How to Create a Password Protected Website in 2023

Creating a password protected website might seem like a complex task, but it can be a breeze with the right tools and guidance.

A password protected website requires users to enter a password to access certain pages or your entire site. This level of security is crucial in today’s digital age, where privacy and data protection are of utmost importance.

In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of creating a password protected website using Passster, the #1 password protect WordPress plugin.

This powerful tool is designed to make your website security journey as straightforward and effective as possible.

Stay tuned as we dive into the next section, where we’ll give you a detailed introduction to Passster and its features.

What is Passster?

Passster is an easy-to-use WordPress plugin designed to add password protection to your website. It’s not just about securing your entire site, but also specific pages, parts of your content, and even WooCommerce products.

With Passster, you can ensure that your content is accessible only to those who have the right password.

What the password protected website form looks like

Passster offers a user-friendly form that’s easy to interact with. When visitors encounter a password protected website page, they are presented with a password protection form (almost like you would see on a login page).

This form is highly customizable, allowing you to change the form’s colors, text, hover style, and all relevant messages in just a few clicks. This ensures the form seamlessly merges with your WordPress theme, template, or page builder.

Once the correct password is entered, the user can access the password protected website content. If the user enters an incorrect password, they are prompted to try again. This interaction is designed to be as straightforward as possible, making it easy for users of all levels of technical expertise to navigate.

For added convenience, Passster also offers the ability to use Bitly to create encrypted links for immediate access, allowing users to unlock protected content without entering a password. This feature is particularly useful for sharing protected content with specific users.

Key features of Passster

Passster comes packed with a variety of features that make it the go-to solution for website protection. Here are some of them

• Password protection: You can protect your entire website, specific web pages, posts, or just part of your content with a unique password.
• Multiple passwords: Passster allows you to use multiple or large sets of new passwords with password lists to protect your content.

• reCAPTCHA: For an added layer of security, Passster allows you to use Google reCAPTCHA to protect your content instead of a traditional password. This helps to keep bots and spammers at bay but doesn’t impact SEO (search engine optimization).
• Concurrent usage tracking: Keep track of how often a password is used at the same time to prevent abuse and unauthorized sharing.
• Encrypted links: Share encrypted links with your users to unlock content with an encrypted URL automatically.
• Customizable: Control everything for your password login form – colors, texts, labels, and more.
• Sell passwords: Easily sell access to protected pages and areas with Passster and WooCommerce.

• Statistics: Track the usage of your passwords and get information about the IP address, the password, and the browser used.

Protection for various content types

Now that we’ve explored the features let’s see how Passster provides protection for various types of content:

Entire WordPress website

Passster provides a layer of security for your entire WordPress site. This means that users will need to enter a password to access any part of your site.

Specific pages

If you only want to protect certain pages, Passster has got you covered. You can choose which pages require a password for access. This is perfect for when you have specific content that you want to keep exclusive.

Parts of content

Perhaps you only want to secure a specific section of a page or post. With Passster, you can protect parts of your WordPress pages/posts to secure things like forms, downloads, content, and more.

WooCommerce products

If you’re running an ecommerce store using WooCommerce, Passster can help protect your products. You can also sell access to restricted pages and areas with WooCommerce and Passster.

This feature allows you to automatically generate passwords after purchase and send the password via a customizable email to the customer. It’s like having a VIP section in your digital store, where only paying customers can gain access.

So now we know what Passster can do, in the next section, we’ll delve into how to use Passster to create a password protected website.

How to create a password protected website with Passster

Creating a password protected website with Passster is a straightforward process. Here’s a tutorial guide to help you through it:

Step 1: Download and install the Passster plugin

The first step is to download and install the Passster plugin on your WordPress website. You can download the plugin from the official Passster website.

Once downloaded, you can install it by navigating to the Plugins section in your WordPress dashboard, clicking on Add New, and then uploading the downloaded file.

Depending on what you want to password protect on your website, the following sections will walk you through what Passster can do once it’s installed.

Step 2: Password protect your entire WordPress website

To password protect your entire WordPress website using Passster, follow these step-by-step instructions:

1. From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Passster > Settings and click on the Global Protection link on the left.
2. Click the toggle button next to Activate Global Protection to turn this setting on.

