Websites make it easy to get your business information out to the online community, but after building websites for 20+ years, we've learned that sometimes you don't want every page on your website accessible to the general public. Which is why RocketSites offers the ability to create private pages that are only accessible to a designated person/company.

Why would you want to use private webpages? Private webpages are used for a number of reasons. Our clients have used private pages for promotions in email campaigns, as a document center, for quote calculators, you name it. Private pages really come in handy! Private pages also allow you to essentially have a draft of the webpage you're creating without it being accessible to the general public.

Whatever the use case, Virteom Rocketsites makes it easy to mark a page as 'private' and set permissions for the users you want to have access. In this how-to guide, we'll explain how to create a new page, mark it as private, create a new member, and give access to the user. 

Keep reading to learn how to mark pages as private in RocketSites.

LOG-IN TO VIRTEOM CMS

The first step in adding a new private page to your Virteom powered website is to log-in. Visit your website domain /virteom (Ex: https://yourdomain.com/virteom). Once you hit the log-in page, you'll need to enter your username and password.

NAVIGATE TO SITE PAGES

Now that you're logged in to the CMS (Content Management System), head over to your 'Site Pages'. You can access Site Pages from the top toolbar menu.

ADD A NEW PAGE

To get started creating a Private Page, you need to add a new page. Click the '+' sign next to the menu node you would like to add this page. In our example, we're going to add this page under the 'Hidden' section of our navigation.

Once you click the '+' button, you'll be prompted with a new window to enter the following information:

• Where will this item take you: Since it is a new page you're seeking, you can leave the 'Content (Page)' button clicked. 
• Page Title: This will become the heading that appears on the page as well as the name that appears on the Virteom Navigation window. 
• Page URL: As you enter a page name, Virteom will create the "Page URL." You may override this, but the URL cannot include spaces or special characters and should be in lower case. For search engine optimization purposes, we recommend you include keywords in the URL where possible and separate all keywords with dashes. The URL cannot be changed after the page has been created.
• Page Layout: The options in this dropdown will vary based on how your site is designed. They include each of the design templates that are used on your site. You can change this setting later.

If you would like to immediately add content to the page after creating it, check the "I would like to edit this page after I hit save" checkbox. You will need to return back to eventually mark the page as private if you choose this option.

• Click the "Save" button.

If you checked the "would like to edit this page after I hit save" checkbox, the new page will appear in Editor mode, ready for you to add content. If not, the Page Title new page will be shown in the Navigation window. If desired, you can change its location in the navigation.

MARK PAGE AS PRIVATE

Once you create your new page, you'll want to redirect back to 'Site Pages.' Once you're in 'Site Pages' locate the new page you created. There is a box to the right of your menu item that you can tick off and mark as private.

You'll be notified that the page settings were updated in the top right-hand corner. It will let you know the privacy settings for that page were updated.

Example:

Now the page has been marked as 'Private' and can only be visible when logged-in.

CONTROLLING USER ACCESS

Now that you've created your private page, added content to that page, and marked it as private, you're ready to set-up the users who can access the page. In order for a client to view your private page they will need to log-in through /virteom (just as you did) - or, alternatively, we can create a log-in link somewhere on your site. 

NAVIGATING TO THE MEMBERS MODULE

Now you must navigate to the 'Members' portion of the CMS. To do this, click 'Dashboard' from the gray toolbar:

From the dashboard, you'll notice in the left sidebar there is a module entitled 'Members'. 

Once in the Member Area, you can set-up a new user by clicking on the 'Add NEW Member' button. 

From there you'll be required to enter:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Email
• Password
• Member Type - Your site may have a variety of different member types. Typically, the 'Customer' type is what you would want to choose so that they only have access to view the hidden page - not edit.

After filling in the contact information, then designate what modules and pages the user will have access to. This can be through the two boxes on the page (example below).

Editing Access and Permissions

Box 1 is a list of all of the administration features (modules) a user has access to. In this example, this user has access to all features. Explore the list on your site and determine how you wish to set up access.

Box 2 is a list of all of the web pages on your site. Again this user has access to edit all of the pages using the Editor section of the Virteom toolbar. In this way, you can select who has permission to edit certain pages of your site. If no pages are selected, the option to bring up the editor will not show.

If you are creating a hidden page for only users who log-in to have access to, then you don't need to select anything in box 1, but in box 2 you should choose the page they have access to.

Then click 'Save' in the bottom right-hand corner.

Wah lah - you have successfully created a new page on your site, marked it as hidden, added content to the page and created a user that can view the page. Now you just need to distribute the login and provide the link to your client.

If you need help creating private pages, managing user access or adding content to your Virteom powered website, feel free to reach out to our support team.

CONTACT SUPPORT