Multi-user blogs have become incredibly popular as more webmasters are realizing the countless benefits of creating and administrating a multi-user blog. A multi-use blog is basically a web site that lets people become authors and have their own section of the site. These authors make contributions to the site by blogging their opinions, having discussions and staking their piece of the internet.
Fortunately for the owner o the multi-user blog, all of this content helps their search engine ranking, and it is absolutely free. Advertisements then generate profits for the owner of the blog, and are placed above, under, beside and even in the middle of article sand posts made by the guest bloggers.
Controlling Authors with a CMS
The abilities of the bloggers to edit content on the site can be limited by setting preferential restrictions and author permissions within content management systems. In fact, content management systems are an integral part of the development and management of multi-user blogs. If you’re interested in building your own multi-user blog then you may want to consider the following information about relevant content management systems.
WordPress MU (Multi-User)
WordPress is generally the most popular multi-user blogging platform, which is not surprising considering its ease of use, non existent cost, and overall flexibility. The WordPress plugin library is perhaps its most appealing aspect, with thousands of plugins available for easy install. WordPress MU supports unlimited users, domain name mapping, supportive administrative functions, and a plethora of other features. WordPress also has a lot of compatible themes available, which will help you design your site quickly and efficiently.
Movable Type Multi-User
For webmasters that want a more ‘professional’ (read: ‘paid’) solution there is movable type multi-user, which is a $1300 software that has a user limit of only 50, but comes with integrated robust features that can be utilized on an unlimited amount of blogs. Unlike WordPress, Movable Type publishes actual static HTML pages, which are considered to be much better for search engine optimization. Movable Type also lets the user manage and build hundreds of blogs from a singular interface, and all of these blogs can be maintained within the same control panel. Although the installation is somewhat difficult, and the cost is undeniably high, the software comes with a 30-day money back guarantee and comes with unlimited tech support.
Conclusion
Aside from WordPress and Movable Type there are many blogging content management systems available that can help you manage multiple blogs and multiple authors. In fact, any open source content management system can be amended to support multiple users if you have the right development assistance or expertise. If you’re a novice webmaster looking to establish your first multi user blog, then you may want to consider a solution like WordPress MU or Drupal MU.