3. Next, select a page from the Select a page dropdown. This will be the page that every unauthenticated visitor to your site will be directed to.
   • If you don’t have any pages created, you can do so by going to Pages > Add New in your WordPress dashboard.
4. If there are any pages that you want users to still be able to access without entering a password, you can exclude them from your global protection.

5. Once you’re happy with your settings, click Save Settings. Your whole site will now be protected, with every visitor directed to your global protection page.
6. Click on the Customize Global Protection Page link. This will open the selected page from above. This is where you’ll set a password (or any other kind of protection) and save your page.

Note: The next section of this article (how to password protect a page in WordPress) will walk through the different protection types in a little more detail.

But what if you don’t want to password protect your entire website? What if you want to only password-protect specific website pages? Well, with Passster, you can do that too.

Step 3: Password protected page

To password protect specific pages on your WordPress website using Passster, follow these step-by-step instructions:

1. From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Pages > All Pages and click to edit the page you want to protect. You can also create a new page and protect that.
2. In the settings sidebar on the right, scroll down until you get to the Passster section.
3. Click the Activate Protection toggle button to protect your page.

4. Next, you’ll need to pick your protection type in the Protection Type dropdown. There are four options here:
   • Password: Allows you to set one specific password to gain access.
   • Passwords: Allows you to enter multiple different passwords to gain access. Add these as a comma-separated list.
   • Password List: Allows you to select one of your pre-created password lists. Creating a list rather than just using single passwords gives you more control over your password expiry.
   • Google reCAPTCHA: This doesn’t require a password and instead restricts bots and hackers on the page with CAPTCHA.

5. Underneath this, you’ll see User Restriction. Change the User Restriction Type (Username or User Role) using the dropdown. Then specify which of these you’d like in the User role or username field.
6. In the Overwrite Defaults section, you have a few options which allow you to customize the text that appears on the protected page. Here you can change everything from the page headline to the instructions, form elements, and button.
7. In the Misc Settings section, you can hide or show the password form and set a redirection URL in the ‘Redirection’ field. This will redirect website visitors to another URL once they’ve gained access.
8. Once you’re happy with all your settings, click the blue Publish or Update button at the top of the page.

That’s it! Your selected page is now password protected.

Step 4: Password protect WooCommerce products

If you’re running a WooCommerce store, you can use Passster to protect your products. Here’s how to do it:

Protect individual products

1. Go to Products > All Products from your WordPress dashboard and open up the product you’d like to password-protect in the Edit Product screen.
2. Use the Passster meta box on the right-hand side of the screen to customize your product protection:
   • Toggle the Activate Protection button to turn protection on.
   • Set the Protection Mode/Type using the dropdown menu. You have a few options here, so pick the protection type that suits you.
   • If you want, you can set user role or username restriction by clicking the User Restriction toggle button.
   • Then, you can overwrite the default password form settings, including text, headline, and button label.

3. Once you’re done, click the Update button at the top of the page.

But let’s say you want to not only protect individual products, but you’re entire WooCommerce store. How would you do that?

Protect your entire WooCommerce dtore

1. Go to Pages > All Pages from your WordPress dashboard and open up the Shop page in the text editor.
2. Use the Passster meta box on the right-hand side of the screen to customize your product protection:
   • Click the Activate Protection button to turn protection on.
   • Click the Protect Child Pages button to apply the same protection to all shop sub-pages.
   • Set the Protection Mode/Type using the dropdown menu. You have a few options here, so pick the protection type that suits you.
   • If you want, you can set user role or username restriction by clicking the User Restriction toggle button.
   • Then, you can overwrite the default password form settings, including text, headline, and button label.

3. Once you’re done, click the Update button at the top of the page.

That’s it! Your WooCommerce products are now password protected.

Password protect your website with Passster

And there you have it! We’ve journeyed through the world of website security, and hopefully, you’re now well-equipped to create a password protected website. We’ve explored the importance of such protection and how Passster, a top-notch WordPress plugin, makes the process a breeze.

We’ve covered how to install Passster and use it to secure your entire website, specific pages, or even individual WooCommerce products.

Securing your website isn’t just a nice-to-have in today’s digital age. It’s a must. And with Passster, you’ve got a reliable partner to help you do just that. So why wait? Give Passster a try and take a step towards a more secure digital presence.