A WordPress Multisite allows you to manage multiple sites with a single WordPress installation, either on subdomains or subfolders. You can manage these sites from your main site, or you can configure your multisite to allow users to sign up, letting them create their own blogs, for example. The benefit of this setup is that, as Super Admin, you can decide which themes and plugins are allowed.
However, a big drawback of multisites is that if the main site is down, all multisites will also be inaccessible.
Activate Multisite on your WordPress website
To activate Multisite, you first need a WordPress installation. This installation will serve as your main site, and you’ll use it as the Super Admin to manage your other sites and users.
Step 1:
Open the File Manager via your control panel. Navigate to the /www/ folder and open the wp-config.php file by clicking ‘Edit’. Now, above the lines /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */ , add the following lines:
/* Multisite */ define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);Then click ‘Save’ at the bottom to save this change.
Step 2:
Go to your WordPress dashboard. In the left menu, click on ‘Tools’ -> ‘Network Setup’.
Here, you choose between two structures: Subdomains or Subfolders. The example shows what this means; in a Subdomains structure, each site is accessible via a subdomain, such as site1.yourwebsite.com or site2.yourwebsite.com. In a Subfolder structure, each site is accessible via yourwebsite.com/site1, yourwebsite.com/site2, and so on.
Consider this carefully, as you won’t be able to change it later.
Note: If you wish to use a different domain name as a multisite, you may choose sub-domains. You can edit the subdomain into a different domain name later. This is explained later in this article.
Step 3:
After confirming your choice by clicking ‘Install’, you’ll see two code snippets displayed.
You need to add these code snippets to your wp-config.php and .htaccess files to complete the Multisite activation. This can be done, as in Step 1, via the File Manager.
- Paste the code for the wp-config.php file just above the line /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */ (as in Step 1).
- Paste the code for the .htaccess file over the existing ‘RewriteRules’, which start with ‘RewriteEngine On’ and end with ‘RewriteRule . /index.php [L]’.
After saving these changes, return to your WordPress dashboard, refresh the page, or log in again. If you see the following at the top of your dashboard, Multisites is activated, and you can start:
Add a site to your Multisite
Step 1:
Go to your WordPress Dashboard and click in the menu on ‘Sites’ -> ‘Add New Site’.
Step 2:
First, enter the Site Address (URL) for your new site. In this example, we use a subdomains structure.
You can only enter subdomains/subfolders here. If you wish to use a different domain name as a multisite, fill in a placeholder site next to Site Address (URL). You can edit it do the full domain later (Step 3).
Next, give your site a title and set the language.
The email address entered here will receive login details for the new site’s Dashboard. As the Super Admin of the multisites, you can always reset your users’ passwords via My Sites → Network Admin → Users.
Click on ‘Add Site’ to create your new site.
- If you are using a subfolders structure, you're now done!
- If you are using a subdomains structure, proceed to Step 4.
- If you are using a different domain, proceed to Step 3.
Step 3:
When using a different domain as a multisite, you can edit the site you added during step 2 so that it refers to the correct domain name.
Go to ‘All sites’ and hover over the added site and click ‘Edit’.
Next to ‘Site address (URL)’, enter the correct domain name. Click ‘Save changes’ to confirm.
Step 4:
To access the (sub)domain, add the newly created site as an alias via your control panel. Follow the steps in the article ‘Add a domain alias to your web hosting package’.