What Is WordPress Multisite? A Simple Guide

Some businesses and organisations need more than a single website. But when they do, organisation and management can quickly become complex and time-consuming.

The more websites a business has, the more difficult it can be to manage consistency. Ensuring that each site is following brand guidelines, that user roles and access are properly overseen, and that the websites are kept up-to-date and secure can be a mammoth undertaking.

Enter WordPress Multisite. Specifically developed to help organisations with multiple websites more easily create, manage, and optimise their website portfolio.

Though at first glance it may sound complex, at its core, Multisite is an effective simplification tool.

Keep reading for an introduction to multisite, examples of where it can be a great solutions, and some of its pros and cons. 

What is WordPress Multisite?

WordPress Multisite is a special feature within WordPress that allows you to create a network of linked websites from a single WordPress installation. They can then all be managed from a central dashboard, allowing for simplified control across the websites.

Each individual website still retains its own dashboard, and can share branding, or have its own unique branding and theme.

Multisite Network Options

The network of websites within an instance of Multisite all share a single file system. Further increasing the centralised control discussed above. Beyond that, WordPress offers two core options for organisations looking to make use of the feature:

• A private network in which you can centrally create and add new websites within the installation. This might is relevant for businesses requiring websites for multiple locations, multiple brands, etc.
• A public network in which users within the network can create their own website. For instance, as wpbeginner points out: Harvard’s system in which every user with a harvard.edu email address can create their own blog within the larger domain is an example of a public Multisite network.

4 Core Advantages of Using WordPress Multisite

If you or your company manages multiple websites, Multisite offers a few central benefits that can make it a great fit:

1. Flexibility

The ability to create multiple websites within a single database and server, offers the potential for immense marketing and communication flexibility.

You’re able to build more custom solutions for different audience segments. As Bakels Group did when launching its 25 websites for operations in the same number of countries.

2. Simplified Multiple Website Management

An organisation requiring multiple websites doesn’t need to launch all of its sites within a single environment. But by doing so, Multisite enables businesses across industries to simplify the way in which they manage their online presence.

Within a WordPress multisite installation, the management of all the websites within a network is done from a central dashboard. That dashboard will require some adjustment for users familiar with a single-site WordPress installation, but it isn’t too unfamiliar. It’s intuitive and quickly helps you adjust to managing multiple websites.

3. Centralised Admin Structure

The mention of the single dashboard above already hints at this. WordPress Multisite works because the admin structure is centralised. Because it unifies the various websites needing to be managed, it helps site admins easily monitor, back up, update, and change settings of these sites in a comprehensive and unified fashion.

At the same time, not all admins will be able to access or adjust the same settings. Website owners can set up both global and site-specific administrator roles within their teams. Ensuring that only those with the right permissions can make changes that affect the whole website network, or each individual site.

Managing user roles, responsibilities and access rights can be tightly controlled and monitored.

4. Potentially Significant Time Savings

Combine all the above, and you discover a feature within WordPress that can lead to significant time savings on the administrative level. While retaining site-specific flexibility, global settings you can change and update include:

• Installing new themes and plugins to make them available across all websites in the network.
• Customising themes for all sites in the network to retain consistent branding and visuals.
• Controlling select content, such as footer content, in a more centralised fashion as needed.
• Executing unified database backups to ensure data security across the entire network of sites.

Especially when the network of sites exceeds 20, as it did in the Bakels Group example above. These ‘super admin’ features can translate to massive time savings and faster rollout of changes.

Even if you are only looking to manage three or four individual sites, like B2B retailer Morleys, or brick manufacturer Michelmersh. This centralisation can save time and help you focus on other aspects of your business.

When is Using Multisite is a Bad Idea?

All the above benefits may lead to the belief that WordPress Multisite is always beneficial when managing multiple websites. In reality, while that often is the case, there are a few exceptions that are important to discuss as well.

Certain scenarios turn the centralisation advantage discussed throughout this post into a negative. Within a Multisite network, every website shares the same resources and database, so it is vital that it is deployed only in situations where this is appropriate.

If a business is looking for a way to manage multiple websites under its umbrella, multisite is ideal. But if the websites are designed for different purposes and businesses altogether, it can be problematic.

For instance, a global business looking to establish different websites for its different target countries will not run into issues.

However, we wouldn’t use Multisite to manage the websites of the various clients we work with. They are completely disconnected from each other, and should never share either data or decision-making trees. So it’s not a suitable solution for agencies managing multiple client websites.

Finally, not all web hosting providers are set up to sufficiently support a WordPress Multisite setup. Working with a partner, or checking with the provider first, is crucial to the implementation and migration success should you decide to go in this direction.

Building Your Website(s) on WordPress Multisite

In short, as long as the situation is right for it, Multisite is a great option for businesses looking to more easily and efficiently manage multiple websites. The initial creation, setup and development of multiple websites can obviously be a bit more complex.

There are a number of online guides which seek to help businesses take the necessary steps. Many of them are technical and require at least some coding knowledge.

The alternative, as with any web development project, is to work with a partner who can help you build your websites within a Multisite network. Getting it to a point where you can take over and manage it yourself.

Impact Media specialises in creating bespoke WordPress Multisite solutions. We have developed multisite networks for numerous clients with complex requirements, even where other web development agencies couldn’t help. We can help you start from scratch, or migrate your existing suite of websites into a Multisite environment.

Schedule a call with us to learn more about whether WordPress Multisite could be the right fit for your business.

If you’d like to learn more, check out our case study page to see some of the WordPress Multisite projects we’ve built.