There are two ways to add registered users to your WordPress website without using any external plugins. The first method is to register the users yourself and the second method is to let visitors do it themselves.
Allowing visitors to self-register as a user to your website is quite simple and can be done in four simple steps!
The Steps
Step 1: Log into your WordPress dashboard
Step 2: Hover your mouse over (A) “Settings” in the left hand menu and move your mouse over and click on (B) “General”.
Step 3: Now you must change your setting to allow anyone to subscribe. You can do this looking for “Membership” settings and (C) checking the box next to “Anyone can register”.
Step 4: Now you must decide what “user role” you want new members to be entered into by default. You can choose from any of the options in the (D) drop down menu next to “New User Default Role”. I would highly suggest choosing “subscriber” as the default. Any other level will allow new users to add content in some level to your site. You can read more about WordPress User Roles And Privileges here.
Your Part Is Done!
At this point you have actually done all you need to do to allow visitors to subscribe themselves as a user to your website. Once you have enabled self-registration a new (E) “Register” link will be placed on your WordPress Dashboard log-in screen.
However, if new users are to register themselves you may have to direct them to this screen. The screen can usually be found at:
http://YOURWEBSITE.com/wp-login.php
When the register link is selected a “Register For This Site” screen will be displayed. Here the visitor can enter in their (F) username, (G) email address, and fill in the (H) captcha code. They do not enter a password as the password will be emailed to them once they click (J) “Register”.
Here is an example of the email they will receive which includes three pieces of information:
- Username
- Password
- Login URL
The new user will need to click on the log-in URL link and log-in using their new username and password. Upon doing so they will be taken to the “Profile” page. Here they can change and edit their profile. Remember that users with different roles may have vastly different looking profile screens.
- SEE ALSO: How To Manually Add New Users To Your WordPress Website In 8 Simple Steps
- SEE ALSO: WordPress Users Roles Explained – What Are They And Why Are They Important?
Conclusion
So there you have it! It’s as easy as that. I think it is always important to remember that if you do allow anyone to register it means that truly ANYONE in the whole entire world can register to your site.
Do you have any further questions regarding allowing visitors to self-register to your site? Have you used any type of user profile management plug-ins? If so, which ones and how do you like them? Please leave me comment below with any additional tips you may have!
Hi Dustin,
Have not thought of doing this as I always afraid of security, like those hackers stealing information from your website. I have read the section of each role. So, if I allow the subscriber role, do you think that it is still safe. I have installed wordfence security plugin and from then, I am able to get alerts on someone is trying to log-in to my site using different user name like “admin”, “user”, etc. So far, it is well-protected by the plugin.
Well, I don’t think I would allow users to self-subscribe to my own website. Even though it is probably safe it still feels a bit weird knowing that random people have the ability to log into your dashboard (albeit they can’t really see or do anything). You do have the ability to delete any users that create an account if you would want to.
In my opinion, I would rather go through the extra little bit of hassle to invite someone to become a user then let any random person do so.
In case you missed it, I do have a tutorial on manually adding users as well!
Thank you for your question! It is a very good and relevant one 🙂
Dustin