Can I run multiple sites with customized look and feel from a single code base and database?

Question

I want to create a main website say, www.myweb.example which has the main functionality such as admin panels, db's etc.

Then I want to offer clients a customised front-end (change of css and logo) so it integrates with their business and in addition I want the option of the site address being a sub-domain of the main website or a different URL altogether. i.e www.subsite.myweb.example or www.myweb1.example.

The front-ends and main site need to share the same database so that they are synced. The front-ends would only surface data that is relative to the individual client and would need to perform CRUD operation on the database.

Can my requirements be met through a single site or will a front-end need to be developed for every client?

Answer 1

Short anwser, Yes.

But as a minimun set of requirements you need to make sure your clients will be able to have the control over meta data (Page title and Description), images alt text, nofollow and follow links, robots.txt file, include or exclude URLs from the sitemap, edit URL paths, handle third party scripts or libraries such as Google Analytics, etc.

On the other hand your backend solution or platform should be able to set canonicals right, set up a process to create page redirects when necesary, manage cache, server load balancing rules, etc.