Password Protect Your WordPress Blog

I know what you are thinking. Why would any self-respecting blogger want to restrict access to site? Well, as it works out, there are two logical, completely reasonable, ummm, reasons.

1. You are a private blogger writing about sensitive topics which may cause problems in your professional and/or personal life. In this case, it would make sense to restrict access to family and friends or everyone all together.
2. You are a paid-content provider. I’m no businessman, but it’s fairly safe to say that you aren’t going to have a lot of paying customers if you give everyone access to your content.

In either case, if you don’t wish to share your content with the entire world, Angsuman’s Authenticated WordPress Plugin may be just for you. It is super simple to install (copy a file and active the plugin). I’m using it on another site and it works like a charm. The plugin site also provides information on how to configure your blog for private blogging or paid-content blogging once the plugin is activated.