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Building a WordPress MultiSite

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Ask a Marketing Expert
Yesterday on Ask a Marketing Expert I asked a question about building out a multisite in WordPress.  This comes as a standard option in sites using the newest version of WordPress.  But, just because you can do it, should you.

Why Build  A MultiSite?

Likely several objectives underlie a decision to build a multisite — a landing page with menus taking you to other websites.  In my case, I’d like to link a new website for my social media marketing book — and we’re closing in on a title for the book based on Facebook voting.  I could also link other types of content, such as a paid content section I’m thinking of adding.

Drawbacks to  a MultiSite?

  • It’s complicated to set up
  • a MultiSite has more to break
  • WWGD — what would Google do? Will I loose pagerank and other SEO advantages from the blogging portion of the multisite?

With these questions in mind, I approached my SEO experts on Ask a Marketing Expert — held every Friday from 12 -3 (EST) in the events tab of Marketing That Works.  Here’s what happened.

 

I have a question for my SEO experts. I want to change my site and I need to know whether this will hurt me. What I’d like to do is create a website with my existing blog as a link from that website. What I’d like is something like Problogger has — http://problogger.net/. There’s a landing page, a page that takes you to their blog, a page that’s a landing page for their book, etc. Is there a better way to do this?

Steve Wiideman Great question! People move their websites all the time. Google has tools to prevent ranking loss within Webmaster Tools: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=83105

Can you explain or elaborate more on the “better way to do this” question?

www.google.com

If you’re planning on moving your site to a new domain, here are some tips that will help you retain your site’s ranking in Google’s search results. Your aim is to avoid 404 (File Not Found) errors wh
Angela Hausman

Actually, I don’t want to move my domain, just link it with another domain like many smm companies do, like Problogger. I’d have a new landing page, on a new URL. My existing blog would be a link at the top – looking like a tab maybe. There’d be tabs for my new book, taking folks to a landing page. There’d be a tab for a paid community I’m setting up, If you look at Problogger.net you’ll see this. The blog is a subdomain and the book and community are new URLs related to the main URL. But, will I get penalized by Google for linking in this way?
So, I’m still in the dark.  Someone PLEASE help. What should I do about building a multisite ?

About Angela Hausman

I manage Hausman and Associates, a full-service marketing firm operating at the intersection of marketing and digital media. We provide a host of digital marketing solutions including content marketing, email marketing, SEO/ SEM, social media marketing, lead generation as well as marketing strategy, branding,, market research, and a variety of other marketing programs to mid-sized businesses and nonprofits.

I hold a PhD in Marketing from USF. I live in Alexandria with my 3 kids, 2 dogs, and 3 cats.

I'm a featured contributor to Business2Community and was named to Content Marketing Institutes 40 digital luminaries for 2014.

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