My Private Site Guest Access is a premium add-on that extends the core My Private Site plugin’s privacy controls. While My Private Site locks down your WordPress site for logged-in users only, the Guest Access add-on provides a safe way to invite external visitors without requiring them to log in.
It lets admins generate special access links for guests, granting temporary view permissions to private content. This add-on is ideal for giving clients, colleagues, or friends a peek into your private site without compromising overall site privacy.
Key features and customer benefits
Here’s a quick overview of the Guest Access capabilities and how it can help site owners.
Secure shareable access links
Administrators can create unique, secure URLs for guest visitors. Each Guest Access link contains a random, hard-to-guess token that bypasses the usual login screen, but only for those who have the link.
This means you can share selected content confidently without sharing passwords or creating accounts for each user and providing user account-level access to the site. The rest of the world still sees a login prompt, preserving your site’s privacy. Only users with the special link can get in, ensuring the links are virtually impossible to guess.
Time-limited, on-demand access
Guest Access links can be configured to expire automatically after a set duration, for example, 24 or 48 hours, or a custom date. This time-controlled access gives you fine-grained control over how long a guest can view your site.
You can also set a start date and end date, allowing you to manage embargoes where access is granted beginning only on a certain specific day. This is ideal for PR announcements and specialized promotions.
This feature is perfect for one-time demos or time-sensitive content. After expiration, the link simply redirects to the login page again, seamlessly reinstating your site’s full privacy without any manual intervention. This set it and forget it approach ensures temporary access never becomes a permanent loophole.
One-time or reusable invites
When generating a guest link, you decide how it can be used. Create one-time use links for exclusive single access, which deactivates after it is used and adds an extra layer of security, or generate reusable links that guests can use multiple times within the allowed period if needed.
This flexibility means you can tailor access to the situation, for instance, a one-time link for a private document versus a week-long pass for a client reviewing your site.
No account or signup needed (frictionless access)
A major benefit of Guest Access is that invitees do not need any WordPress account on your site. They will not need to juggle usernames or passwords. Clicking the guest link is all it takes to enter.
This frictionless experience makes it easy to share your private content with non-technical users or short-term visitors. It is as simple as sending a link via email or chat and the guest clicking it.
You maintain the membership feel of a private site for the public, yet can conveniently grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis.
Granular content sharing control
Guest Access complements other add-ons like Public Pages. Where Public Pages opened specific URLs to everyone, Guest Access keeps pages private to the world but accessible to chosen individuals.
Unlike making a page public, which would be visible to search engines and all visitors, a guest access link keeps the content unindexed and hidden except to those you personally invite.
Easy invite management dashboard
Guest Access adds a user-friendly guest access management section to your WordPress admin. From there, you can generate new guest links and see all active invites at a glance.
Each invite listing shows key details, including the guest link ready to copy and share, any label or reference you gave it such as link for Client A, its expiration date and time, and how many times it has been used and last access, so you can monitor engagement.
You can manually revoke a link at any time with one click if needed, for instance, if a link was sent to the wrong person or you changed your mind. This centralized control ensures you are always in command of who has access.
Activity logging and interest tracking
Guest Access logs the last time a guest link is used. In the admin, you can see a count of uses or last accessed time for each invite. This helps you gauge interest, such as whether the client actually viewed the page.
Key technical details
Guest Access is built to work directly with My Private Site’s core. It hooks into the same privacy checking mechanism the core plugin uses to restrict content.
Under the hood, when a guest visits with a valid link, Guest Access’s logic recognizes the token and transparently bypasses the login redirect for that session. They can navigate as if logged in, without gaining an admin bar or any account privileges. You can decide what access level to grant when you create the access key.
Meanwhile, all your standard Private Site rules remain intact for regular visitors. This seamless integration means no conflicts with other My Private Site settings or other plugins. Guest Access respects exclusions and landing page settings, simply adding another layer of controlled access on top.
Robust security practices
From a technical standpoint, Guest Access employs robust security measures. The generated access tokens are long, random strings, not sequential IDs or guessable codes, to ensure they cannot be predicted or brute forced.
Guest Access uses WordPress security functions and follows best practices to validate links and handle expiration. If a link is expired or invalid, the guest is immediately redirected to the login page or other pre-assigned destination, just like any unauthorized visitor.
Additionally, Guest Access can set a temporary cookie for the guest session once the link is used so the guest will not need to click the link for every page. They get a smooth browsing experience, while you can be confident the cookie is tied only to that single guest access session. The cookie expires within 24 hours.
Moreover, Guest Access was designed with compatibility in mind. It will not conflict with caching plugins or content delivery networks. The guest token can be recognized even on cached pages, and it works over SSL, different domains, or subdomains without issue.
The code adheres to WordPress coding standards and employs proper sanitization and validation, for example, verifying tokens and using nonces where appropriate, to maintain a high security bar. In short, it is engineered to deliver convenience without sacrificing performance or security.
Conclusion: empowering private site owners
My Private Site Guest Access empowers site owners with a powerful tool: the ability to grant controlled, temporary access to their otherwise private site.
All the heavy lifting, from generating secure links and enforcing time limits to seamless integration, is handled by Guest Access, so you can focus on who to invite and when.
It is a blend of showmanship and technical finesse. On the surface, you impress guests with how easily they can access the content. Behind the scenes, you leverage a sophisticated system of privacy rules, encryption, and automation.
By using Guest Access, you maintain full control over your site’s privacy while conveniently extending a hand to select outsiders who need to see your content. This add-on expands the flexibility of My Private Site, making on-demand privacy more dynamic. You decide exactly who gets in, for how long, with just a few clicks, and the plugin handles the rest.
Overall, Guest Access features and benefits boil down to one theme: maximum security, minimum hassle.
It is an invaluable addition for anyone using My Private Site who occasionally needs to open the doors, but only for the right people, at the right times, and never at the expense of the site’s integrity.
It is privacy on your terms, delivered with the polish and reliability that customers expect from a professional WordPress solution.
