wordcamp chicago - jeremy wright - building a blog network on wordpress mu

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Oh hai, I can haz WerdCampz?

Jeremy Wright, CEO, b5media.com

T: @jeremywright / E: [email protected]

C: 416 726 3602 / B: www.ensight.org

10 Things You (Hopefully) Don’t Know About Me

7 Things You (Probably) Don’t Know About b5media

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Copyright © 2005-2007 b5media. All rights reserved. 3

I was a… youth pastor


I was a…

professional drummer


I ride a… (it’s outside)

motorcycle


I rank higher than Ron Jeremy

on Google…


I require 3 pillows to fall asleep…

(head, knees, 1 to cuddle with)


I didn’t go to college

or university…


I recently lost 45 pounds…

(MEOWWW!!!)


I’m a semi-pro

blackjack player


I’m an introvert

Oh hai!

Copyright © 2005-2007 b5media. All rights reserved.

7 Things You (Maybe?) Didn’t Know About b5media

1. b5media was named for having 5 bloggers as founders. We were going to start an ad network, but never got around to it

2. We drink a tonne of Red Bull

3. b5media is the second largest blog network in the world, 5th largest ad supported blog company and the 10th largest “anything blog related” (including WordPress/Blogger/etc) property (comScore)

4. We have a mannequin named Ed, who’s our VP of Social Engineering & Development

5. We have a company shot, called a Cold War

6. The sales team once sold a sponsorship for my desktop, just to piss me off

7. We couldn’t do any of it without our bloggers

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Evolution of a blog network

Diz is teh histry of b5… srsly…

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Evolution of b5media

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How We Used to Use WordPress

Cause kittehs DO NOT WANT be n00bz! Iz good.

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Straight WordPress, 300+ installations of it

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Widgetized Template, Couple of Interesting Tools

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Discovery Zone to Tie Network Together

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So Basically…

Impossible to maintain independent WordPress installs

Difficult to update templates

No real interaction between blogs

Lack of community features

Simple user experience

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How We Use WordPress NOW

We maeded lotsa teh bebehs… kthnxbai!

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How Things Have Changed

From 350 to 1 WordPress installations

Single WordPress Multi-User install

Individual sites for each vertical

Featured Blogs for properties that maintain branding

Easier for authors

Blogs are more tied together

Real community features

Real galleries (coming soon!)

Much easier to roll out changes, tweaks, services, etc.

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DEMO TIME!

wordcamp chicago - jeremy wright - building a blog network on wordpress mu

Technology

wordpress

hai

evolution

dont

7 things

didnt