Dec
Making A Private Page In Your Blog
Written by Susan on December 30th, 2008
Tip O’ The Morning
Maybe you want to give access to certain pages on your blog only to those who know the exact URL to get in? Or perhaps you want to maintain the integrity of your theme’s nav bar, which in my case only allows for links to 5 pages – beyond that, and any new pages I create show up in nasty places on my header, messing up my lovely symmetry, and making me crazy. I start creating lists of all those people I’d like to whack. It isn’t pretty.
Whatever your reason for wanting to create pages on your blog that either only a select few can see, or that you choose to link to elsewhere than the Wordpress default, after much searching I finally figured out how to do it. Benefit from my hours of agony! Go on, I don’t mind.
- When you go into your dashboard, you start by choosing Write/Page. In the right sidebar, under the Publish Status field, you will see a check box labeled “Keep this page private”. Check it.
- Name your new page whatever you’d like, and add the content.
- When you’re ready, click on “Publish”.
When Wordpress creates a new page, it assigns it a page ID number. Take note of what number is assigned to your new page. The URL will look something like this: http://yourblog.com/?page_ID=#.
What you’ll find now is that your page exists, and you can get to it if you type in the exact URL (or click on whatever link you have made manually and put somewhere on your page), but the new title will read: “Private 
title). If you intend for your customers or other visitors to your blog to have access to the page, you don’t want them to think they’ve landed somewhere they weren’t supposed to be. So how do you get rid of that unwanted “Private” text on your title?
Easy peasy.
- Go back to your dashboard, and into Design/Theme Editor.
- On your right sidebar, you’ll see the list of your theme’s templates.
- Click on functions.php. In the window, paste the following code:
function remove_private_prefix($title) {
$title = str_replace(
‘Private:’,
”,
$title);
return $title;
}
add_filter(‘the_title’,'remove_private_prefix’);
Voilà! You’re done! Now your new page looks just like all your other pages, but you retain the power over where the links to it show up. If you want it to be in your existing page list, add the html code pointing to it in a text widget, or place a more prominent link elsewhere on your page if you wish. Or, just leave it private. Point is, you get to decide.
Happy blogging!
Dear Susan,
I found you over at Garry’s place nestled amongst the many comments. One could get lost over there. I know I spend way too much time reading posts searching for the answers to my many questions.
You asked a question about getting your freebie books on your site and I see that you found success. Want to share how you did it?
I actually got Dean Holland’s ebook on my site and it even redirects and everything. I’d like to do the same with some of the others, too. I’m just not sure how to redirect to a file on my own blog. Isn’t that silly? I’m just sure this is a simple thing to do and I just don’t get it . . . yet.
Anyway, I’ve enjoyed getting to know you through your blog posts. Look forward to visiting with you when you have a minute to chat.
Warmly,
Theresa
PS I love Susan Branch art, etc.
Hi Susan
Hope everything is going well over here
You may already know this but myself and Mark Call are in the process of
setting up a website called Studentsofalex.com.
We are hoping to interview as many students as possible about Alex’s coaching, your progress, success and future plans.
It’s going to be a great opportunity to promote yourself, website and current/future products.
If you have already signed up, great!
If not, please visit the link below for more details and to sign up.
http://missioninternetmarketing.com/blog/have-you-signed-up-to-be-interviewed-for-studentsofalexcom/
Happy New Year and Mark and I hope to be interviewing you soon!:)
All the best
Mark
http://missioninternetmarketing.com
Hi Susan,
This is my first time to your blog and I must say that I really like the theme and layout. Great tip, you taught me something I didn’t know. I wanted to let you know that I have you on my blog roll now.
How long have you had your blog up? Did you know that you have a page rank 1. That’s not bad if your blog has only been up for the month of December. I told you last night what happened to mine.
Page rank isn’t that important, what is most important is where your site is listed in the SERPS. I am just glad that I am being listed again. I still don’t know what happened. You might want to get that nofollow installed on your blogroll.
I can’t remember which of you does the article writing, you or Theresa?
I may need your services. I was going to onlywire your post but you don’t have the button on your blog. I faved it on Technorati instead.
JT
JT – Glad to hear from you! I was going to contact you today at any rate to say a big thanks for all your time and help last night – I have Skype and satellite internet, so kept getting dropped and having to call back in periodically. You and Theresa said goodbye during a time I was trying to dial in and I missed thanking you!
I’m very happy I was able to give you a useful tip – I’ve been feeling a lot lately like the pesky little ankle-biter that keeps tugging on everybody else’s coat to get some attention. Trying to spread my neediness as widely as possible, so I don’t hack off any one person permanently!
I have Onlywire on my to-do list – first to really understand what it is, then to implement it. Same for no-follow. All the tips and suggstions from the IM old-hands is terrific, but it’s also a bit like trying to swim through jello!
It did my heart good to hear you tell me I’m ranked somewhere, even if I’m not yet clear on the significance of it, how to maintain it, or what to do to avoid losing it! Taking everything I learn on board and processing it as best I can. It’s like my dreams – something little incident will happen to me one day, and I find that 48 hours later, it pops up as a minor plot point in my dream. Apparently it takes at least that long for something to ooze from my conscious mind to the subconscious layers. Hopefully all I’m learning from you experienced fellow students won’t take any longer to sink in and stick.
Yes, I’d be happy to help you out writing an article. I may not be very techy or know much about driving traffic (a fatal flaw I’m struggling to overcome!), but I do know something about design and I can write killer copy. So if you need my help with that, just ask.
Cheers,
Susan
Good morning, Susan.
I’m so glad JT stopped by here already. He was by my place, too and asked about article writing. I was so excited for you and wanted to let you know. Already done.
Hope you don’t mind, but I left a post on JJ & Jason’s blog letting them know about your writing skills/service. They just hired a VA to help them with their biz. That might be right up your alley. Have you ever thought about that business?
Anyway, I’m off to visit a few other places in my hour of oil rig hopping. Then it’s the forums. Wishing you a wonderful day.
Theresa
Hi Susan,
This is something very handy to be aware of, and thank you for sharing with us.
I’m on my turbo hopping mission to get round as many of the F500 that I can. It’s taking me for ever to get round everyone just to say hi, so I don’t want you to think I’m being rude bringing a standard message.
I hope I do not offend you as communication and generosity are what is driving this. If I wait for you to come to me, it might never happen. Thanks to all who have already visited Planet Valz.
Firstly, my wishes to you for a Happy, Healthy and very Prosperous Year 2009.
Secondly, I want to give you a New Year present, but you need to go to http://daybydaymarketing.com/2008/12/choose-your-new-year-present/
and choose what you would like.
I would appreciate being added to your blogroll. I am happy to add you to mine when you come over and vote for your preferred gift.
Valerie
http://daybydaymarketing.com