How to Get Client Approval for WordPress Posts

We had a really interesting question from a PublishPress user:

We have many clients who we write posts for. We write the posts 6 months in advance, and get them approved by the clients. Is this possible with the PublishPress plugins?

The answer is “Yes”, you can do this. In this tutorial, I'll show you how to set up an approval process for WordPress posts.


Video guide to this approval process


Step #1. Install the plugins

We will need two plugins for this guide:


Step #2. Create a “Client” user role

I recommend creating a new user role that is only for your Clients.

  • Go to “Capabilities” in your WordPress admin menu.
  • Choose “Author” from the dropdown in the top-left corner.
  • Enter “Client” in the “Copy Author Role” box.
  • Click “Copy”.

Step #2. Create Clients

Now you're ready to create accounts for your clients. I would recommend testing this with a dummy account before unleashing it on your paying customers!

  • Go to the “Users” link in your WordPress admin menu.
  • Create a new user in the “Client” role.

Step #3. Set up the PublishPress Checklists plugin

Approved By Client
Approved By Client

Step #4. Create your posts

  • Go to create a Post.
  • In the right sidebar, you will a “Checklists” area. No-one can publish this post unless this red X is changed to a green checkmark. And the only person who can approve this post is someone in the “Client” role.
Approved By Client Checklist
Approved By Client Checklist

If anyone tries to publish the post without client approval, they will see this message below.

Denied By Client
Denied By Client

Step #5. Allow the Client to access the post

Your final step is to give your Client access to this post.

You can use the PublishPress Permissions plugin to grant access to a single page.

Another option is to make the Client into the Author of the post temporarily. You can do that using the “Author” box:

Client Author
Client Author

That's it. You're all done. Your client can now login to the site and view the post. If they like what they see, they can give their approval with a green checkmark:

Client Approval Granted
Client Approval Granted

Summary of this Approval Process

There are many ways to customize this approval process for your use-case, but I hope this tutorial has given you a good, general introduction.

Using the PublishPress plugins, you absolutely can create an approval process where clients can log in and review the content you create.

The Checklists plugin is full of useful features like this. For example, it can also help you check for broken links in your post.


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