Most folks know I've been in the cheering section for WordPress Mu (multiple user) since 2008. For me, it has been a great way to create separate sites for staff members, individual properties, particular neighborhoods, etc.... without needing to setup up a separate hosting account for each.
With WordPress 3.0x ALL WordPress installations now have Multi-Site capabilities. (Altho enabling the network function does take a little more manual work than a straight old-school Mu install. Here's a plugin that offers to take most of the manual work out of enabling Multi-Site. I haven't tried it yet.)
Having now converted one older single site install to a multi-site install, here are a couple of my notes.....
1. The existing single site install needs to be in the root directory of your host account.
2. To set up wildcard subdomains in GoDaddy, go to your Domain Manager
(Domains -> My Account -> Domain Management.)
Select the domain name for the site you are converting.
Under "Total DNS", click "Total DNS Control"
At "A Host" Click "Add a New Record"
In the dialog box, at "Host Name" type in an asterisk ( * )
At "Points To" copy in the same IP address as the @ Record (its right there on the previous screen)
More to follow.
Excellent tutorial with screenshots here.
Another tip: If you are using a Categories or Archives widget on your original site; after Multi-Site is enabled, remove each of those widgets and then reinstall them (just drag back to the sidebar), to make sure permalinks are updated.
Disclaimer: Read the instructions from the WordPress people
Be sure you are comfortable with changing code in your wp-config.php file and .htaccess file
Here's a plugin that offers to take most of the manual work out of enabling Multi-Site. I haven't tried it yet.
Thanks for this information. I need to get moving on my Wordpress site and this will help. Do you have a favorite place to find tutorials for Wordpress? In the past I have struggled with getting this going.
Gary, I wrote a few tutorials back in the day. :-)
Instead of referring to any particular site, mostly I just Google using a few words in my search terms that describe the task I need to figure out.
Just a side comment: I have always mapped unique URLs for the individual property sites, and will probably continue to do so. But that said, I can see advantages to having the individual property sites as sub-directories or sub-domains. However, the main disadvantage is that the sellers love seeing a unique URL for their home. :-)
Lovely. .you just cost me a couple hours off my weekend with this. . I got to try it
Thanks for making this post, Cheryl. I have several Wordpress Websites. I purchased the PROLIFIC Theme for unlimited use.