multi site for reasons of advertising

[paul1972]

Is it possible to have this set up .....well, let me tell you what I want to do:

I want to have a website/forum for each individual state (50 states). I want to offer advertising in each state.

Example:
Lets say I start a car forum. I want to break it down so each state has its own forum category.
You click on Utah and there are forum sub-categories for Utah members. Then there will be ads from say...car dealers in Utah. And if you click on Florida there will be sub-categories for Florida members but there will be ads from Florida car dealers.

------- 1. I dont want to buy a separate VB license for each state.
--------2. When a member signs up he should be able to access every state under the same username.

If I have the domain "cartalk" can I have the site setup so the url is ..... www. utah.cartalk.com www. florida.cartalk.com

or www. cartalk/utah.com www. cartalk/florida.com

I'm just trying to figure out if this can be done.......any ideas?

[Steve Machol]

The way you want to set this up will require a separate license for each forum.

[we_are_borg]

You should read http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showt...ense-agreement first and then rethink it so that it does not require multiple licenses.

[KiLLAxMAHN]

Or he can have it Utah.cartalk.com and have cartalk.com is the main forum. Utah.cartalk.com can be a redirect to the Utah forum.

[we_are_borg]

Well what he can do is cartalk.com main site nothing hidden, then utah.cartalk.com link to the section of Utah. Like this link for the vBulletin sale and feedback. This should not go against the license.

[paul1972]

Well what he can do is cartalk.com main site nothing hidden, then utah.cartalk.com link to the section of Utah. Like this link for the vBulletin sale and feedback. This should not go against the license.

Is there a way to set it up so that a member from Utah that registers under the utah.cartalk.com can still be registered on the other 49 states?

[we_are_borg]

Is there a way to set it up so that a member from Utah that registers under the utah.cartalk.com can still be registered on the other 49 states?

If you only want one license i would do it like so:

1. You only have one install that runs under cartalk.com
2. You make forums of all states in does forums you make sub-forums Example:
Main cartalkforum
-Announcements
-Chit Chat
-Etc
-Etc
Utah
-Announcements
-Utah Chit Chat
-Utah Cars
-Etc
-Etc
State2
-Announcements
-State2 Chit Chat
-State2 Cars
-Etc
-Etc
State3
-Announcements
-State3 Chit Chat
-State3 Cars
-Etc
-Etc

You get the idea now comes some tricks with the settings in vBulletin it self you can make the Forum Utah invisible but if you know the URL its still accessible so we go and make use of that and do this with all States. Then you need to edit the navigation bar and make some sort of option that people can switch to one state to another this needs to be done else vBulletin can say your hiding stuff and you do not want that, the navigation bar needs to look the same also do not alter the breadcrum so that it looks like another forum in it self.

Now you need to make some cleaver linking for subdomains you make the subdomain utah.cartalk.com and redirect it to the right forum the direct URL. You can also make a htaccess that does this. Because everything looks the same for all states even cartalk.com it self it should not be against the license agreement. Also i'm not cloacking anything also the license agreement says

Separating content and forum styles by using subforums and forumdisplay links within a single domain is allowed because that functionality is built-in to vBulletin.

This is exactly what you will be doing all functions is build into vBulletin it self.

Also you can make the same as here on vBulletin like this link http://www.vbulletin.com/go/demo you can make something like http://www.cartalk.com/go/utah and direct it to utah.

When you do this then people only need to register once at cartalk.com and can talk on all states.

[paul1972]

if done this way, and a member does a search, will it show results for all 50 states?

[we_are_borg]

if done this way, and a member does a search, will it show results for all 50 states?

Yes because everything is in the same database.

[paul1972]

do you know of any sites that are set up like this so I can take a look?

[we_are_borg]

Well vbulletin.org has something like this its not 100% the same but it comes close.

[paul1972]

what about running ads. Will the same ads show up on each state or can I have different ads for each state?

thanks for your help !!

[Riasat]

if done this way, and a member does a search, will it show results for all 50 states?

what about running ads. Will the same ads show up on each state or can I have different ads for each state?

thanks for your help !!

both of these can be achieved with a little modification to the code.

[paul1972]

both of these can be achieved with a little modification to the code.

who can I hire to modify the code?

[we_are_borg]

I would first look on vBulletin.org if something exist like this, you can also ask for paid and unpaid add-ons.