Category: WordPress

  • Should You Use WordPress as Single- or Multi-Site?

    I recommend Everyone with a business install WordPress in Multi-Site mode.

    You might think you only need one blog. You definitely should focus on a single business at a time, and I bet you will find good ways to use multiple WordPress sites.

    If you are a good writer, each book you write would have a blog specific to the book, and the questions people have about the book, and how they’ve used what they learned.

    Or you could market to different groups of your customers. Let’s say you have a course or coaching for single parents. Maybe marketing separately to single moms and single dads would be more effective, or maybe some things you offer would be best marketed to both. The only way to know is to Test, find out what actually works better. The best marketers know that what they think will work is rarely what actually works; they write ads and sales letters that use their knowledge of what makes a good ad, write many of them that each could work well, and let the people tell them which ads are best by responding to the ads.

    Place the same marketing letter on all relevant blogs and place ads that alternate sending people to each of the blogs (e.g. sending an ad for women to the “single parent” site and the “single mom” site). (That is called “split testing”, one ad sends people to page A, ad with “something different”, perhaps a different headline or slightly different offer, sends people to page B; track which page gets more viewers, more sales, more money per sale, or more repeat customers.)

    Another reason for having multiple blogs is multiple groups of people might be interested in the same workshop or coaching or products, if you speak specifically to them. Maybe slightly different age groups, or education levels, or income levels, respond to slightly different offers. Maybe people who are brand new to what you teach want a different style of marketing than people who have learned some about it already.

    If you have specialty items, but your customers sometimes come to you to solve their more “commodity” problems, (and if it would be minimal work for you to have basically another business) you could offer that. Lets say you supply specialty cakes to restaurants, but the restaurants sometimes get requests for banquet food, larger orders than you could handle, and less expensive cakes than you provide. You know of another company that you could recommend. Instead of just passing the customer to the other company, you could have a separate blog to promote the products or services you don’t take care of directly, you are an affiliate or receive a referral bonus from a business that takes care of those requests. Having the separate blog lets you keep each blog focused only on the one customer, always better than trying to take care of everyone. Put a small ad on each blog, mentioning the other; customers who find one can pick which “company” is a better match for what they need.

    The installation for WordPress Multi-Site is detailed, but you would only do it once. The first benefit of WordPress Multi-Site is you would only ever install WordPress that single time; no installing the WordPress program, plugins, themes multiple times; no configuring each of those multiple times. That saves a lot of administrative work. I can install WordPress for you from scratch, or convert a single WordPress installation to WordPress Multi-Site. (Migrating multiple single WordPress installations into one WordPress Multi-Site installation, each blog looking exactly like it did, is also possible, more complex, yet I can do it for you too, very few people know how.)

  • WordPress missing Post Editor (and other Ajax features)

    My WordPress installation was not showing the Post Editor. Basically instead of an editor, I had a box that I couldn’t type in.

    I also noticed widgets that had drag and drop configurations, where I couldn’t do any dragging. On the “Add New Post” page, the “Add New Category” popup wouldn’t work. The Permalink “Edit” button doesn’t work.

    Okay, something with my WordPress installation wasn’t running jQuery or Ajax properly.

    There is a WordPress plugin that lets visitors to your site load Google’s cached version of jQuery, instead of loading it from your site. Faster for them (since it is probably in their browser cache already). Just install the Use Google Libraries plugin.

    There is a page on why you should let Google host jQuery for you, http://encosia.com/3-reasons-why-you-should-let-google-host-jquery-for-you/

    I have WordPress Multi-Site installed, so I went to the My Sites, Network Admin, Sites page, and from there to Plugins, Add New. I turned on the plugin for all sites (“Network Enable” ), and my editor and Ajax features (used a lot throughout WordPress) work now.

    I also copied jQuery and TinyMCE from a fresh download of WordPress to my site. They are in your wordpresswp-includesjs folder, and go to the corresponding folder on your site. I used FileZilla’s Upload “if different size or source newer” option. (If that doesn’t fix the problem, try copying the entire folder, overwriting all files.)

    The Post Editor is working, both Visual and Text modes. The “Add New Category” link doesn’t work yet. The Permalink “Edit” button is not working yet.

  • WordPress missing Post Editor (and other Ajax features)

    My WordPress installation was not showing the Post Editor. Basically instead of an editor, I had a box that I couldn’t type in.

    I also noticed widgets that had drag and drop configurations, where I couldn’t do any dragging. On the “Add New Post” page, the “Add New Category” popup wouldn’t work. The Permalink “Edit” button doesn’t work.

    Okay, something with my WordPress installation wasn’t running jQuery or Ajax properly.

    There is a WordPress plugin that lets visitors to your site load Google’s cached version of jQuery, instead of loading it from your site. Faster for them (since it is probably in their browser cache already). Just install the Use Google Libraries plugin.

