Do you have a great idea for a website that you’re planning to launch? Creatives and business owners often overlook one of the most important steps when working on a new website: their website’s pre-launch stages. More often than not, a default homepage or a simple blank page is what a visitor would see, though this page at this stage of your website has so much more potential.
When you launch your website, you want people flocking to it though if you do not have an easy-to-use coming soon page, you’ll only start promoting after you have launched. Whereas if you have a coming soon page, you have the ability to collect personal information such as their email address and tell people your story long before you launch. If you have generated a large following, such as on social media sites, the potential for a huge launch success is even greater!
Why should you collect their information?
In short, lead generation. Granted, they might follow you already on social media but do you really benefit from them liking your pictures, tweets, or posts? If you collect your audience’s user information while still finishing your website, you will keep those interested in your progress up to date and follow up with them once you have launched. You could share a few potential milestones such as your website’s planned launch date, exclusive discounts for newsletter subscribers, and/or an ongoing newsletter with updates about your business and site’s progress.
Eventually, you may find out that collecting this personal information from your audience can result in significant monetization opportunities for your website in the future. Through effective communication, you can drive them to certain actions on your website or direct them through specific sales funnels, helping your bottom line.
What are Coming Soon or Maintenance Plugins?
We commonly say our success is your success, so we have done the heavy research for you and put together a list of the top 10 plugins that we believe are the best Coming Soon, and Maintenance Mode plugins for your WordPress powered website.
Note: There are also plenty of great themes which can achieve the same functionality though in this post we will be focusing exclusively on plugins for Coming Soon and Maintenance pages.With this functionality coming from a plugin, you can typically use them in most WordPress themes (though some will work better than others) and also get the added benefit of the features generated from a plugin. Some of these features include but is not limited to:
- Visibility to Non-logged in Users
- Email List Integrations (MailChimp, Aweber, GetResponse, and so on).
- Beautiful, Responsive Templates
- Ability to Customize any forms you decide to place
- Analytics Tracking (such as Google Analytics)
- Conversion Tracking
- Ability to customize the CSS and HTML (and thus the look and feel)
- Social Media Icons / Links
- and much more!
Launching with Style
Thankfully, how to create a coming soon page in WordPress is a simple process. The first step is choosing a coming soon, maintenance mode, or under construction plugin from those listed below. The second step is finding a web hosting provider that supports your website requirements. The third and final step is installing WordPress and the plugin.
If you are looking for a high-performance <a href="https://hostdash.com/wordpress-hosting/" target="_blank" data-type="page" data-id="103" rel="noreferrer noopener">WordPress Hosting</a> provider check out HostDash.The Best Coming Soon Plugins of 2021
1. SeedProd
SeedProd has done an excellent job creating a great coming soon and maintenance mode plugin for WordPress. The team behind SeedProd has developed it so that it is compatible with any WordPress theme, is fully responsive, can be customized easily, and has the flexibility to only be shown to guests (website visitors that have not logged in).
SeedProd comes with many features by default, but one unique feature to SeedProd is its referral system. This feature allows those who sign up to your site to get a unique referral link, which they can then share with their own audiences, such as their friends, family, or colleagues. Another neat feature is the flexibility it provides, such as using a video or a background image on the page that would sit behind your content.
Website: www.seedprod.com/
WordPress: www.wordpress.org/plugins/coming-soon/
2. Chop Chop Coming Soon CC Pro
The Coming Soon CC plugin, by Chop Chop, is designed to be easy to use. Like many plugins, Coming Soon CC comes in two flavors, a free version, and a Pro version. The free version is rather limited with only one design template though the Pro version ($29) provides you with 6 design templates and the ability to integrate with MailChimp.
You also have the option to easily integrate Google Analytics so you can track the visitors coming to your coming soon page, set up email notifications, and even showcase your social media accounts.
Website: www.shop.chop-chop.org/coming-soon/
WordPress: www.wordpress.org/plugins/cc-coming-soon/
3. Supsystic Coming Soon Plugin
Supsystic has been able to develop a Coming Soon page that is of good value. There is a free version though this is seriously limited. The premium versions, however, is feature-rich and where things get interesting for this plugin. Pricing will depend on how many websites you would like to run:
- 1 Website: $29
- 5 Websites: $49
- Unlimited Websites: $99
So what is so great about the pro version? To start, 9 templates to choose from. That is an achievement in itself. You’d also have both Under Construction and Maintenance mode options, a coming soon page live preview mode, a subscription option, as well as other ‘modes’ such as redirecting to a URL.
Website: www.supsystic.com/plugins/coming-soon-plugin/
WordPress: www.wordpress.org/plugins/coming-soon-by-supsystic/
4. Launcher by MyThemeShop
Launcher, developed by MyThemeShop, is a great fit for anyone looking to launch a website, product, or service powered by WordPress. A key difference with this plugin is its price point — 100% free! Even the premium features you’d have to pay for at other plugins are included for free, such as form fields, countdown timers, and more.
While it has some nice bells and whistles, it isn’t the most feature-rich Launcher though it is great if you are looking for simplicity. The built-in contact form supports MailChimp, GetResponse, AWeber, Campaign Monitor, and Mad Mimi out the box.
Website: www.mythemeshop.com/plugins/launcher/
WordPress: www.wordpress.org/plugins/launcher/
5. Designmodo WP Maintenance Mode
Designmodo’s WP Maintenance Mode has been installed over 800,000+ according to its WordPress.org page. WP Maintenance Mode is fully customizable, has a subscription form, social icons, a selection of responsive templates, is SEO friendly, and allows you to exclude URLs from maintenance mode.
Website: www.designmodo.com/wp-maintenance-mode/
WordPress: www.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-maintenance-mode/
6. Under Construction / Maintenance Mode from Acurax
Acurax is a design and development agency that was generous enough to release its Under Construction and Maintenance mode plugin. While they are a newer player in the space, they have over 30,000 installs and are climbing up the ranks.
The plugin is free and gives you 5 themes to choose from. You can also customize the look and feel of those themes as well as the content. You can collect visitor emails by having them subscribe to your page, show a countdown timer, and set certain restriction settings.
Website: www.acurax.com/home.php
WordPress: www.wordpress.org/plugins/coming-soon-maintenance-mode-from-acurax/
