I have an email out to one of my buddies who uses 'something' that he said was great. I'll hear back from him today, so let me get this info from him. I think it was one of the products mentioned above.
This is from a very good friend of mine. I happen to think he is one of the most brilliant people on Wordpress and technical matters that I have ever met. This is what he just wrote me:
The best tool I have used is Infinite WP
... it allows you to keep ALL your wp sites up to date // all plugins and themes and if you buy extensions you can run all backups from there too.
It was by far the BEST!!!! tool i have ever used for keeping wordpress sites together.
You can put them into groups and selectively install plugins directly from your computer or the wp repository directly into all your sites and activate automatically.
Super easy to use and install.
You just have to know how to create a MSQL data base and follow the instructions to hook it up via the install script.
I use it on localhost ( wamp installation ) at home ... the cron job for sending emails doesn't work at home so i just boot it once per day to scan all my sites and update... no brainer to use.
I can confirm that IWP is solid and easy to use. It does all I need: access to all WP sites from one menu and bulk updates. You also can backup your sites and download the file.
It's really easy to set up as they provide a plugin that you simply install on your site and copy an unique key into the IWP menu and you are done.
Not sure if it's been mentioned but it has a content creation module that pulls content from about 10 or 12 sources and it also has a built in spinner so you can post spun content across the network.
I just tried mainwp - I think it's by far the cheapest of all three. And it seems to work pretty good - except the Cloning has a bit of problems. But the price is crazy cheap but that's coz it's in beta.
2Take2, have you come to a decision? What are your comments on all three? Cheers!
Hi @jonathanjon - Sorry, haven't come to a decision yet as lately I've been a bit sidetracked with some other projects. I'll update the thread when I do though.
RE: Cloning sites - I use the WP Clone plugin, it's very easy to use, but you'll have to go in and do a 'find and replace' on the database and change a few other settings as well.
2Take2
UK
Comments
I also read somewhere about "WP Desktop (All in one)", have either of you got any experience with it?
* The Support and Update license requires renewal after one calendar year at a substantially discounted rate.
but i purchased it when it was called sicknetwork, now i have a lifetime update and support license.
I mean, "substantially discounted" from what? lol
Looks good though, but might have to contact their support just to see how much I might be likely to be into for year two though.
Cheers.
Not sure if it's been mentioned but it has a content creation module that pulls content from about 10 or 12 sources and it also has a built in spinner so you can post spun content across the network.
Looks like it's a choice between infiniteWP, mainWP and manageWP, so will check them all out via their free trials and see which one I like best.
Thanks again
2Take2, have you come to a decision? What are your comments on all three? Cheers!
RE: Cloning sites - I use the WP Clone plugin, it's very easy to use, but you'll have to go in and do a 'find and replace' on the database and change a few other settings as well.
AFAIK, there's no way around that?
it changes the database on its own and works realy great!
Cheers!