Shared Content but "Updatable" Through the Main Site

  • Hello!

    I have been doing quite a lot of research the past week, and have not been able to find a solid answer that fixes my problem.

    I’m going to working on a project using MS that will allow users to register for a site and be able to re-brand the content that we will be giving them as their own (ie: the company I will be working with has a slew of realtor information that they want to give away – for a fee – to other realtors and allow them to brand it with their logo and contact info).

    So, it would be easy to create a template site with all the content already pre-loaded. When MS creates a new site, it grabs the template and creates the new site using the template.

    However, I need to be able to modify this content across all sites. We will have approximately 50 pages throughout all these sites, and if I need to make a change, I need to change across the board. I have tried using this

    <?php switch_to_blog(1); ?>
Some code that displays the menu of the Main Blog
<?php restore_current_blog(); ?>

    But that will link everything to the main site (which defeats the purpose of paying to have the content branded as your own). I have found plugins that allow you to broadcast posts to all your sites, but this is content that will be preloaded.

    With all of that said, I am hoping someone around here has done this before and is willing to share some expertise on the matter. Thanks for taking a look at this!

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    Do the pages really need to be 100% the same on all sites?

    Becuase… well … speaking business wise, that’s actually when you DO want to link everyone back to the main site.

    Thread Starter Chris LaFay

    (@chrislafay)

    Ipstenu – I would agree with you in most cases, but this one is slightly different. The purpose for these sites is to charge customers for the opportunity to re-brand my client’s content as their own, thus the idea for using MS as a platform. Does that make sense?

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    Yes and no.

    However, I need to be able to modify this content across all sites. We will have approximately 50 pages throughout all these sites, and if I need to make a change, I need to change across the board.

    THOSE pages, and those ones only, should not be on their sites.

    In the scenario you described, you would be replacing the content on 50 pages on those sites, and at that point, the pages are 100% the same content. That is bad for SEO and for business. Just point ’em all back to the main site for the pages that are the same.

    If they’re not the same, you shouldn’t be mass-editing them like that anyway, cause you’ll piss off the individual users who will lose their customization.

    Thread Starter Chris LaFay

    (@chrislafay)

    Ipstenu –

    SEO for this site is not a priority (I know that throws up red flags). The client that I am working with is working with people in an extremely niche market and will be advertising directly to those people. People would not be using search engines to find this information (it sounds crazy, but I promise you it’s true).

    I’m completely down with keeping those “static” pages on the main site (therefore not duplicating them in any way when new sites are spun off). But, if those pages lived on the main site, how would you suggest making sure they keep the branding that the customer paid for?

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    Nah, I understand why SEO may not be a priority. ?? It’s not the godsend people claim it is ??

    But, if those pages lived on the main site, how would you suggest making sure they keep the branding that the customer paid for?

    Shortcodes that call back to the main site, is all I can think of. Or page templates, where you have the content hardcoded into the page template, and they can add extra stuff above (or below), and customize it, but as long as they use ‘thispage’ template, they can’t change the core content.

    Thread Starter Chris LaFay

    (@chrislafay)

    Some people need SEO, others don’t. There’s no point in wasting time, effort and money into something that isn’t going to help grow your business. If the only way your business can grow is by directly marketing to individuals and word-of-mouth, SEO just isn’t worth it. </aside>

    page templates, where you have the content hardcoded into the page template

    This was actually my original thought on how to do it. Have the pages created automatically, but reference the different page templates for each page. Is it a hassle to edit? Yes, but it allows my client to not worry that content is being changed.

    Shortcodes that call back to the main site, is all I can think of

    So basically, shortcode the ID of the associated page, and within the functions file, route that shortcode to look for the content of that page. In shorthand style:

    WORDPRESS PAGE EDITOR
[content id=2]
    FUNNCTIONS.PHP
function shortcode() {
search Main Site for id=2;
return $content
}

    That’s not a bad idea at all. If I can hide those pages from the user who creates the new blog, that would work perfectly (to make sure thay dont “inject” their own content. The only issue left would be if I wanted to create a new page across all sites.

    I actually may have found something that may do the trick. 3WP Broadcast. I’m going to give it a shot to see if it will work… Crossing my fingers.

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    The catch with 3WP Broadcast is it doesn’t UPDATE the pages later.

    I’d use the page template personally, since using a shortcode (which IIRC someone did create) would call back to the original blog and run slower.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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