice that you need to install Apache’s mod_rewrite module on your server, don’t worry.All leading WordPress hosting providers leave this module enabled.

  

  Choose the domain structure for websites on your network, either subdomains or subdirectories.Add a title for your network.Make sure the email address is for the network administrator is correct. Click the “Install” button. You will see some code that you need to add to the wp-config.php or .htaccess files. Use an FTP client or the file manager in cPanel to copy and paste the code.

  

  Setup is complete. You must log in again to access your multisite network.

  9. WordPress multisite configuration and other settings

  Wait! You still need to configure the network settings, for which you need to go to the Multisite Network Dashboard.

  • Open the “My Sites” menu in the admin toolbar. Click on the “Network Admin” option and then click on the “Dashboard” option to bring up the multisite network dashboard.
  • Click on the “Settings” option in the admin sidebar. You will see the title of your site and the email address of the admin. Make sure they are correct before proceeding with some essential configuration settings.

  A. Registration Settings

  This setting allows you to open your website for user registration and allows existing users to create new websites on your network. Check the appropriate box.

  If you check the “Registration notification” box, you will receive an email notification when a new user or website is registered. Enable the Add New Users option to allow individual site administrators to add new users to their own sites.

  Use the Restricted Email Registration option to limit registration to a specific restrict domain. For example, only allow users from your company to register on your website. You can also prevent some domains from being registered.

  

  B. New Site Settings

  Here you can configure the default options such as welcome emails and the content of the default first post, page and comment for each new site created in your multisite network. You can update these settings at any time.

  

  C. Upload Settings

  You can limit the total storage space that each website on your network can use for uploads. This helps you delegate server resources wisely. The default is 100MB. You can also set the type of files that users can add to their websites, e.g. B. images, .doc, .docx and .odt files, audio and video files and PDFs. You can also set a size limit for individual files.

  

  D. Menu Settings

  This setting enables the administration menu for the plugins section of the websites in your network. Once you enable this setting, users can enable and disable plugins, but not add new ones. Click “Save Changes” to apply the changes made.

  10. Resources: Setting Up Themes and Plugins

  Because individual website administrators cannot install themes and plugins themselves, you need to set them up on the network.

  A. Themes

  Go to “My Sites” » “Network Admin” » “Themes”.

  On this page you can see a list of the currently installed themes. Use the following settings to make the changes you want.

  • “Enable network”: Make theme available to website administrators.
  • “Disable network”: Disable a theme that you previously made available.
  • Add New: Install a new theme on your network.

  Change a default theme

  To change the default theme for new websites (replace your-theme with the name of the theme’s folder), add the following code to your wp-config.php file:

  // Setting default theme for new pages define( ‘WP_DEFAULT_THEME’, ‘your-theme’ );

  B. Plugins

  Go to “My Sites” » “Network Admin” » “Plugins”.

  Click on the “Enable Network” option under each plugin to make it yours add network. Keep in mind that if you have already enabled the “Plugins Menu” option for site admins in “Network Settings”, admins will not be able to delete or install new plugins. However, you can activate and deactivate existing plugins.

  11. To add a new website to the Multisite Dashboard

  Go to “My Sites” » “Network Admin” » “Sites”.

  

  Click the Add New button.

  

  Fill in the following fields.

  • Add the address (URL) for your new website.
  • Enter your “site title”.
  • Enter the email address of the administrator of the new website.

  

  Click the Add Website button to complete the process.

  12. Google Analytics on WordPress Multisite

  You can also generate Google Analytics code for all pages on all websites in your multisite network. If you haven’t already done so, create and log into a Google Analytics account.

  • First, create a property to set up a Google Analytics ID. You will need this ID to install your global site tag (gtag.js).
  • Next, find your Google Analytics ID in the “Property” column of the relevant account in the “Admin” section of Analytics Account.
  • Now you can copy and paste the global site tag to the relevant web pages. Add the gtag.js tag right after the opening tag. You can have different analysis code for each website in the network and super admin can manage them all if needed.

  13. Set up on local host

  See also: Blog

  You can use any WAMP or LAMP software to set up WordPress Multisite on a local system. You need to follow the same steps as hosting a website. However, pay attention to the domain mapping. You can easily set up a subdirectory website in the local system, but to set up a subdomain or any other domain, you need to set up a virtual host on the WAMP or LAMP server.

  14. Useful Plugins for WordPress Multisite and How They Work

  You can use a variety of plugins to ensure the smooth running of your multisite network.

