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• Multi-Site Management (Quick-Start Guide)

  18 juillet 2024, par Erin

  Do you run multiple websites ?

  Or, you’re expanding from one to two sites ?

  Multi-site management isn’t an easy task.

  While there are dozens of reasons why you may need to operate several sites, like brick and mortar stores opening new locations in different regions, you need to ensure you’re following the right strategies so you remain successful.

  So, how do you actually manage multiple websites at the same time without spreading yourself thin ?

  Using a single dashboard.

  In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about managing multiple sites in a single location at once so you can lead a successful digital strategy.

  What is multi-site management ?

  Multi-site management is the process of organising and operating multiple websites from a single location. It helps with congruent branding and improved productivity.

  Enterprise businesses that use multiple, language-specific versions of their site to target their audience in specific countries or regions can also benefit from managing their multiple sites from a single location. 

  

  By analysing a few websites at once, marketers and analysts can oversee a few different business websites without having to switch between multiple platforms and technologies.

  Whatever the reason is for managing multiple sites, multi-site management helps marketers and analysts establish a consistent brand presence, improve workflow efficiencies and scale operations.

  7 Benefits of multi-site management

  Multi-site management allows you to navigate and control a few websites all in one centralised location.

  

  Here are a few of the main benefits of multi-site management :

  1. Save time by reusing code between websites

  Saving time is the main benefit of multi-site management. Rather than managing websites from multiple platforms, logins and infrastructures, you can manage everything from one place.

  Multi-site management allows you to easily reuse core code, infrastructure and other digital assets from other sites all within one dashboard.

  So, when you need to update all of your websites, you can do it all at once in a fraction of the time.

  2. Improve productivity by having everything in one place

  How many tools do you currently use for your job on a daily basis ?

  Five ? Ten ?

  Now, imagine adding on another handful of tools, logins and technology for every site you manage.

  It’s a lot, especially if you’re managing dozens of logins, usernames and passwords.

  With multi-site management, you don’t need to have multiple login credentials. Everything’s all in one place and within one system.

  You don’t need to switch between multiple tools and platforms to get things done.

  The same strategy applies to your web analytics. If you want to streamline your productivity, make sure you’re tracking all of the data from your different websites in one place. Matomo lets you track multiple sites, domains and subdomains in one centralised location with the ‘All Websites’ dashboard which is a roll-up report. This is ideal for enterprises managing and analysing numerous sites.

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  3. Maintain brand image with consistent design across sites

  If you have multiple websites, subsidiaries or sister companies, it can take a great deal of effort to maintain branding consistency.

  But, if you’re leveraging a multi-site content management system, you can update your branding and design between all sites at the same time.

  If you need to make a change with your design, you don’t need to update each individual site with your new initiative. Instead, you can update multiple sites at once, allowing your visual branding to stay congruent, giving you uniformity in messaging.

  The result is an optimised user experience, which helps you increase trust with your audience, improve engagement and keep them coming back for years to come.

  4. Increase security through centralised management

  The greater your digital presence is, the more you can reach a wider range of people.

  But, there’s one downside : you expose yourself to more risk.

  Keeping multiple websites secure isn’t as easy to do if you’re leveraging dozens of different platforms and logins. 

  Instead, when you have all of your websites in one location, it can help you easily track every document. You can also control site versions for easy updates to prevent malicious attacks.

  5. Optimise scalability and flexibility

  If you plan on scaling your companies and digital presence, you need to ensure you’re able to do so without having to tear down your entire infrastructure or spend a ton of money upfront.

  For enterprise companies, multi-site management allows you to easily launch new regional sites as your company expands.

  Plus, if you have new product or marketing campaigns, you can simply add on microsites as needed by simply adding it to your current website lineup.

  This allows you to stay flexible in your marketing and growth strategies without adding extra risk or financial burden.

  6. Improve targeting and personalisation in marketing

  If you want to reach your audience better, but you’re managing multiple websites, it can be hard to not spread yourself too thin.

  But, if you’re managing a few websites in one place, it’s easier to track your audience’s interests, behaviour, wants and needs.

  By using a web analytics tool like Matomo to track the performance of multiple websites, you can see what’s resonating with your audience so you’re able to improve your targeting and offer personalised campaigns.

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  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

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  7. Streamline collaboration between team members

  Making your team juggle multiple platforms, websites and tools is a surefire way to give them a headache.

  Multi-site management is one of the best ways to bring your entire team into one centralised location so you can foster seamless collaboration without leaving your team confused or frustrated.

