We have all heard that starting a WordPress blog is easy.
Well, comparing WordPress to other content management systems definitely makes it much more user-friendly, but the truth is that it’s definitely not the simplest one out there.
Although you can publish a fully-functional blog in just a few hours after getting an idea for it, that’s not realistic.
Such a blog can’t look quite good since you haven’t devoted enough time and effort to the project.
Even if you purchase popular themes and plugins, they still need to be customized and personalized.
So, if your intentions are serious and you want to create a blog that people will actually like, it will require some additional efforts.
Modifying a theme, adding plugins, creating essential pages all take time if you want to do it the right way.
But still, that does not mean that you can’t publish the blog from the very start.
To start your blog the right way, you should start with a coming soon page.
A coming soon page is a landing page for a special purpose – preparing your first visitors for the blog.
If you can make it quickly, a coming soon page can help you with a lot and even bring first visitors way before you’re ready to launch the real site.
Let’s see how coming soon pages can help you:
Those are just a few reasons to start with a coming soon page. Everyone can find several more for their particular site, for sure.
If you know your way around WordPress, HTML, and PHP, you can create a coming soon page by yourself.
But before going into the development of such a page, you should know that even if you have the required skill, you will still have to spend some time in front of the code.
You will still have to design the page, and if you decide to add some extra features, the coming soon page might take away a few days that you could spend on the actual site instead.
Because of that, we suggest taking a WordPress plugin for the purpose.
UnderConstructionPage is one of the most popular solutions.
There are more than 150,000 active users at the moment, and the plugin has recently crossed an important milestone of more than one million downloads.
The free version of the plugin is very straightforward and its users love it for that. Here’s what’s so great about UnderConstructionPage.
From the moment you install UnderConstructionPage to having a fully-functional coming soon page, you need only a minute.
The plugin comes bundled with more than twenty-five themes so there’s not much you need to work for.
Your only problem is choosing a theme you like and clicking the save button!
The extension is regularly updated, and the developers always pack a new theme with the update.
So, you can start with one design now, and have a completely new one in the following days if that’s something you like.
Don’t worry; you can still customize the themes.
In that case, you will have to know a thing or two about CSS, but even if you’re a complete beginner, you can copy and paste a few CSS examples and modify them to your needs.
Although themes can be selected in a matter of seconds, you should be more careful about the content.
Yes, you can have a coming soon page even without modifying the content since the plugin will have you covered.
Still, we suggest that you open the content tab and write something about your site, yourself and the product you might have.
Maybe add a picture or two or embed a video. It’s up to you.
It’s hard to live without social media. So, even if you’re just starting with your blog, you probably have a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account.
If so, it’s a good idea to let your first visitors connect with you on social media while they’re waiting for the site to be completed.
You can make friends, start networking or maybe sell the first item even before the site is live.
Just make sure that you schedule your social media content the right way.
With UnderConstructionPage, you just have to provide the URL to your social media accounts, and the plugin will do the rest.
It will prepare the icons and place them on the page so you don’t have to do a thing!
Whether you are building a personal, business or site for a client, you will want someone else to see the work in progress.
But if you activate the under construction mode, everyone will see the coming soon page, right?
Well, because of that, UnderConstructionPage lets you change the access options.
So, you can quickly select specific user roles (administrators, editors, authors, etc) or any specific username and whitelist them.
If you do so, the affected person will be able to completely go around the under construction page; they will see the site you’re working on instead.
This is an amazing feature that you actually can’t go without. Well, unless you’re the only one who should see the work in progress.
Even if you’re using the free version of the plugin, you can quickly get support from the developer.
There is even a contact form embedded in the plugin so you can ask anything you want.
Whatever problem or question comes to your mind, just go to the support tab and send your message.
The support team will get back to you within a few hours and solve the issue.
Although the free version of UnderConstructionPage can help you with launching a coming soon page, you should know that there’s also a PRO version that offers much more.
So if you would like to make a perfect landing page for your WordPress site, you should take a look at some of the best landing page templates for WordPress.
Among many extra features that UnderConstructionPage PRO gives you, we would like to emphasize:
Have you ever created a coming soon page? What do you think about UnderConstructionPage? Let us know in the comments.
Ivan still remembers creating his first website during a summer while he was in elementary school. Since then, web development became his passion, and now he loves to work and write about WordPress.
Failure. It’s a word that often brings up feelings of disappointment, frustration, and sometimes even…
Being busy has become the new norm. Most of us are busy most of the…
Any year that goes by leaves us with abundance. It is the good, the bad,…
Deep down, you want to succeed at something. Be it your business, your workplace, in…
I woke up to a message from one of my very old connections on LinkedIn.…
Small, daily actions can lead to big changes over time. If you want to achieve…
View Comments
Hey Jane,
You actually hit the nail on the head here. I love coming soon page for one thing...its one of the most effective means of building list.
If you present the page in a very wonderful and exciting manner, people will eagerly be joining your email list so that they won't miss out on the good things when you launch.
One of the themes I've used for this purpose in the past which I really is the Launch Effect theme. It's really super cool, you should probably check it out.
Thanks for sharing.