  A. Domain MappingThis plugin allows you to offer each website in your network its own domain name.

  B. WPFormsCreate various forms with a simple drag-and-drop tool.

  C. Yoast SEOOptimize the websites in your network for better search engine results. Yoast is a household name in the SEO world.

  D. Pro SitesOffer paid upgrades, advertising and more to monetize your multisite network. You can limit the features of the free site and encourage users to upgrade.

  E. SeedProdAdd “Coming Soon” and “Maintenance Mode” custom landing pages. This will spice up the network while admins work on their sites.

  Q. WP Mail SMTPFix WordPress not sending email issue with this plugin. It allows you to use an SMTP server to send important multisite registration and notification emails.

  G. User SwitchingThis plugin allows you, as a network administrator, to switch user accounts to see what your users are experiencing while working on their websites. It can help you fix some function problems.

  15. Troubleshooting and FAQ

  A.Troubleshooting

  There are some common issues you may encounter when setting up a multisite network. Let’s see how to fix these issues.

  I. Login Issues

  You may encounter a wp-admin login issue when using WordPress Multisite with subdirectories instead of subdomains. If you are unable to login in the WordPress backend for individual websites with subdirectories, you can try replacing the define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, true); Line in wp-config.php file with define (‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, ‘false’);.

  II. Find Unconfirmed Users

  Sometimes you may not be able to find registered users who did not receive an activation email. Poorly configured email settings are usually responsible for this problem. You can use SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) to send activation emails. PHP Mail function can send emails to Junk folder due to unauthorized email sending. Instead, you can use SMTP with the correct domain authentication to deliver email to the inbox. Use any SMTP service provider like MailGun or Gmail.

  B. Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Can I install plugin “X” in my WordPress multisite?

  Yes, you can install any plugin in multisite. However, not all plugins support multisite. Check plugin support before installing.

  2. Can I share user logins and roles in a multisite network?

  Yes, you can share user logins and roles across multiple sites. This comes in handy when you want site administrators to manage the content on their own sites in your multisite network.

  3. Is it possible to view the posts of the main site on all sites in the network?

  Yes, you can view the posts of your main site on the entire network.

  4. As a super admin, can I log in to all network websites with a single ID?

  Yes, super admins can log in to all network websites using the same credentials.

  5 . Can I log into another network’s websites as a super admin?

  No, you cannot log into networks other than your own.

  6. Can I add more websites to my network later?

  Yes, you can add as many websites as you like at any time.

  7. Can I use different plugins for each website, e.g. B. Yoast for one and All-in-One SEO for the other?

  Yes, you can use different plugins with similar functionality for different websites. However, you must set the plugin for the desired website. If you enable it for the entire multisite network, it will automatically work on all websites.

  8. Can I install a plugin on a single website?

  No, you cannot install a plugin directly on a single website. You need to install it on the network. However, you can enable or disable it for a specific site.

  9. Can I create a theme and apply it to a specific website?

  Yes, you can create as many themes as you like. You can also enable or disable themes as a site administrator.

  16. WordPress Multisite Examples

  Here are some well-known brands using a WordPress multisite network.

  • OpenView Venture PartnersOpenView Venture Partners is a venture capital firm. The company uses a multisite setup to power three different websites, including the company website, the company blog, and a multi-author blog called Labs. The company operates the last two websites under the subdomains blog.openviewpartners.com and labs.openviewpartners.com. Each website has a centralized theme that works perfectly.
  • The University of British Columbia BlogsThe University of British Columbia (UBC) also uses WordPress Multisite. The purpose here is to allow professors to create course websites, create blogs with multiple contributors, and create portfolios for students as well as staff. The WordPress multisite installation gives teachers complete control over their online communities. They can add as many students as they like and take the lessons beyond the walls of the classroom.
  • Cheap FlightsCheapflights is a travel website offering airline tickets, hotel bookings, and vacation packages. The website uses WordPress Multisite to power the travel tips section. The section includes the latest travel news, flying tips, information on the best travel destinations and more.

  Conclusion

  As you can see, WordPress Multisite offers several advantages. You can control and manage multiple websites from a single dashboard. It can certainly reduce your legwork and make your website monitoring hassle-free. Hopefully you now have enough knowledge about installing, troubleshooting, and working with applications on a multisite network to take the plunge.

  Have you ever used WordPress Multisite? Will you consider using it for future projects? Let us know in the comments section below.

  See also: Adding an RSS feed to a Blog

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