Finding a Solution
It was a long, long weekend for me as I was busy trying to redo the organization and URLs of my web site. Unfortunately, it took me three days (and a combined six hours on the Chat feature) with my web host* to figure out that they don’t support WP Multisite. Since I’m talking about a small personal site here, I couldn’t justify the cost of a developer or even upgraded hosting options that including some customized SSL solutions.
Fortunately, I stumbled onto Infinite WP yesterday night. It’s a bit of a clunky solution on the back end as I still have to create and manage each subsite individually, but once they’re created I don’t have to go to the actual login pages to do it anymore. I just select which site I want to work on and go there. Even in the free version, the interface itself is clutter-free and easy to figure out. Best of all, once I finish getting everything set up and tweaked, there’s a way I can add new posts from within the interface. So, I should eventually be able to move away from having to individually log into each subsite’s WordPress installation.
So now comes the tedious work: getting all the subsites back up and running, using the URL organization scheme and posting schedule I’ve already developed.
It’s going to come slowly, mostly because this is also the heaviest time of year for me; I routinely work extra hours and, this year, I’m also going to be doing a good number of one-on-one employee meetings since we didn’t have time to set up pandemic-safe infrastructure for doing it last year, so some of my clients’ employees are really feeling like they’re in the dark. Given that service is the “product” we sell - health insurance rates aren’t always negotiable anymore, due to the ACA - I really need to spend time on care and feeding this year, and that means more hours than even usual for open enrollment.
This said, I’m grateful to have the job I do; and as a matter of my own self-care I’m letting myself have an hour each night to work on this site. So while it will happen a little at a time, it will happen. Keep an eye out for updates and announcements as I bring each of the subsites back online. I’m excited about the plans I have for the new year.
* Don’t worry, Bluehost; I still like you. While I couldn’t get what I wanted with the lowest-cost web hosting plan you offer, you’re still far and away a fantastic host. Both your prices and your interface are good enough to keep me recommending you for anyone who doesn’t want to use WP Multisite.
Originally Posted at https://blog.collingwest.com/2021/finding-a-solution/.