    There is a page on why you should let Google host jQuery for you, http://encosia.com/3-reasons-why-you-should-let-google-host-jquery-for-you/

    I have WordPress Multi-Site installed, so I went to the My Sites, Network Admin, Sites page, and from there to Plugins, Add New. I turned on the plugin for all sites (“Network Enable” ), and my editor and Ajax features (used a lot throughout WordPress) work now.

    I also copied jQuery and TinyMCE from a fresh download of WordPress to my site. They are in your wordpresswp-includesjs folder, and go to the corresponding folder on your site. I used FileZilla’s Upload “if different size or source newer” option. (If that doesn’t fix the problem, try copying the entire folder, overwriting all files.)

    The Post Editor is working, both Visual and Text modes. The “Add New Category” link doesn’t work yet. The Permalink “Edit” button is not working yet.

  • WordPress missing Post Editor (and other Ajax features)

    My WordPress installation was not showing the Post Editor. Basically instead of an editor, I had a box that I couldn’t type in.

    I also noticed widgets that had drag and drop configurations, where I couldn’t do any dragging. On the “Add New Post” page, the “Add New Category” popup wouldn’t work. The Permalink “Edit” button doesn’t work.

    Okay, something with my WordPress installation wasn’t running jQuery or Ajax properly.

    There is a WordPress plugin that lets visitors to your site load Google’s cached version of jQuery, instead of loading it from your site. Faster for them (since it is probably in their browser cache already). Just install the Use Google Libraries plugin.

    There is a page on why you should let Google host jQuery for you, http://encosia.com/3-reasons-why-you-should-let-google-host-jquery-for-you/

    I have WordPress Multi-Site installed, so I went to the My Sites, Network Admin, Sites page, and from there to Plugins, Add New. I turned on the plugin for all sites (“Network Enable” ), and my editor and Ajax features (used a lot throughout WordPress) work now.

    I also copied jQuery and TinyMCE from a fresh download of WordPress to my site. They are in your wordpress\wp-includes\js\ folder, and go to the corresponding folder on your site. I used FileZilla’s Upload “if different size or source newer” option. (If that doesn’t fix the problem, try copying the entire folder, overwriting all files.)

    The Post Editor is working, both Visual and Text modes. The “Add New Category” link doesn’t work yet. The Permalink “Edit” button is not working yet.

  • WordPress missing Post Editor (and other Ajax features)

    My WordPress installation was not showing the Post Editor. Basically instead of an editor, I had a box that I couldn’t type in.

    I also noticed widgets that had drag and drop configurations, where I couldn’t do any dragging. On the “Add New Post” page, the “Add New Category” popup wouldn’t work. The Permalink “Edit” button doesn’t work.

    Okay, something with my WordPress installation wasn’t running jQuery or Ajax properly.

    There is a WordPress plugin that lets visitors to your site load Google’s cached version of jQuery, instead of loading it from your site. Faster for them (since it is probably in their browser cache already). Just install the Use Google Libraries plugin.

    There is a page on why you should let Google host jQuery for you, http://encosia.com/3-reasons-why-you-should-let-google-host-jquery-for-you/

    I have WordPress Multi-Site installed, so I went to the My Sites, Network Admin, Sites page, and from there to Plugins, Add New. I turned on the plugin for all sites (“Network Enable” ), and my editor and Ajax features (used a lot throughout WordPress) work now.

    I also copied jQuery and TinyMCE from a fresh download of WordPress to my site. They are in your wordpresswp-includesjs folder, and go to the corresponding folder on your site. I used FileZilla’s Upload “if different size or source newer” option. (If that doesn’t fix the problem, try copying the entire folder, overwriting all files.)

    The Post Editor is working, both Visual and Text modes. The “Add New Category” link doesn’t work yet. The Permalink “Edit” button is not working yet.

  • Migrate All Your WordPress Blogs into Multi-Site and You’ll Save Lots of Time!

    Unlike most “solutions”, I bring over all your settings, configurations, customizations. Your blogs will look Exactly like before, and you’ll have much less administrative work.

    If you are considering using WordPress Multi-Site, you probably have some blogs already. In fact, you probably have some blogs with a Lot of posts.

    (If you’re just starting, WordPress Multi-Site is still good, it makes having more than one blog much easier.)

    Each blog most likely has a few widgets, and probably some settings on each post and page. Maybe you specified what image should be featured on the post. If you are marketing at all, you should have a custom search engine description and keywords for each post. Maybe you selected some Amazon books that go well with this page. Your sign-up form. Your latest Facebook or Twitter posts.

    When you want to bring blogs from WordPress (single site) into Multi-Site, you find there are tools to help with that. “Great, this will be easy”, you think. Then you find that only the text of your posts and pages and comments are migrated. (Unlike if you have me migrate your blog!) (more…)

  • Migrate All Your WordPress Blogs into Multi-Site and You’ll Save Lots of Time!

