WordPress Multisite – Is this a good idea?

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I’m being tasked at my company to work out a plan to handle 50 new clients that we’re about to bring in. Each client is directly related and under an “umbrella” company that owns them all. All 50 sites will be pretty similar, each is for a different company so the themes may vary across them all.

We’re planning to give them 10 themes to pick from for all 50 sites. So some of them will be very similar, some won’t be at all.

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Is WordPress the best path? I’m very familiar with WordPress. I’ve worked with Expression Engine before but am not as savvy as I am with WordPress and I understand Expression Engine also has a multi site functionality.

So my question, is WordPress Multi Site the best path for this? What would you do in my situation?

Also, if we wanted to create a user that has access to 10 of the 50 sites, is that possible? We’ll need to narrow permissions.

Also, each site will need its own domain name. Is that possible?

Thanks guys!

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2 comments

  1. Yes, Multisite can handle this easily.

    To run Mapped Domains, using the MU Domain Mapping plugin cited by @Calle, you need to set up the network as sub-domains (opposed to a directories set up). And the mapped domains must be set as Parked Domains pointing to the directory of the WordPress Multisite installation.

    Multisite user management can be a little tricky.
    If some site of the network has really special requirements for its user’s management, maybe you’ll have a hard time.
    All users of the network are given Subscriber status in all sites (this can be masked). You can easily assign one user as Administrator of 10 sites, give Super Admin access to others, use a network role management, etc.

    You can have a couple of parent themes with the corporate identity and create child themes to accomodate specific needs.

    Useful info:

    • Multisite 101, introduction to MS by one of its wizards, don’t forget the tip jar if it’s useful to you 😉

      This ebook strives to pull it all together, explain you what skills you need to get started, and move you to the next step: running your own Network. Think of it as a basic tutorial in running your own Multisite.

    • Multisite Rationale, real case study for implementation of a MS Network, if you can find a document like this for Expression Engine, then you can make your choice pretty fast.

  2. WordPress Multisite can either be path based (www.domain.com/site1, http://www.domain.com/site2), or domain-based (www.site1.domain.com, http://www.site2.domain.com). I believe each of these sites have separate users; I’m not sure about your question about setting up a user that only has access to a certain number of the sites, but you can set up a “master user” that has access to all the sites on the network. If you use a domain based network for MS, you can then go into each of your domains you have bought for your 50 sites and forward them using DNS/.htaccess to the individual WordPress Multisites.
    I hope that makes sense 🙂