How to Create a New WordPress Network Sub-Site

Before proceeding, please ensure that your WordPress installation has Multisite enabled. If you haven’t yet enabled Multisite, you can do this by following the WordPress Codex guide on Creating a Network.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a New WordPress Network Site

  1. Login to your WordPress network administration dashboard.
  2. Navigate to ‘Sites.’ You can find this in the left sidebar menu. Click on ‘Sites’ and then ‘Add New.’
  3. Enter the details of the new site.
    • Site Address (URL): Input the subdomain or subdirectory you wish to use for the new site. This will be appended to your current site URL. For instance, if your site URL is example.com and you input blog as the site address, the new site URL will be blog.example.com (for a subdomain network) or example.com/blog (for a subdirectory network).
    • Site Title: Provide a title for your new site. This can be changed later within the new site’s dashboard.
    • Site Language: Choose the language for your new site. This will affect the default language in which the dashboard is displayed.
    • Admin Email: Enter the email address of the person managing the site. This person will receive an email with the login details and password for the new site. A new user will be created if the email address does not belong to an existing user on the network.
  4. Click ‘Add Site.’ After filling in the details, click the ‘Add Site’ button to create the site.
  5. Configure the new site (optional). After you’ve created the site, you can click on ‘Edit’ under the new site’s name in the list to change its settings, including the site address, admin email, and whether search engines should index the site. You can change the Site Address (URL) under the ‘Info’ tab to give the new site a custom domain.
  6. Access the new site. You can go to the new site’s dashboard by clicking on ‘Dashboard’ under the new site’s name in the list.

Remember that the new site will activate the default theme and deactivate plugins. You can change the theme and activate plugins through the new site’s dashboard or network activate plugins from the network dashboard.

Troubleshooting

If things went south, and you’re having trouble creating a new site, there are a few things to check:

  • Ensure that you’ve correctly enabled Multisite.
  • Ensure that your WordPress installation and all of your plugins are up-to-date.
  • Check your server error logs for any issues. If you’re unsure how to do this, contact your hosting provider.
  • If you get a message that says, “Registration has been disabled,” you’ll need to enable site registration. Go to ‘Network Admin’ > ‘Settings’ > ‘Network Settings’ and under ‘Registration Settings,’ check the box for ‘Both sites and user accounts can be registered.’

Please note that this guide assumes you have administrative privileges for the WordPress Multisite installation. If you are not a network admin, you will not have access to add new sites to the network. If you are unsure about this, please get in touch with your site administrator or hosting provider for assistance.