One of the best features of running a WordPress blog is the option to add contributing editors or sub-users. This feature is particularly useful when running a professional website and outsourced writers have been hired to produce content. Not sure what each role means? Before you assign new users, make sure you also know the meaning of each WordPress role.
You can provide contributing users with proper access to create new content as well as control their options so they can or can’t publish directly on a WordPress website or blog.
Unfortunately some blog owners don’t know how provide new users access, even though the process is very simple.
Adding New WordPress Blog Users
In order to add a new user so that they can contribute to a WordPress enabled blog or website, we have to be logged in to the blog in question with an administrator account. Once logged in as an admin, we simply need to navigate to the Users panel which is located on the left side of the WordPress dashboard panel.
Steps to add new users on WordPress
- On the WordPress Dashboard > Users
- Click “Add new Users”
- Add username
- Set a password
- Choose the appropriate WordPress role
- Click “Save”
After navigating to the users menu, we should be provided with a list of current users contributing to the blog. If no other users have been added we should only see one user in the list, which is the account we are currently logged in to the blog dashboard with.
Make sure you set the password to be easy so your team member to join and she/he can change it later.
Give Blog Access To New User
In order to give another user blog access select the “add new” button. A new menu will appear allowing us to enter detailed information about the new user we want to add.
The following data is what should be entered for the new user:
Username: This will be the login account or login name for the new user, make sure you give this information to the new contributor when finished.
E-mail: This is the main contact e-mail for the new users. All notifications, user e-mails, and additional data will be sent to the user’s e-mail account. It also serves as a password recovery tool if they ever forget their password.
Password: This is the password for the new user’s account. They can change this to a more personal password at a later time after they have access. Make sure to give the password to the new contributor when finished.
Contributor Role Levels
With any type of publication, be it online, offline or print, there are writers, and editors. Writers create the content and produce everything that appears on the site, while editors proofread the pending work and edit existing content. So it makes sense that WordPress would allow the admin to set up specific roles for different user accounts.
For each blog contributor you can set a specific role or access level, but it must be done when creating the account. Of course the role can be edited at a later time, but it is definitely important the admin chooses a role when an account is created.
The individual roles are as follows:
Contributor: This type of user can edit and manage personal posts but they cannot publish them without assistance.
Author: This type of user can only publish, manage and edit their own posts.
Editor: This type of user can manage all existing content and posts on the blog. They can create their own posts, and edit and manage them as well as other blog user posts.
Administrator: A super user that has access to everything on the related blog. They can do everything the owner of the blog can do; this is the highest account type that can be assigned.
Subscriber: This type of user can only manage their public profile but they cannot contribute, edit, or change existing content.
There is a “Super Admin” user option but this type of account is only plausible when there is a network of blogs all connected through one WordPress install.
Alert The Noobies
After the new accounts have been created the process is finished. The blog in question will now have numerous contributing writers and editors.
The only step that remains is to alert the users with their login information so make sure to send them an e-mail with their account name and password so they can access the WordPress dashboard.
Before long the blog will be thriving with fresh content!
