{"id":2312,"date":"2019-11-08T15:00:19","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T13:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/?p=2312"},"modified":"2020-08-02T02:24:15","modified_gmt":"2020-08-02T00:24:15","slug":"how-to-make-private-wordpress-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-make-private-wordpress-site\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make Your Entire WordPress Site Private"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Although sharing is the entire point of blogging, sometimes we simply need to make our entire blog or site private, at least for a little while. It may be because we need to fix something and we don\u2019t want anyone to see the site until it\u2019s done, or we just want to see what it feels like to have our content on a live site, without anyone actually being able to access it.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]When it comes to managing access to your website, you have several choices, in addition to making it completely public. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/create-wordpress-private-page\">make just some of your pages and posts private<\/a>, you can restrict access to the entire website, or you can password-protect some of your pages and posts so only those with the proper credentials have access.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]If you\u2019re interested in making your entire WordPress website private for whatever reason, here\u2019s how to do it.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\">Who Could Use a Private Site<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The purpose of websites and blogs is to publish things, not to keep them private, but, like we said, there are some contexts and situations in which it can be useful to make a site private, temporarily or permanently. [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Here are some situations that warrant a private website: [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;23px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item \">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><strong>A personal blog or journal.<\/strong> Sometimes people want to put their thoughts and dreams out there, on a web page, without anyone reading them.<\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul><ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item \">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><strong>A private sharing website.<\/strong> It can be a blog where you will share your wedding photos with the registered guests, a baby photo album to share with family, or anything else along those lines. Basically a \u201cmembers-only\u201d club of sorts.<\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul><ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item \">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><strong>A collaborative website.<\/strong> It can be a place where everyone who\u2019s working on a project can log in and view the website content, while it remains off-limits for everyone outside of that registered circle.<\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul><ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item \">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><strong>A school or classroom website.<\/strong> Making a website private and accessible only to those with the right permissions is a great way to manage homework, share reading materials, and so on.<\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul><ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item \">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><strong>A site that is under construction.<\/strong> By making it private, you can continue to work on it and release it for public only when you\u2019re absolutely sure it\u2019s good and ready.<\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul><ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item \">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><strong>A website that just needs tweaking.<\/strong> It actually makes a lot of sense to temporarily make a site private while you fix the design or the content, and then make it public again.<\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\">Making a Site Private Using a Plugin<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]As is often the case with WordPress, there is a cool little <strong>plugin you can use to easily make your entire website or blog completely private<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]The plugin is called <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/jonradio-private-site\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">My Private Site<\/a>, and it is completely free. It\u2019s easy to use and quite popular, with over 20,000 active installations.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"710\" height=\"378\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"My Private Site Plugin\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin.jpg 710w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-620x330.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;82px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"qodef-h5\">How It Works<\/h3>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The My Private Site plugin basically <strong>allows the admin to restrict access only to logged-in users<\/strong>. Any attempt to view or access any page of the site results in a <strong>simple login screen<\/strong>, after which the registered and logged in users can proceed to view the pages.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]The plugin allows users to set exclusions, creating a list of URLs that are always going to be visible, despite the general privacy settings. It is also possible to set which location the user will see immediately after logging in, plus a ton of other options. [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;72px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"qodef-h5\">How to Use the Plugin<\/h3>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]After<a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-install-a-wordpress-plugin\/\"> installing the plugin<\/a>, in your admin area navigate to <em><strong>Settings &gt; Private Site<\/strong><\/em> to access the options.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"710\" height=\"378\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"My Private Site Plugin Options\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-1.jpg 710w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-1-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-1-620x330.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]The first thing to do here is to check the box next to <em><strong>Private Site<\/strong><\/em>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Now, if you want your website to be a member-only site, you will have to set some membership parameters. Under <em><strong>Allow Self-Registration<\/strong><\/em>, check the box next to <em><strong>Membership<\/strong><\/em>, which will allow anyone to register.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Also, make sure to reveal the registration page by checking the box just below. This is important since new users can\u2019t log in if they\u2019re not registered, and they cannot register if the registration page is not revealed. [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"710\" height=\"378\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-2.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Check the box\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-2.jpg 710w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-2-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-2-620x330.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]The next thing you should specify is <strong>where you want your users to land<\/strong> after successfully logging in. It can be the same URL they initially requested to access, or it can be the homepage of your site, among other options. You can also set a specific URL you\u2019d like to redirect them to, and set whether you want the settings to apply to the wp-login.php page as well.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"710\" height=\"378\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-5.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Landing Location\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-5.jpg 710w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-5-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-5-620x330.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]In case you\u2019re using a <strong>custom login page<\/strong>, and not the usual WordPress login, then you will have to specify it in the plugin settings.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"710\" height=\"378\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-6.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Custom Login\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-6.jpg 710w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-6-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-6-620x330.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Sometimes it can be a good idea to leave some of the site pages visible to everyone, for instance the homepage. This can be useful if you want to make sure your visitors know they\u2019re in the right place, or if you want to spark the potential users\u2019 interest in registering and exploring the rest of your site. [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]If you\u2019d like your website\u2019s home page to remain visible and just make the rest of your site private, check the box that says <em><strong>Site Home is visible to everyone?<\/strong><\/em> You can also specify any other URLs you want to keep visible to everyone. If you have a group of URLs with the same prefix and you want to make all of them public and visible, you can do that, too.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"710\" height=\"378\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-7.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Visible Exclusions\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-7.jpg 710w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-7-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-7-620x330.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Finally, the plugin developers warn the users to be careful when<strong> allowing landing location for custom login pages<\/strong>, as this can potentially lock you and your users out of the website. If you don\u2019t feel like taking the risk, you may want to skip this option.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"710\" height=\"378\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-8.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Advanced Settings\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-8.jpg 710w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-8-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-8-620x330.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]When you\u2019re all done setting up, click on <em><strong>Save changes<\/strong><\/em> and your website will now be private for everyone except you and the registered and logged in users.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]When a user types in or clicks on your website\u2019s URL, a login panel will appear, and <strong>it will look just like the one you use for <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-log-in-into-wordpress-site\/\">logging into your admin<\/a><\/strong>. The only difference is that, when users log in, they, obviously, won\u2019t be taken to your admin but to the page you have set as your landing location.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"710\" height=\"378\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-3.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Logging into your admin\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-3.jpg 710w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-3-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-3-620x330.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]And if you want to log into your admin, you will still have to add<em> wp-admin<\/em> to your website\u2019s URL, as always.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"710\" height=\"378\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-4.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Add wp-admin to your website\u2019s URL\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-4.jpg 710w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-4-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/My-Private-Site-Plugin-4-620x330.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;90px&#8221;][vc_separator color=&#8221;custom&#8221; accent_color=&#8221;#f0f0f0&#8243;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=&#8221;top-picks-banner&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_separator color=&#8221;custom&#8221; accent_color=&#8221;#f0f0f0&#8243;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;80px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\">Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]These days, privacy is more important than ever. Making an entire WordPress website completely private is a piece of cake with the plugin we have discussed in this article. Whether you want to be the only one with access to your website\u2019s content or you want to share it with a selected group of users, now that you know how to do it, it\u2019s completely up to you. [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whatever reasons you might have for making your entire WordPress site private, here&#8217;s how to do it the easy way, using a plugin created just for this purpose. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[15,13],"class_list":["post-2312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorials","tag-plugins","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}