WordPress as a blog network
Much like WordPress.com is a hosted blog network powered by the WordPress content management system, FireEMSBlogs.com was built as a hosted blog network for a specific niche of bloggers. Using WordPress MU and domain mapping plugins the site is able to support bloggers at custom domains. Each blogger is the administrator of their own blog but, for security and consistency, select themes and plugins are made available.Custom themes create consistency
Working with the initial bloggers, we worked to re-create a few theme styles they had come to know and love. Using Carrington we built four themes, each of which allowed bloggers to customize the header graphic, background, colors, and sidebars. This allows for a consistent look across the network while maintaining the ability to customize a site to match one's personality and taste.Sophisticated blog management
In addition to theme customizations, all bloggers can activate any of the pre-installed plugins made available to the network. Plus, each blogger can manage sidebar zones and widgets and add Google Analytics code to their blog. Network administrators can manage the remaining network-wide sidebar zones and insert network-wide analytics code that appears on every page. In order to improve ad targeting, network administrators can also manage specific ad zones on a per-blogger basis with OpenX integration.Getting everyone on-board
Go Forward Media worked on building the blogger relationships and we worked on moving their sites from Blogger, WordPress, and TypePad. We had to make sure the old content was imported correctly, formatted as expected, and that future URL requests were redirected to the right place. Luckily, WordPress has some sophisticated importers and there are a number of tools available to cleanup formatting. We've also implemented our redirection plugin that performs 301 redirects to posts with an "original URL" meta key match.Creating a global posts table
WordPress MU is architected in a way that separates every blog's data, users, and meta into separate database tables. In order to allow for network-wide search, tag archives, category archives, we created a unified database table that pulled each blog into one. This option allows for better performance than alternatives and ultimately allows for simpler development once the table is in place and maintained.Hottest design on the web
One challenge was create a visual styling for the network that combined reds and oranges (fire) with blues and whites (EMS). Through a few rounds of design iterations everyone settled on a style that spoke to the uniqueness of the blog network. We also created four separate "neutral" themes that the bloggers could customize and call their own.Spotlighting blogger content
As with most networks, the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Not only does the homepage show recent posts from all bloggers, but editorially selected also appears under "Today's Hot Bloggers" and the blogger spotlight in the sidebar. When browsing the member blogs and articles, FireEMSBlogs.com administrators are presented with two buttons that can flag content to appear on the homepage.