Create unlimited minisites in 5 minutes each or less

If you are anything like me, when you start a new project ease of use, speed of deployment and overall efficiency are important factors to consider. How many of you have taken the time to sit down, make up a plan of attack for your next venture to make money online only find that it’s just one more thing that gets added to your ever growing to-do list?

For anyone interested in the mass production of WordPress powered sites, whether they be for monetization or simply as a better “minisite” alternative to traditional parking company offers, I’m sure what I am about to write will interest you. Each time you go to set up a WordPress site, the same things happen. You pick a domain that you have, buy one, or you register a new domain, you install a fresh copy of WordPress, add a database, add a user, set your database permissions, update your wp-config file, install your desired plugins, create or find a theme, install that theme, tweak it for your use and on and on and on. It can be a process that gets repetitive and tiring some times. Well, there is a better way and I am going to show you how you can set up an unlimited (given you have the server resources available) number of fully functioning WordPress based sites or minisites, each with their own unique domain. This can all be done in minutes by using WordPress MU (Multi User) and one plugin that will allow you to use the built in functions of WordPress MU to manage your sites based upon unique domains instead of the standard subdomain.domain.tld that WordPress MU utilizes by default.

For those of you who are familiar with WordPress installation and setup, this will be relatively easy but those of you whom are new to the WordPress arena, you may want to practice a bit before you actually install this on the domain you intend to use it on. There are a few differences to the install, but nothing drastic. Here are the steps to follow to get you started:

  1. Download your copy of WordPress MU here.
  2. Download the multi-site plugin here.
  3. Install WordPress MU. (upload files, create the database etc)
  4. Upload the milti-site plugin and activate it from within the admin area.
  5. In the admin section under sites, add the new domains that you wish to have as sites.
  6. At your registrar, point your domains that you wish to use for this at your host nameservers.
  7. In Cpanel, set up your new domains and point them to the root folder where wordpress MU is installed
  8. Chose themes, plugins and configure as you would any wordpress install and you are done.

I hope this makes sense, If not please feel free to comment if you need clarification. I will also be making a video tutorial for this process as well in the near future so if the “simple short version” of these instructions leaves you scratchign your head, wait for the video and I will walk you through it step by step.

As always, remember to work smarter, not harder.

3 thoughts on “Create unlimited minisites in 5 minutes each or less”

  1. Does this put the same theme on each site? It’s a good idea but has one problem, they are all on the same IP / Server.

    A better way is to write a program that can remotely upload and install WP to a server, then upload a random theme and install that.

    That way you can have them on any shared hosting (different IPs/servers) and different themees.

    Should make it a lot harder to track what your doing.

    Chris’s last blog post..End of week round up

    • This will allow each site to be set up individually, you can use whatever theme on each one you like as well as plugins etc.

      I do agree, it’s not a perfect solution as all sites will be on the same IP/server but for some, this is not an issue. It really depends on what your marketing goals/strategies are. If you are just looking for an easy to get a pile of independent sites going this is an easy way to do that.

  2. This looks like an interesting plugin.

    From the plugin’s source code :
    “Description: Adds a Sites panel for site admins to create and manipulate multiple sites.”

    How is this different from “Site Admin >> Blogs” ?

    From your blogpost :
    “Well, there is a better way and I am going to show you how you can set up an unlimited (given you have the server resources available) number of fully functioning WordPress based sites or minisites, each with their own unique domain.”

    Why use own unique domain names to point to subdomain.domain.tld ?
    What is the advantage ?

    I have several WPMU installations with 150 – 200 niche blogs (subdomains) per WPMU installation.
    Google indexes, all of them just fine. Management is done through the standard WPMU “Site Admin >> Blogs” and “Dashboard >> My Blogs”.

    You also forget to mention the cost of the domain names, in brackets along with the server resources, that’s unlimited * $.$$
    .info are nice and cheap for the first year at GD ($0.89 + $0.18 ICANN fee), but then you have to renew at $9.99 or ($6.99 w/ coupon) each.
    That’s unlimited * $6.99. Admittedly a little less for bulk purchase/renewal (from 6+).

    I’m indeed not too worried about the blogs being on the same IP/server, it is also not an issue for wordpress.com etc.

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