Giving access to your WordPress site, whether it be your developer, virtual assistant, or designer, is scary. I don’t want to share my login info with anybody, no matter how much I trust them. Here I will teach you how to securely give your developer access to WordPress, or anybody else that you think needs access to your WordPress site.
Don’t Share Your Personal Account Info
Did you know that you don’t have to share your personal account info? It’s true.
You can easily create a new account without exposing your personal account info. This account can be temporary or long term. You have the power to revoke access to it whenever you want.
You can create an account for anybody you need to because WordPress allows you to set up an unlimited amount of users. So feel safe creating an account for the people you trust enough to give access to your WordPress site.
How to Create a New User Account in WordPress
Learn how to give developer access to WordPress, or anybody that you deem worthy of access to your site, by creating a new user.
From your WordPress dashboard, go to Users > Add New. Here you have the Add New User page.
Username (required)
Create a username. Keep in mind that usernames cannot be changed.
Email (required)
Enter your user’s email address. It needs to be a unique email address, as you cannot have the same email for more than one user on your WordPress site.
First Name (optional)
Enter your user’s first name, if needed.
Last Name (optional)
Enter your user’s last name, if needed.
Website (optional)
Enter your user’s website, if needed.
Password (required)
Click Show password. You can either choose your own password here or use the automatically-generated password. I suggest using the generated password because it’s unique and secure.
Send User Notification
Select this box if you want to send your new user an email with their user account login information.
Role
Select a role for your user. Below are the roles explained, from the most power to the least.
- Administrator: The name says it all. The administrator has the most power. They have access to all the administration features on your WordPress site. This is the role you have on your WordPress site.
- Editor: The editor can publish and manage posts, whether it’s their own posts or other’s posts.
- Author: The author can publish and manage only their own posts.
- Contributor: The contributor can write and manage only their own posts; however, they do not have the power to publish the posts.
- Subscriber: The subscriber only has the ability to manage and update their own profile.
To learn more about roles and their capabilities, check out WordPress.org.
Add New User
Lastly, make sure you click the Add New User button. This will save and create your new user.
How to Delete a User on WordPress
This is a great option for when the person you are giving access to your website only needs to do a temporary job. That way you can control and end their access when their assistance is no longer required.
From your WordPress dashboard, go to Users > All Users. Here is the list of all your users. Locate the user you wish to delete and select Delete.
Then hit the Confirm Deletion button.
Now your user is gone.
If the user that you are deleting created any content. You will be given the option to either delete all of their content or attribute all of their content to another user. Assuming you wish to keep the content they created, select Attribute all content to and select the user you wish it to be assigned to. Then hit the Confirm Deletion button.
Trust Who You Give Access to Your WordPress Site
Make sure you are careful with who you give access to your site. Whether you are giving it to your developer, designer, virtual assistant, or even a contributor, make sure it’s a person or business you trust. Also, before you let anyone access your WordPress site, do a full backup, just in case.