Is WordPress Multisite the Right Choice For You?

“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” – Peter Drucker

If you’re someone who has carved a niche using WordPress and are now looking to expand it further with this incredible CMS, we have great news for you.

WordPress Multisite, helps in creating, running, and updating numerous websites on WordPress. Also known as WordPress Multi-User (WPMU), it refers to a network of websites having the same WordPress installation core files.

This in-built feature in WordPress 3.0 lends efficiency and time management to many businesses in the eCommerce sector, education, media, and industries with multilingual audiences.

Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Edublogs, Cheap Flights, WPLang, etc are some examples of the businesses that cater to their audiences using WordPress multisite.

WordPress multisite comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. These are crucial in deciding whether or not to go for a WordPress multisite installation. Here we go:

Pros of WordPress Multisite

1. One Dashboard to Manage All Sub-sites

Remembering the login credentials for multiple websites isn’t easy. With WordPress multisite, you can easily manage multiple websites from a single location. Your main WordPress dashboard contains all the URLs under the ‘My Sites’ menu, so you don’t have to memorize multiple login credentials.

2. Unlimited Sub-domains or Sub-directories

WordPress multisite allows you to create limitless sub-directories or sub-domain sites. Both of them are responsible for defining the structure of the URLs for the sub sites. You can choose either of the two to configure or reconfigure the network after installing a sub-domain or sub-directory.

3. Site Creation is Quick and Easy

WordPress multisite also facilitates site creation. You can start a separate site within minutes instead of going through the lengthy process of setting up a different site, file directories, permissions, etc.

4. One Time Download for Plugins

You can download and install themes or plugins only once and they will work for the entire site network. This ultimately leads to better and efficient management as there aren’t different plugins and themes for multiple sites. The server space gets used entirely.

5. One Click Site Updation

Since the entire network is connected, therefore, it accelerates the process of updating multiple sites. All you need is one click from the main dashboard for all the subsites to be updated at once.

Cons of WordPress Multisite

1. Not All Plugins Work On The Multisite
WordPress multisite doesn’t support all the plugins and themes. One has to check if a particular plugin or theme is compatible with multisite or not to avoid conflicts.

2. Restrictions for Local Admins
A local admin has very limited permissions. For example, a local administrator is denied permission to select and download plugins or themes. Only the choices made by the super admin are available across the entire network.

3. Connected Multisites Go Down at the Same Time
Since the network hub for WordPress multisite is the same, therefore, if the server is down, all the connected multi websites will go down. The same network resource will end up affecting the entire row of sites which can pose a major disruption.

WordPress multisites can have a common point of failure with just one website crashing down due to some malicious, harmful code. This will spread to all other connected websites, hence shutting down the entire WordPress installation network.

Key Takeaway

Choosing between WordPress multisite or single sites is not easy, despite the pros and cons listed. While installing a multisite is simple, there are complexities involved in its management. It is a good idea to consider these questions before setting it up –

1. Do you really need multi-sites?
2. Do you need multi-sites on sub-domain or different paths?
3. A powerful web host that can manage multiple domains.
4. You should have FTP access to WordPress files and admin access.

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