It’s possible to configure your WordPress.com website to be only accessible to those who are approved readers. Or, alternatively, you can selectively choose some content to be password protected.

The Visibility area of the Publish module is used to set who can read the post.

• Public – The post will be visible to everyone.
• Stick this post to the front page – The post will be “stuck” to the top of the blog’s front page. More info about Sticky Posts below.
• Protected – The post is protected with a password you set. Any user that has the password can view a protected post.
• Private – Posts are only visible to blog Editors and Administrators. Private posts are not visible in the Reader, feeds, or in any search. A post can be private without being password protected.

Password Protect a Post

To password protect a post, open the post for editing, click Edit in the publish module, select Protected , enter a password, click OK, and click Update Post to save the changes:

WordPress will prompt you for the password on your initial visit to a protected post. After entering the password that first time, WordPress will securely store the password with the browser you entered it with so you won’t have to enter it again.

Important note: Keep in mind that if you’d like to password protect the majority — or all — of your posts, and you might want to change all of them to Public in the future, you’ll need to update each post one at a time as there currently isn’t a way to bulk edit multiple posts to switch from Password Protected to Public. Instead, the best way to go about this is to set your blog to Private.

Sticky Posts

By default, WordPress.com blogs display posts in reverse chronological order on the home page with the latest post at the top. There isn’t a way to display posts in chronological order, but you can mark some posts as Sticky to make them appear above the other posts. They will stay at the top of your posts until you uncheck that option on the Edit screen for that post.

You can mark a post as sticky by checking the option that says “Stick this post to the front page” in the Publish settings on any post.

Sticky posts appear highlighted in some way, depending on the theme you’re using. Usually Sticky posts display a colored background behind the title.

Generally, the Sticky option is only used for one or two posts on a blog. It should not be used for every post. Be sure to uncheck the Sticky option on that post to move it back to its place in chronological order.

Private Blog

You can make an entire blog/website private, by following the instructions below (Source: Privacy Settings ).

The Privacy Settings control who can and cannot view your blog. You can change your Privacy Settings via your Settings -> Reading page:

Site Visibility Options

Here, you will see three Site Visibility options:

1. Allow search engines to index this site. – This is the setting used by most blogs. It allows everyone to read your blog and enables your blog to be included in search engine results and other content sites.
2. Ask search engines not to index this site. – If you want all human visitors to be able to read your blog, but want to block web crawlers for search engines, this is the setting for you.
3. I would like my blog to be visible only to users I choose – Select this option to create a private blog. If you want others to be able to view your private blog (and add comments, if you’ve enabled them) you’ll need to invite them to be a viewer.

Note: WordPress.com employees can access blogs for support and development purposes regardless of Privacy setting.

Viewing a Private Blog

If you’d like to add viewers to a private blog, please follow the invitation instructions on this page.

After marking your blog as private, visitors to your site will see the following notification if they are not logged into their WordPress.com account when trying to view your blog. All viewers added to a private blog must have a WordPress.com account—this ensures that only those you’ve authorized to see your blog are the ones viewing it:

You can request access to a private blog by clicking on the “Request access” link when attempting to visit a private blog while logged into your WordPress.com account:

Remember, it’s up to the blog’s owner to decide who can and cannot access their blog. Requesting access means that you’re simply asking the blog owner to consider adding you as a viewer to their blog.