WordPress Multisite vs Multiple WordPress Installations

Source copied from narga.net for original link  click here

You’ve probably heard about the powerful WordPress Multisite — the WordPress configuration that lets a user launch several sites off their main site. And I’ve been reading a lot of questions here regarding about multiple blogs/sites in one WordPress installation.
If you’re new to WordPress or feel confusing about Pros & Cons of WordPress Multisite versus Multiple WordPress Instalation. Read on, I will explain about the problems / benefits of a single multisite install, versus several separate installs.
Then I will you help me take the right way out.

Multisite is a feature of WordPress 3.0 and later versions that allows multiple virtual sites to share a single WordPress installation. When the multisite feature is activated, the original WordPress site can be converted to support a network of sites. The WordPress Codex

In short, a multisite allows you to run many sites from a single codebase.
I’ve got it installed WordPress with 5 unique domain, 2 domains running WordPress separated and 3 domains combined in WordPress Multisite.

Benefits of WordPress Multisite over many standalone WordPress installations

• The advantage would appear to be a smaller footprint on the server for multiple websites, a single update to manage version upgrades of wordpress and plug-ins, maybe a single back up to manage multiple websites and perhaps a slightly faster way to manage existing sites and roll out new sites. You install new or update all the themes, plugins and sites at once within one MU installation instead of updating each one separately.

• Each WordPress installation takes a significant amount of resources on your server, you need pay more money and time to make multi WordPress installation run fast and optimize as the same.
• Quick access to several blogs is convenient. You can manage all your blogs from one control panel. It is maybe the biggest proof of using WordPress Multisite as there is no need to upload a new installation of WordPress for each blog or website.

• It is much simpler to backup since WordPress Multisite is a single SQL database. Just create one back up folder for all your websites. It is now not necessary to keep a backup folder for all your sites.
• SEO is not affected by a multisite installation because the search engines recognize these sites as just another WordPress site.

OK, so what’s the problem with running WordPress Multisite

Don’t think that combining those two WordPress installs into one is not worth it… it absolutely is.

• Multisite is awesome for a specific industry or focus, but usually not for totally separate business entities. If you need users to be on different sites, but not aware that they’re on a network, don’t use MultiSite because it’s security risk with difference themes and plugins. I would use something like InfiniteWP.com to launch and manage several unrelated sites.
• User profiles are the same for all sites. And logged in users are logged in for all sites.
• Plugins, Themes, Widgets may not work on WordPress Multisite as they are created for a regular WordPress.
• If a theme / plugin is changed, it is changed for all networked sites using it. It’s hard to keep multi version of your themes / plugins for separate websites.
• Since the sites will share plugins and themes, the needs of the sites should overlap in functionality. Otherwise, the only plugins that will be visible to the site owner in Plugins are those that are network-activated. The site owner can access the plugin and configure it, but cannot delete or deactivate it. It is hard for networked-site users to experiment with plugins.
• The sites in a Multisite network are all sharing one single database. This can tax system resources on high-traffic sites, affecting all sites in the Multisite network.

WordPress Multisite vs Multiple WordPress Instalation

So if you are managing a lot of different websites, WordPress Multisite might be an appropriate option for you. However, if you are managing just a few websites each with different functions, purposes, and goals, then it may be better just run them on separate installations of WordPress, as long as you keep them all up to date.

Manage Multiple WordPress Websites Effectively

Think Carefully Before You Start WordPress Multiste or Multiple WordPress Installations. But in my opinion standalone sites are far better, due to the complex nature of the multisite structure..
Managing multiple WordPress websites can be a challenge. Thankfully there are a few third party services out there that allow you manage multiple WP installations from one central location.

• CMS Commander

  Do you have to manage many WordPress sites, either for your clients or blogs that are your own? If so you certainly know how much time that can take on a daily basis. Time that is spent on mundane administrative tasks and then missing from your important business tasks. CMS Commander is an online service that aims to solve this problem and make managing multiple WordPress weblogs as fast and easy as controlling a single site. By placing all your weblogs into one powerful dashboard CMS Commander makes it possible to update, backup and manage them all in bulk at the same time.

  Features of CMS Commander include:

  • 1-click Updates of plugins, themes and WordPress on all sites
  • Automatic scheduled WordPress backups
  • Website cloning and restoring
  • Uptime monitoring and Analytics integration
  • Bulk posting and automatic content

  While CMS Commander can be used for free a premium account will give you access to several special features and allows you to manage more websites.

• • Sign up for a free account on cmscommander.com now to start controlling all your weblogs from one dashboard and enjoy the best way to manage multiple WordPress sites!

    ManageWP

    ManageWP is the most well-known WordPress management service online. With all these powerful features at your fingertips, the amount of time saved and effort reduced that traditionally goes into keeping up-to-date with all your sites will be very noticeable.

Features

• Bulk add new posts and pages (all packages).
• Manage and add users and define their roles as you would from inside your sites own WordPress dashboards (Professional and Business).
• Google Analytics Widget to view your site stats according to Google (Professional and Business).
• Search Engine Rank Tracker to see where your sites are ranked in the search engines (Business).
• Traffic change alerts to notify you spikes in visitor number (Professional and Business).
• Create backups including delivery to S3, Dropbox or Google Drive (all packages).
• Scheduled online backups (Professional and Business).
• Clone or migrate your sites to other locations on your list of managed sites (Professional and Business).

There are several third party services which allow you manage multiple WordPress websites effectively. For example:

• MainWP: is a self-hosted WordPress maintenance suite. It contains tools and plugins that allow you to effectively and efficiently manage multiple WordPress sites from a single dashboard.
• iControl WP is another WordPress management service that allows you to work with a number of sites from one central location. This isn’t a self-hosted service like Infinite WP so getting started is simply a case of registering with the iControl WP. And then installing the free plugin on the sites you want to manage.
• WP Remote is a free tool that allows webmasters to manage multiple websites from a single dashboard. It can handle updates to installed plugins and themes remotely via the WP Remote website, and also provides quick access to core updates. In addition, you can enable Automatic Backups or download a full copy of your site in zip file format.
• and more …

InfiniteWP – Attention SCAM

InfiniteWP is a free, self-hosted multiple WordPress management platform that simplifies your WordPress management tasks into a simple click of a button. InfiniteWP itself is not a WordPress plugin, it is a web application, just like WordPress is a web application. However they do have paid add-ons. There are some very useful add-ons like Uptime Monitor, Google Analytics, Malware Scanner, and manage comments. These addons can make it even easier to manage multiple WordPress websites with single master login.

InfiniteWP allows you to jump between your WordPress sites, switch dashbords, and quickly jump to write posts without signing in for any of these websites. This is a real time saver for web publishers and website administrators who not only manage the website but are also responsible for editorial tasks.