  By placing your entire website management in one place, markters, designers, developers, writers and other team members can collaborate effectively so you can get more done in less time.

  With multi-site management, you bring your entire team into a single location to work on your websites so you can speed up your content creation process, speed up problem solving and streamline communication.

  6 Best practices of multi-site management

  When you have multiple websites, you can expand your brand presence. But, one main problem arises : it becomes overwhelming for anyone managing them.

  Since each website comes with its own platform, login credentials and assets, it becomes incredibly difficult for developers, marketers and others to maintain the sites. And, if your sites aren’t looked after properly, you could end up with technical issues and branding inconsistencies, causing you to lose conversions and negatively impact the user experience.

  Thankfully, multi-site management can help you streamline your efforts, improve productivity and scale your business.

  But, before you dive into your multi-site management process, you need to ensure you implement the right strategy.

  

  Here are a few best practices to follow to succeed with multi-site management :

  1. Use a multi-site CMS

  If you want to manage multiple websites, you need to make sure you’re leveraging a CMS that offers multi-site management capabilities.

  A multi-site CMS allows you to make simple content, design or management changes simultaneously without having to switch between different systems.

  Here are a few examples of CMS’ that offer multi-site management :

  • WordPress
  • Sanity
  • Drupal

  2. Integrate a headless CMS

  One of the most versatile types of content management systems is what’s known as a “headless CMS.”

  This is a CMS that lets you disconnect the front end from the back end of your website management.

  Here are a few examples of headless (and open source) CMS’ :

  • Strapi
  • Directus
  • Ghost

  A headless CMS can help you add versatility in the way you present content across multiple sites. It uses an API to give you more flexibility so you can push content to websites as well as apps, etc.

  Using a headless CMS can help you improve page load times, website performance and user experience by simplifying your tech stack.

  3. Implement cross-domain and mult-isite Matomo analytics tracking

  If you want to track the website analytics data of multiple sites, you need to implement cross-domain tracking.

  The best way to do this is by leveraging a web analytics solution like Matomo. It lets you track the performance of multiple subdomains or websites.

  With Matomo, you get easy data grouping and data roll-up reporting for streamlined tracking.

  

  This means you can track the individual performance of each site or group them together to see the shared performance.

  4. Enable multiuser management

  If you’re working with different team members who need access to your CMS, then you should consider enabling multiuser management.

  This allows several people to work within your multi-site CMS and also gives you the ability to grant or restrict access to certain abilities within the platform.

  This is handy if you have a few different stakeholders working in your CMS.

  By enabling different user permissions and access, you can improve the security of your website and protect sensitive company information.

  5. Leverage composable content

  Creating a few different websites is a great way to increase your brand reach. But, it can be time-consuming having to continuously create and update content within multiple sites.

  That’s where composable content comes in.

  It allows you to create similar content between sites using pre-made “blocks.” Content blocks act as templates so you can quickly add similar content pieces to each site without having to start over from scratch each time.

  This speeds up productivity for your designers, writers and editors and keeps brand image consistent across different sites.

  6. Use version control

  What happens if you update all of your websites with a redesign, but it flops ?

  Well, rather than having to tear it all down and redesign your site infrastructure, you can leverage version control to restore your website to a previous version.

  Version control is especially handy when you’re managing multiple sites at once and you have multiple team members working in your CMS.

  Version control is also helpful if you’re A/B testing different content. By saving previous versions of your websites, you can run tests to help you optimise your web performance. 

  For example, if you use Matomo’s A/B testing feature to experiment with different landing page designs for a lead magnet, but find that your previous version performed better, you can simply restore your websites to a previous version in seconds.

  Track web analytics for multiple websites with Matomo

  If you’re looking to expand your digital presence, then creating new websites is one of the best ways to grow your brand.

  Multi-site management can help you save time, improve productivity and maintain a consistent brand image across your empire.

  One challenge of multi-site management is tracking the performance of your websites.

  That’s where Matomo has you covered.

  Matomo is a privacy-friendly web analytics tool that collects, stores, and tracks data across multiple websites and subdomains, allowing you to improve your performance. 

  With over 1 million websites using Matomo, you can rely on it for accurate data without sampling, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA. 

  Matomo is especially beneficial for enterprises. It offers advanced roll-up reporting, enabling you to see the performance of multiple websites in one centralised dashboard. This feature, along with heatmaps, session recordings, and A/B testing, provides deeper insights into your website performance.

  Discover how Matomo can transform your web analytics with a demo. Request your demo now.

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