With the ever-increasing demand for websites in today’s digital world, it is only normal to see so many website builders coming into existence. While many have been around for a long time, one of the best has always been WordPress, a strong website builder with unique features, easy functioning, and efficient results. In fact, WordPress is actually the driving force behind one-third of the websites globally. The number of websites not powered by WordPress is very less! WordPress offers many unique features, but WordPress Multisite website still remains the most impressive. But wait, what is a WordPress Multisite?
What is WordPress Multisite?
Not everyone has just one site to run; sometimes, you might have to work on different websites. All at the same time. While basic website builders might force you to log out of one website to use another, WordPress is different! To tackle this problem, it has developed a WordPress Multisite website. It’s a simple feature where you can run as many WordPress websites as you want. You can access a single dashboard packed with tools to control these sites. Hypothetically, you’ll be able to manage a WordPress Multisite Network of hundreds and thousands of sites!
WordPress Multisite Features
Believe it or not, WordPress Multisite Features are many – and all of them are premium. Along with getting complete control over your websites, you also get to try different plugins and themes and have full autonomy over the content you’ll post. Doesn’t that sound great?
- Easy control over your websites: Let me elaborate on this glaringly obvious point. WordPress Multisite’s basic point is to maintain all your blogs and sites at the same time. But it is more than just that! Running WordPress Multi-site Setup is relatively easy – and once you do that, you get a dashboard with different features and settings. You can, from there, edit, customize, and publish all your sites.
- Super administration: If you open different accounts to handle other websites, you’ll have to log in and log out every time you want to access all of your sites. However, under WordPress Multi-site Network, all your sites will not only have their own administrator but will also get a super administrator to look after all the sites. Along with that, you also get access to a network administrator, which enables you to manage network-wide content. This feature is especially beneficial for large, branched networks of sites.
- Themes and Plugins: Thanks to the features mentioned above, WordPress Multi-site Setup offers a plethora of themes and plugins that you can apply to all the sites or separately. Some of these are WordPress Blog Replicator, Autoblog, Multi-Domains, and Multisite Content Copier – and all of them are handy, efficient, and easy to use.
- Affordable: Having one control board for all your websites is convenient as well as doesn’t burn your pockets. When you operate different websites, you have to take different pricing plans – not to forget the additional cost for themes and plugins. So, why waste your money when you can simplify that process by taking WordPress Multi-site Network?
- Shared code and user base: Since it’s essentially the same network, the configuration and coding are the same for every site under WordPress Multi-site. Not only that, but the user base (and the login details) will also be shared everywhere. This will reduce confusion and double up your results dramatically.
Is WordPress Multisite right for you?
Ideally, WordPress Multisite won’t be an excellent option for every user with a WordPress website. Not only because of personal preferences but also because of its specific operations. If you want the answer to What is a WordPress Multisite, it is essentially a network – but of sites with similar functionality. It means that it will work the best when all the involved sites or blogs are in the same niche or have similar content.
Examples of this include:
- A business website with subsites for different services.
- An educational or organizational site, where all the subsites need the same branding and functioning.
- An online community with forum options.
If one of your sites employs starkly different plugins and themes than your other sites, it is better to not use WordPress Multisite Website. The features will be rendered useless, and it simply won’t be practical for you!
Pros and Cons of WordPress Multisite
So far, we’ve looked into WordPress Multisite Features and checked the ideal audience for it. However, not all features can be taken as pros – as some of them can pose as cons at different times. How? Read along!
WordPress Multi-site Pros –
- Since one of its features is handling multiple sites in one go, companies, educational institutions, and e-commerce stores will benefit the most from WordPress Multisite Website. It will be easy to navigate and save you a lot of time.
- The single intuitive dashboard helps you manage everything with a few clicks of your keyboard. Theme adjustments? Plugin installations? Different admins for different subsites? The dashboard will do all your work!
- WordPress Multisite is comparatively cheaper and takes less space on your system – proving it much better than single installations. So, what is a WordPress Multisite? The best way to save space and money!
WordPress Multi-site Cons –
- You’re wrong if you think WordPress Multi-site Setup supports every WordPress Plugin. Many can’t be used in the Multisite dashboard; you’ll have to function without them.
- As there is the same code and configuration for seemingly different websites, a problem with one site would grossly affect the rest. For example, if one of the sites is hacked, the WordPress Multi-site Network is essentially breached.
- It will be difficult if you decide to switch back to single sites from WordPress Multisite due to some problems. Whatever efforts you put in setting it up and using WordPress Multisite Features to enhance it – all will be lost.
- WordPress Multisite doesn’t come with SSL certification. So, if any one of the sites doesn’t have the certificate, it comprises the security of the whole network. You’ll either have to buy one for every site or not opt for WordPress Multisite.
Conclusion
Just because you know the basics of WordPress Multisite doesn’t mean you’re not an expert in it. We’ve barely scratched the surface here; to actually use it, you’ll have to learn about it as much as possible! But one thing is for sure – WordPress Multisite Website will help immensely those who took their time to understand and use it!