The Low Down On A WordPress MU Blog

When WordPress.org releases its new version – 3.0 in a few months time it will include WordPress MU because the two systems are merging together.

Currently there are three WordPress options available for users:

WordPress.com – where WordPress itself hosts your blog

WordPress.org – where you download the software and host WordPress on your own server

WordPressMU - WordPress MU is WordPress for multiple users and you can download the MU software and host it on your own server.

You are probably already familiar with WP MU although you have not even know it. WordPress MU is the blogging platform that WordPress.com uses. If you have a blog with wordpress.com you are already a WP MU user

Why You Should Consider Using WordPress MU

WP MU means WordPress multi user so you can have one install of WordPress and multiple users. This means that you can have unlimited blogs and unlimited users all off the one installation of WordPress.

It gets better though …

You can also set different themes, plugins and user permissions for each blog installed with WP MU.

This is just the way that WordPress.com works. You are allowed to use certain themes and plugins because WordPress as the mother blog has set those permissions and rights for the baby user blogs.

This gives you total control. If you are a control freak like me that’s a good thing! Not only does it give you control but WordPress MU makes it possible for you to expand your blogging empire dramatically on one install.

The Good

You can’t beat that one install. Not only is it one installation but it is one upgrade so this makes managing and maintaining a blogging network a lot easier and more manageable for users.

It has all the features that you know and love already with WordPress.org plus a few more

The ability to add other blogs so easily makes it easy for you to think of creative ways to do business on the internet

It’s great for users, they don’t need to have technical know how and learn all the mumbo jumbo to get their blog on your WP Mu site because you can control the themes and plugins that they can have installed. The procedure is as simple as signing up for a blog at WordPress.com

The Bad

Of course, with multiple users, you may have to set some rules in place in case users use your blog network in a way that you did not intend

There is not as much information on using WP MU as there is on WordPress.org but this will, no doubt, change with the merger with WordPress.org

If you are hosting multiple blogs and allowing anyone to sign up for a blog – then you better talk to your web host – these babies can suck up your bandwidth

The baby blogs work just the same as WordPress.org so generally all themes and plugins that you normally use on your self hosted blog will work with a WP MU blog BUT the mother blog will need a wp mu theme, and not all themes are compatible with WP MU. Also, to fire up your mother blog and give you more options and functions you may wish to install some specialized WP MU plugins.

The Ugly

Not really ugly but … currently it does take a little more effort to set up a WP MU blog than just clicking in Fantastico for instance. Don’t get me wrong … it’s not hard but you do need to be fully awake when you are doing it. And, yes, this is a manual install so you do have to do some ftp This will probably change though with the release of WP 3.0

Getting Creative

A lot of people like to have an install of WordPress with a ton of domains and directories for other related parts of the site. You don’t need to that when you use WP MU you can acheive the same thing – one install, multiple blogs, different themes, plugins, users and permissions if you want without that hassle.

Some examples off the top of my head how you can use WP MU

social network combined with Buddy Press and you can have your very own niche Facebook
An authority blog – with different sections for authors, different topics
newspaper
store front with different blogs for stores
membership sites – different blogs for members
blog with forum without bothering with a subdomain, directory etc

WP MU blogs In the Wild

Here’s some examples of WordPress MU blogs you may already know

Blogs

Stores

Newspapers

Universities

Networking

Media

and many, many others

Next time, I’ll show you how to do a wordpress MU install and give you a tour of the WP MU dashboard.

How To Install WP MU

Have fun with WP :)

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Readers' Comments

I have a couple of ideas for WP MU now that it is being integrated into WP 3.0, but I’m having trouble finding basic info to make sure that I’m understanding how it works and if I’m on the right track.

I’m a real estate agent that has been blogging for a couple of years. I’m way more tech savvy than the typical agent and use WP.org easily, but usually have to go for help when I have to do anything manually or something breaks. I hired a wonderful designer to set up my custom blog.

I have 3 ideas for networks that I would like to set up using 3.0 multi-sites.

1. Real estate agent blogs – most agents know they should blog, but are overwhelmed by the idea. The current easy blogging options (WP.com, Blogger) don’t allow as much customization as agents should have. One example is we need to be able to i-frame in a home search like I did on my blog. I want to set up a MU blog and charge a nominal fee for hosting & setting up their initial pages and design, plus a small monthly fee. Agents can write about anything they want on their own site. Questions – Can they point their own domain to it like you can do in WP.com so it doesn’t appear to be a subdomain of the master blog to a visitor? Can I set up a home blog which pulls in all of the posts (gaining SEO ranking for all of the blogs) but also choose to not post specific posts if they don’t meet some standards? Can I select the best posts as featured posts on a page on the main blog? Can they export all of their posts if they ever want to move their blog?

2. Real estate featured cities/zip codes – the second idea is to basically do the same thing as above, but have agents pay to be the exclusive blogger for their area. They would write only about their part of town or general info on the buying/selling process, and the posts would show on their own blog and also on a main blog. The main blog would list each town with a link so that anyone on hitting it and wanting more info on a specific area would get sent to the featured agent’s site.

3. Brokerage blog – I could do the exact same thing as #1 above but instead of opening it up to the entire community, limit it to just the agents and staff at my company which would allow me to help my company get lots of SEO traffic and help us recruit agents.

Am I on the right track? Is this something I could probably manage on my own, possibly paying for someone to help with initial set up and when major upgrades/issues come up?

Thanks for your help!

Karen Goodman on June 20th, 2010 at 15:35
Hi Karen, good questions
#1 yes they can point their own domain – domain mapping, and yes there is a plugin that will pull posts on the home page, you might want to check wpmu dev blog as they probably have a plugin for the featured post idea
#2 yes this is what I call a portal
#3 yes you can do this as well but it sounds more like an intranet to me unless you were linking from the blog to the main site and sharing the link love that way.

At the moment it sounds like you have a ton of ideas and I personally would just pick one to focus on that is going to bring you the most return for the least amount of work. Then, you can always go and do the other ideas.

WP is so easy to use and especially now with WP 3.0. You sound tech savvy enough to do this yourself but is that the best use of your time? Updating etc is a breeze in WP 3.0 so I wouldn’t worry about that but I’d be inclined to focus your efforts at what you are good at and pay other people to sweat the small stuff.

Hope that helps

admin on June 22nd, 2010 at 0:39
Thanks for the answers to my questions. My goal is to shift away from personally working with very many buyers and sellers, making my money from referral fees for leads that I generate to other agents. I also think there is a big gap in services to agents. There are options that are very basic and options for tech savvy agents, but nothing that is good for agents in between who have no desire to become tech savvy. I think I can generate some real income by offering an affordable solution that gets them up and running, hosting with updates and offers them posting support for an added fee. I agree that I need to hire someone to do the initial set. It’s just not work my time to learn WP MU/3.0. As soon as I know I’ve got some people interested, I’ll take the next step.

Karen Goodman on June 22nd, 2010 at 2:04
Sounds like you have found a market that is missing something – your service. The other good thing about your ideas is that it would be quite easy to systemize meaning great for outsourcers and licensing opportunities.

While you are waiting for customers I’d suggest you start working on your seo and ranking so they are renting an asset that would be too much hard work for them to copy and recreate.

Good luck with it!

admin on June 22nd, 2010 at 23:55