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Wordpress MU as a Multi Blog - Multi Product Site?

by David McKee
11 replies
This is a general question to the forum about the use of Wordpress MU, which is the Wordpress multi-blog software. For those of you who do not know, Wordpress MU allows you to create multiple blogs and manage them all, and Wordpress.org is an implementation of Wordpress MU.

My question it this: Is anyone using Wordpress MU for hosting multiple blogs for multiple products or as their multiple-website system? What it would allow you to do (theoretically) is have a single domain and then using a service like tinyurl have blogs all over the place that look like they are each at their own domain.

I have been thinking about using this tactic and was wondering if anyone else was doing it now? Thank you for your input.

David McKee
#blog #multi #multi-blog #product #site #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author PeteHarrison
    Hi David,

    I'm using Wordpress Mu on one of my sites, it's a great product. I have it set up so that each blog is created as a separate subdomain and the main blog (on the root domain) pulls the RSS feed from all of the blogs for its content
    If you have a general domain name you can use specific keywords for the subdomains, this helps a lot with SEO as the SE's seem to give keyword rich domains (or subdomains) extra weighting,

    Pete
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  • Profile picture of the author David McKee
    Pete,

    That is great news, because I absolutely love WP and would rather not have to go back to doing lots of html (I use Kompozer when I must - it's free and it is really good) - I much rather tweak php or use plugins, etc.

    So, it sounds like you use the straight URL sub-domain without any problems? Have you tested using something like a tinyurl to any of these sub-domains, and do you think that would help at all?

    As most links are search derived, I guess it would not matter that much, however for specific things where a lot of traffic starts going, then it might be a good idea.

    DTM
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  • Profile picture of the author radio
    WordPress And WordPress MU Will Merge: Good Or Bad? | The Blog Herald

    wordpress mu and wordpress are set to merge - when that happens i think many more will become familiar w/ the multiblog features of wp.

    i've set up a generic domain in the past and then expanded off of it with some success.

    for example:
    Code:
    widgets.com
 
blue.widgets.com 
red.wigets.com
yellow.wigets.com
    not sure why you would want to use tinyurl unless your root domain had absolutely nothing do with what you're promoting... but that would seem sort of ridiculous. i have less trust clicking a tinyurl than i do a subdomain.
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  • Profile picture of the author PeteHarrison
    Hi David,

    I'm with radio on this one, I can't see any advantage to using a domain shortning service when the whole point is to get your keywords in the URL; am I missing something?

    Pete
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  • Profile picture of the author David McKee
    Well, I was thinking along the lines of: (example)

    Main_Blog (about motor cycles)
    |
    |----------Blog about herbal remedies...(additional pages and posts etc)
    |----------Blog about exercise...(additional pages and posts etc)
    |----------Blog about (whatever)

    In other words you start out with a single main blog, and then as time goes on and you start promoting new niches each niche gets a blog of it's own. All of the blogs are cross linked with each other, however what that would mean is you have domains like this:

    www.my_motorcyle_blog.com
    http://www.my_motorcyle_blog.com/my_..._remedies_blog
    www.my_motorcyle_blog.com/my_exercise_blog

    so the tinyurl or something of that nature would allow you to have something more akin to a regular domain name. Of course if the name is available you could buy it and redirect, but obviously that adds a small additional cost, and if the domain is not available then you don't have much recourse.

    But I could be spinning my wheels on something that just does not matter anymore too.

    DTM
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  • Profile picture of the author The Pension Guy
    The examples you gave are, probably, not a good idea.
    As it was advised above, get a generic domain name and then you can create subdomains (not subfolders!) for the individual niches/products.
    N.B. subdomains are seen by search engines as different sites, not just part of the main domain, as it is in the case of subfolders.
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  • Profile picture of the author radio
    get something generic or something short that you can brand - tinyurl is just a terrible idea.

    you can use either subdomains or subdirectories w/ wp mu - there are pros and cons to either. using subdirectories has everything adding some juice to your main domain using subdomains keeps things separate, but you may be able to show more focus and the scope is ONLY that subdomain (whereas the sudirectory method has everything in its scope) and thus have an advantage in the serps. so i've read...

    purchase one domain generic or short and brandable and start building it out.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike T
      I have a site, which appears to be a suite of sites, set up like this using Wordpress Mu. It is not properly set up as regards content and layout yet, I need to work on this in my holidays over the next couple of weeks, however the principle can be demonstrated.

      The base url is www.the-key-facts.com, which is an empty blog at present. I then have subdomains using wpmu, eg.

      http://controlling-ocd.the-key-facts.com/
      http://control-acne.the-key-facts.com/
      http://oil-trading.the-key-facts.com/
      http://forex-day-trading.the-key-facts.com/
      etc.

      Use of the generic domain allows keywords to be fitted naturally into the subdomain. This has the twin added benefits of not having to search for a suitable domain for each blog (and in reality probably having to settle for something less than perfect) and removing the cost of registering lots of domains.

      It is very easy to set up the sites and use a different template for each if you want to. The above sites, and others I have on that domain, were originally installed a few months ago when I was first experimenting with both wpmu and autoblogging. Most of them took literally minutes to set up. Of course, then they need time and effort to populate, refine and promote, the important stuff to monetise them! That is what I have not done yet, and what I shall be concentrating on in the next couple of weeks.

      As others have said above, I don't see the point of using tinyurl - which do you think would be better both for search engines and humans, www.tinyurl/abc123 or http://pocket-projectors.the-key-facts.com/ ?

      Hope this is of use in giving you an insight into how Wordpress Mu can be used.

      Mike.
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  • Profile picture of the author David McKee
    This is some good information - right now I have three domains, with three copies of WP (regular) and so I guess my next question would be what do you think the value of WP MU is over WP. I realize of course that the two are going to be merged at some point, but do you still have to maintain different sets of plug-ins, or are you able to update everything from a single admin page?

    Mike T. I checked out each of your sites and I see that while the topics vary widely, you tie it together with "key facts" are you worried that these are too widely differentiating topics or do you have a plan for monetizing with affiliate links and ads like your oil site? It seems like it would be a lot of work to try to post an article a day to that many sites and have the quality of content needed to drive lots of traffic to it.

    Anyway, many thanks again to you all for your valuable insights!

    DTM
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike T
      As I see it advantages of Mu are that there is only one installation of wp so upgrades are straightforward, plugins are installed once and can be activated / deactivated for individual blogs - maintenance is much easier.

      I don't see any problem with having widely different topics, in effect they are different sites, and I do not link between them. Monetisation will be done by affiliate products and adsense, some of the sites autoblog but I will also add rewritten plr, using a future posting plugin. Of course it will be very difficult, if not impossible to keep all the sites updated with quality content, however I will select the best performing ones to write my own content for.
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  • Profile picture of the author carolgirl52
    I feel just like a newbie should--I think. I have a lot to learn but just reading your comments and questions is getting me up to lingo speed! So thanks for that. Can someone please tell me the first baby step I have to make to make money on my website? Or at least help me crawl toward understanding my own blog. Much thanks.
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