In WordPress you can have more than one user for your website. The first user is by default the admin that will have all the control and be able to change all the settings available. Any users that are created after that can be made an administrator or preferably an author, a contributor, or a subscriber. There are different privileges for all and in this video below it shows how I create a user account with limited privileges. When I sign in as an admin I see everything and can delete or edit anything I like. Whereas if a contributor or author signs in they can only make a post and cannot change any settings or edit other posts.
Therefore you can invite anyone to be an author on your Wordpress website and you know they will not be able to mess with anything they are not meant to be touching.
How to add a new user in WordPress?
- Sign into your WordPress dashboard.
- Click on the Users section in the menu on the left side.
- Click on add new user.
- The hardest part here is choosing if the user is going to be an author, contributor, or an admin?
What is the difference between an administrator, an editor, an author, a contributor, and a subscriber?
From www.wordpress.org
■Administrator – Somebody who has access to all the administration features
■Editor – Somebody who can publish posts, manage posts as well as manage other people’s posts, etc.
■Author – Somebody who can publish and manage their own posts
■Contributor – Somebody who can write and manage their posts but not publish posts
■Subscriber – Somebody who can read comments/comment/receive news letters, etc.
What is the difference between an author and a contributor?
Webmasters need to know whether they should make a user a contributor or an author. You should definitely not make anyone and administrator.
In most WordPress installations, depending on your theme options, and author has more privileges than a contributor. An author can add images and also publish their own posts. A contributor cannot publish their post and sometimes cannot add images. A contributor can save a post as pending, for an administrator to approve and publish. This is the best option for you when you want to accept guest posters on your WordPress website.




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Nice tutorial MItz. Nice differentiation of terms too! I’m working on looking for contributors on my personal blog too.
Juphet Mislang recently posted..Six-Point Priority Site Audit For Large Websites on a Post Panda Update
If I am going to choose between the contributor and the author, I will choose to be the author. As a contributor, you will have less responsibility and also lesser power compared to the author. The author will be in charge with everything. The final decision will depends on him.
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If I am going to choose between the contributor and the author, I will choose to be the author. As a contributor, you will have less responsibility and also lesser power compared to the author. The author will be in charge with everything. The final decision will depends on him.
Great! Glad you had a transcript under the video.
If your blog is not too busy then I would probably make other authors “Contributor”, that way nothing will be put online without going by you. Keep control of everything. And then after a while they can become an “Author”.
Do you have anybody on the wp dashboard for wp-websitebuilder who is editor?
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No I only have contributors on most of my sites…
On one I have authors though which is working out well too..
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