Create a WordPress Coming Soon Page

One often-overlooked step in creating and launching a website is generating pre-launch hype. If you get this phase right, you can attract lots of traffic before your site is even live. What’s more, a ‘Coming Soon’ page gives that traffic some key information about what your website is all about, and when they can expect it to launch.

As you might expect, WordPress makes it easy to implement a Coming Soon page on your website. In fact, there are several quality plugins that will help you get the job done. Plus, you’ll be able to fully customize your page and include all the details you want.

This article will look at how to create a Coming Soon page in WordPress, and also round up a few of the very best tools available to help you out. Let’s get started!

WordPress Coming Soon Page

As you may know, having a web presence is practically a must for modern marketing. When you’re building a new website, you’ll want to do everything you can to attract your audience to it. Among other things, this means developing a solid pre-launch promotional strategy.

During this time before your website is fully ready, people will want to find out more about your company. Creating a Coming Soon page provides them with what they need, and helps you build anticipation. In a nutshell, this is a one-page ‘microsite’ that gives visitors a brief overview of what you do, how they can find out more, and when the site’s launch date is:

Coming Soon pages are great for spreading the word about your new site, as the link will be easily to circulate, and the page’s content will be concise and useful. What’s more, this technique is a stellar way to collect email addresses, which you can use to send further correspondence to your audience down the line.

How to Put a Coming Soon Page on WordPress

There are a few ways to create a Coming Soon page. For instance, you could use a dedicated theme. However, this approach means that you can’t easily work on the rest of your site while your Coming Soon page is live.

In most cases, a plugin is a much better solution. To illustrate the point, here are three excellent choices we can recommend for websites of all types.

Coming Soon Page & Maintenance Mode by SeedProd

We’re going to start this list with a perennial frontrunner in the field of Coming Soon plugins. Coming Soon Page & Maintenance Mode by SeedProd is a high-quality solution, whether you’re using its free or premium version.

This plugin works with almost any WordPress theme, and comes with a selection of customizations to help you create a unique-looking Coming Soon page. You can also add custom CSS and HTML if you have the expertise, making this a very flexible solution regardless of your technical knowledge.

What’s more, this plugin integrates with a number of popular email marketing tools, such as MailChimp, AWeber, and more. The base plugin is free, although the premium version (starting from $29) bolsters its functionality, making it a fully-featured solution .

Minimal Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode

Next up, Minimal Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode is a plugin that’s true to its name. This solution is a minimalist way to create Coming Soon pages, through an intuitive interface that’s nevertheless crammed with options.

You can use this tool create highly-customized page layouts via a drag-and-drop interface. Plus, it’s compatible with several caching plugins, making it a long-term solution if you regularly need to create Coming Soon pages.

This solution is even compatible with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as it does not use cookies. What’s more, you can display an optional warning to users who subscribe to your newsletter, to make sure they fully understand how their data will be used. You can stick with the free version, or take advantage of one of the several premium options that are available.

CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin

Our final plugin, CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin, is arguably the most flexible of the solutions on this list. It can be used for Coming Soon pages, Maintenance Mode pages, and even landing pages.

This plugin offers a plethora of pre-designed templates to get you up and running quickly, and you can customize their fonts, colors, logo, and much more. If you like, you can also choose to add custom CSS styles, to make your Coming Soon page truly unique. What’s more, you can collect email address through your page, and export them as a CSV file that’s ready for your email marketing platform.

While this plugin is arguably not as fully-featured as other solutions, it is completely free to use. The lack of a premium version means that the base plugin delivers its entire feature set out of the box. In other words, this is a cost-effective tool if you need a short-term solution for creating a Coming Soon page.

Best Practices for a Coming Soon Page

Once you’ve picked out a plugin to use when creating your Coming Soon page, there are a few best practices you can follow in order to maximize interest and conversions:

• Keep the page simple. You’ll want to strip away everything but the essentials, and distill all vital information into one easy-to-scan page. Plus, avoid scrolling on your page whenever possible.
• Include an email capture form. You’ll want to start building your email list now, while the hype for your project is generating momentum.
• Incorporate a clear Call To Action (CTA). Visitors should be given a clear actionable step to follow, so you can capitalize on their initial interest.

You may also want to include a countdown timer, to make it clear when your site will be ready and add a bit of visual flair to your page. However, our advice is to only include this feature once you have a firm launch date in place.

Get Support for More Common WordPress Questions from WP Engine

When it comes to getting your website off the ground, “soon” could very easily become never if you choose its hosting poorly. Settling on a powerful, reliable and flexible solution for hosting your WordPress website is arguably the best move you can make before your site’s launch. The agility and performance that WP Engine’s Digital Experience Platform provides can help you go to market faster. Check out our plans!

WP Engine provides plenty of resources to keep your site running strong, and offers a wealth of support whenever you need it. Plus, our Resource Center is jam-packed with useful advice on all aspects of WordPress, and is available to access 24/7!