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How to Manage Multiple WordPress Sites with iThemes Sync

Are you looking for an easier way to monitor multiple WordPress websites and keep them up to date?

Luckily, there are some great tools on the market that will help you manage multiple websites that use separate installations of WordPress.

In this article, we will show you how to manage multiple WordPress sites with iThemes Sync.

How to Manage Multiple WordPress Sites with iThemes Sync

What Is iThemes Sync?

Just because you manage multiple websites does not mean you need to start using a WordPress multisite network. They are difficult to manage, and if one site gets hacked or goes down, then they all do.

You may find it easier to manage several sites using separate installations of WordPress. But moving from site to site to monitor them all and keep them up to date can be very time-consuming.

Luckily, third-party WordPress management tools can make it easy to manage all of your sites from a single dashboard. They let you perform maintenance tasks without switching back and forth between websites.

iThemes Sync is an easy-to-use WordPress maintenance plugin that allows you to manage multiple WordPress sites in one dashboard. It is a hosted service, which means you manage your sites from the iThemes website.

Installing and Setting Up iThemes Sync

First, you will need to sign up for an account on the iThemes Sync website and download the plugin. You’ll need to choose a paid plan that matches the number of sites you wish to manage.

After signing up, you will be able to download iThemes Sync from your member’s panel on the iThemes website.

Download iThemes Sync

Once you have downloaded the plugin, you’ll need to install and activate it on all WordPress sites that you want to manage. For more information, see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, the first thing you need to do is enable iThemes licensing. Simply go to Settings » iThemes Licensing and enter the address of the current website that you wish to add to your iThemes account.

Enter the URL of the Current Website

You’ll then be asked to provide your iThemes username and password.

This will allow you to receive automatic updates for iThemes Sync.

You'll Be Asked to Provide Your Username and Password

Next, you’ll need to connect your site to iThemes Sync.

You can do this by going to Settings » iThemes Sync and providing your iThemes username and password again.

Type Your Username and Password Again

Having done that, your WordPress site will be connected to iThemes Sync.

You’ll see a ‘Go Manage Your Synced Sites’ button that will take you to the iThemes website, where you can manage this site.

Connect Your WordPress Site to iThemes Sync

You will need to repeat the same process on all WordPress sites that you want to manage from one dashboard.

Managing Multiple Sites in iThemes Sync

iThemes Sync provides a single dashboard where you can manage all your WordPress site updates.

After you sign in to your iThemes account, you can click on the ‘Sync’ tab, which will show all the sites you have added.

The Sync Tab Will Show You all Your Sites

Clicking on a site in the list will show you more options for that site.

You will see any updates available for you to install, your backups, and more.

Details Are Displayed for Each Site

Notice that there are handy buttons at the top of the page to visit that WordPress site and its admin dashboard. This makes it easy to navigate to your websites when you need to add content or upload files.

If you are a WordPress developer managing WordPress sites for your clients, then the Show/Hide Sync section lets you hide iThemes Sync from a site’s admin menus while you remotely manage it from iThemes Sync.

You might like to back up your site using BackupBuddy, one of the best WordPress backup solutions. Once you install it on each website, you’ll be able to create new backups straight from iThemes Sync.

Another great feature of iThemes Sync is the mobile-responsive design of the dashboard. This means you can manage your sites, update them, and create backups from your mobile devices.

iThemes Sync's Mobile Responsive Design

iThemes Sync provides a great user experience for anyone updating and backing up multiple WordPress sites. It won’t help you write posts or jump between sites without a login, but it does make maintenance tasks simple.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to manage multiple WordPress sites with iThemes Sync. You may also want to see our guide on how to choose the best WordPress hosting and our expert picks for the best web design software to make beautiful websites.

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3 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Hey WPBeginner readers,
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  2. Can we use a plugin like this to keep two wordpress sites in sync if using a cloudflare load balancer? I am looking for such a plugin.

    • This would be more for keeping plugins and maintenance tasks up to date. If you want content like posts synced between sites then you would want to look for a plugin like WP RSS Aggregator.

      Admin

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