Make my whole website private for invited people
Sometimes a website is for a roomful of people, not the whole internet. You may be showing a new collection to stockists, sharing a private programme with clients, or preparing work before a public launch. Ask Bernard to make that website invitation-only. If you search for “password protect my website” or “members area”, this is the same front-door job, but nobody has a reusable password to share or forget.
The prompt
“Make [site name] invitation-only. First tell me who can get in, what will stay public, and what happens to people who already use my courses or membership.”
Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).
What changes
Bernard first reads the current state of the exact site. Before changing it, he quotes the site and explains the consequence. You approve that quote before anything happens.
Once the edge check confirms the change, ordinary visitors and search engines meet a sign-in door instead of your published pages and files. The same door covers your Bernard address and any active custom address. An invited person enters from a private link sent to their email. There is no visitor account to set up.
The sender for that exact site must be ready before Bernard can close the door. That is because every invited person needs a dependable way back in. If the site’s sending address is not ready, Bernard refuses and tells you what is missing. He does not send this mail from a different site or from a shared fallback address.
The change can take a short while to reach every edge location. While Bernard reports it as pending, treat it as still taking effect. He calls it complete only after his edge check sees the right door and version.
What an invitation does not do
A website invitation is its own permission. Existing students and members are not automatically added to the whole-site login list. Their course enrolment or paid membership still opens what they bought or joined; it does not silently open every page on an invitation-only website. If you want those people to enter the whole site too, choose the exact addresses and invite them separately. Run a membership or paid community - people pay monthly for my courses covers the paid-membership side of that distinction.
The reverse is also true. Inviting somebody to the website does not enrol them on a course, make them a paid member, or give you permission to send marketing. See Manage who can log in to my website for the people and permission records.
What stays separate
- Draft previews keep their own private-link authority. A reviewer can open a draft without being on the live website list. That makes approval links useful before a launch, but also means you should treat each draft link as a separate secret.
- A buyer’s download keeps the authority from the purchase. Making the website private does not claw back a file they already bought.
- Course and learner records keep their own authority. The published pages still sit behind the website door, while the learner’s holdings and course access remain governed by their enrolment.
- Unsubscribe and access routes stay reachable. Nobody should have to log in to stop marketing or ask for a fresh way into the site.
What cannot be called back
Protection starts with requests made after the door is confirmed. It cannot erase a page somebody already saved, a file they already downloaded, or a browser copy already on their device. Search results can also take time to change after crawlers lose access. Bernard says this in the confirmation because it matters most when the site was public before.
Making the site public again uses the same careful path: Bernard quotes the exact site, you approve it, public search files are prepared again, and the edge check confirms the open door. For the list behind either mode, see Manage who can log in to my website.
Questions people ask
- Can I password protect my website?
- You can make the whole website invitation-only. People use a private link sent to their email, not a shared password. Bernard names the exact site and explains the consequences before asking for your approval.
- Will this remove my pages from Google straight away?
- No. Search engines will meet the sign-in door from then on, but an old result or snippet can take time to disappear. A copy somebody already downloaded or saved cannot be called back.
- Do my students and members get in automatically?
- No. A course enrolment, paid membership and whole-site invitation are three separate permissions. Bernard can show you the website login list and prepare invitations for the exact people you choose, for your approval.
- Can somebody still open a draft preview?
- Yes. A draft preview link is a separate secret, so a client or collaborator can review work without joining the live website login list. Do not share a draft link more widely than you would share an invitation.