    Unlike most “solutions”, I bring over all your settings, configurations, customizations. Your blogs will look Exactly like before, and you’ll have much less administrative work.

    If you are considering using WordPress Multi-Site, you probably have some blogs already. In fact, you probably have some blogs with a Lot of posts.

    (If you’re just starting, WordPress Multi-Site is still good, it makes having more than one blog much easier.)

    Each blog most likely has a few widgets, and probably some settings on each post and page. Maybe you specified what image should be featured on the post. If you are marketing at all, you should have a custom search engine description and keywords for each post. Maybe you selected some Amazon books that go well with this page. Your sign-up form. Your latest Facebook or Twitter posts.

    When you want to bring blogs from WordPress (single site) into Multi-Site, you find there are tools to help with that. “Great, this will be easy”, you think. Then you find that only the text of your posts and pages and comments are migrated. (Unlike if you have me migrate your blog!) (more…)

  • Migrate All Your WordPress Blogs into Multi-Site and You’ll Save Lots of Time!

    Unlike most “solutions”, I bring over all your settings, configurations, customizations. Your blogs will look Exactly like before, and you’ll have much less administrative work.

    If you are considering using WordPress Multi-Site, you probably have some blogs already. In fact, you probably have some blogs with a Lot of posts.

    (If you’re just starting, WordPress Multi-Site is still good, it makes having more than one blog much easier.)

    Each blog most likely has a few widgets, and probably some settings on each post and page. Maybe you specified what image should be featured on the post. If you are marketing at all, you should have a custom search engine description and keywords for each post. Maybe you selected some Amazon books that go well with this page. Your sign-up form. Your latest Facebook or Twitter posts.

    When you want to bring blogs from WordPress (single site) into Multi-Site, you find there are tools to help with that. “Great, this will be easy”, you think. Then you find that only the text of your posts and pages and comments are migrated. (Unlike if you have me migrate your blog!) (more…)

  • Troubleshooting WordPress Plugin Making Blog SLOW

    Some of my blogs were taking several minutes to load. Nothing would happen, and then they load quickly.

    PhpMyAdmin says all MySQL tables are OK.

    Firefox Web Console (I think it’s part of the Web Developer add-on) shows lines like this:
    GET https://molten-salt-reactor.lc.lndo.site/ [HTTP/1.1 200 OK 283757ms]
    (took 283.757 seconds for the page to load) (more…)

  • WordPress Multi-Site Domain Mapping

    Important: This was written in 2012, when you needed to use a plugin for domain mapping. With version 5.something of WordPress, and with version 6+, domain mapping is built into the WordPress core.

    If you were using the obsolete plugin for domain mapping, you should document the exact domain names you were mapping to, for each site. Then, network disable it and then delete it.

    In new versions of WordPress, you simply put the domain name you want into My Sites, Network Admin, Sites, then hover over the site you want, click Edit, in the Info tab edit the “Site Address (URL)” field. Use the full URL, including https://

    You still have to set the DNS so the domain name points to your WordPress Multi-Site installation.

    With WordPress version 3+ or 4+ in Multi-Site Mode, and the Domain Mapping Plugin, you can map domain names to any of your blogs. I’ll walk you through the steps to install the plugin (you have to move a few files and edit some configuration settings). Then I’ll show how to specify the mappings you want. (There are several blogs with partial instructions, that didn’t explain the configuration settings and didn’t give examples of how to specify the mappings — but you won’t have to figure it out because I did!)

    (more…)
  • WordPress 3 (or 4) Multi-Site Installation, on Shared Hosting, Even with Existing Web Sites

    WordPress 3 (or 4) Multi-Site Installation, on Shared Hosting, Even with Existing Web Sites

    Here’s how to Install WordPress 3 with the New Multi-Site Capabilities — Even if you Already Have a Website in your Hosting Account. [Updated, works on WordPress 4 through at least WP 4.5)

    WordPress multi-site features let you very easily create blogs (now officially called “sites”).

    You can now have multiple blogs in WordPress with much less administration of WordPress updates, plug-in updates and settings, theme updates, etc. Multiple blogs, for each domain you are hosting, can be managed by a single installation of WordPress. (more…)

  • WordPress 3 Allow Posts in Menu (as well as Pages)

    In WordPress 3.3 (and probably earlier versions) you can make custom menus in your blog.

    Go to Appearance, Menus (/wp-admin/nav-menus.php) and you can add Pages or Custom Links to your menu.

    But how do you put specific Posts on your menu?

    Click on Screen Options (top right corner of the screen), and you’ll see check  boxes for all the types of items you can put in a menu, plus some other information such as the link target and CSS classes.

    You will probably want to change the text that gets displayed in the menu (the default is the post title). Click on the drop-down arrow by each menu item, and you can change the Navigation Label (what shows in the menu) and the Description (displayed in some themes).