Do you want to create a beautiful coming soon page for your WordPress site?
A pre-launch page can build anticipation, create hype, and spread the word before your website even goes live. You can also use a coming soon page to collect leads and get subscribers for your mailing list.
In this article, we will show you how to quickly and easily create beautiful coming soon pages in WordPress.
Why Create Coming Soon Pages in WordPress?
Coming soon pages are not just a placeholder for your WordPress website. They can also be an effective lead generation tool for your business.
Here are a few ways that we have used coming soon pages:
- Gauge User Interest – If you are unsure about an idea, then a coming soon page can help you gauge how many people will be interested in your project.
- Create Hype – You can use a coming soon page to build anticipation and get people excited about your business. You can even encourage people to share your coming soon page using contests and giveaways, which can help you reach a wider audience.
- Capture Leads – With the right tools, you can start building your email list and ask users to follow your social profiles. In this way, you’ll already have likes and followers on launch day, and you can use them as powerful social proof.
Before creating a coming soon page, you’ll need a domain name and a WordPress hosting provider. Normally, a domain costs around $16 per year, and hosting plans start at $7.88 per month (usually paid annually). As you can see, this can be expensive, especially for new businesses that are just starting out.
Luckily, our friends at Bluehost have agreed to offer a free domain name and a generous discount on hosting for WPBeginner readers.
Basically, you can launch a landing page or even an entire website for just $2.75 per month.
Bluehost is one of the biggest hosting companies in the world and is even officially recommended by WordPress.org.
Once you’ve signed up for a hosting account, Bluehost will automatically install WordPress for you.
You can then simply log into your WordPress account dashboard and start working on your coming soon page and website.
If you don’t want to use Bluehost, then you can also install WordPress on other hosting companies like Hostinger, SiteGround, or WP Engine following a fairly similar process.
For more detailed instructions, see our step-by-step guide on how to install WordPress.
How to Create a Beautiful Coming Soon Page
The easiest way to make a coming soon page is by using SeedProd. It is the best landing page builder on the market and comes with a drag-and-drop editor that allows you to create professionally-designed pages, fast.
SeedProd has over 180 ready-made page templates and 90 blocks that you can simply drag onto your designs. This allows you to create all kinds of page designs without having to write a single line of code.
Note: There is also a free version of SeedProd. However, in this guide we’ll be using the Pro version as it supports all of the best email marketing services. This means you can start collecting leads and building a mailing list, even before launching your website.
First, you need to install and activate the SeedProd plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, go to SeedProd » Settings and enter your license key.
You can find the license key under your account on the SeedProd website. After entering this information, click on the ‘Verify Key’ button.
Next, go to SeedProd » Landing Pages. In the ‘Coming Soon Mode’ section, click on ‘Set up a Coming Soon Page.’
You can now choose a template for the coming soon page.
SeedProd has lots of different templates that you can choose from. To preview a design, simply hover your mouse over it and then click on the magnifying glass.
When you find a design you like, simply click on ‘Choose This Template.’
We’re using the ‘Launch Coming Soon’ template in all our images, but you can use any design you like.
After selecting a template, you’ll be taken to the drag-and-drop builder, where you can start customizing the coming soon template.
On the right side of the screen is a live preview of your page.
To customize any part of the template, simply click to select that block in the layout. The left-hand menu will then show all the different settings you can use to customize that block.
You can also add new blocks to your coming soon page. As an example, let’s add a countdown timer so visitors know how long they have to wait until your site launch.
In the left-hand menu, find the ‘Countdown’ block and drop it onto your page preview.
After that, click to select the Countdown block in your layout.
In the left-hand menu, set the date and time when you plan to publish your website.
The countdown block will now show the day, hours, minutes, and seconds until your WordPress blog or website goes live. In this way, you can build anticipation and excitement around your site’s official launch date.
You can now add more blocks to your coming soon page following the same process described above.
Connect Your Email Marketing Service
A coming soon page is a great way to collect leads and grow your email list, ready for when your website launches.
The good news is that SeedProd integrates with all of the top email service providers including Activecampaign, ConvertKit, and Drip.
To connect the page to your provider, click on the ‘Connect’ tab.
You can then hover your mouse over the email marketing service that you use on your website, such as Sendinblue or MailChimp.
When the ‘Connect’ button appears, give it a click.
The steps will vary depending on your service provider, but we’ll use Constant Contact as an example. Give ‘Constant Contact’ a click, and then select ‘Connect New Account.’
Next, you’ll need to enter the API Key from your Constant Contact account.
After that, give the connection a name. This is just for your reference so you can use anything that helps you identify this connection in WordPress.
Once you’ve done that, click on the ‘Connect’ button.
This will open a popup where you can log into your Constant Contact account. If you’re happy to give SeedProd access to your Constant Contact data, then click on ‘Allow.’
SeedProd will now fetch all of the information from your Constant Contact account.
Simply choose the email list that you want to use with your coming soon page, and then click on ‘Save Integration Details.’
Publishing Your Coming Soon Page
When you’ve finished working on your coming soon page, the next step is publishing it.
First, you need to click on the Save button and then select ‘Save as Template.’
When asked, go ahead and type in a name for the template. This is just for your reference so you can use anything you want.
After that, click on ‘Save Template.’
In the next popup, click on ‘Return to Page Editor.’ You can then click on the ‘X’ button in the upper-right corner to close the SeedProd page editor.
At this point, you may see a popup asking whether you want to publish your coming soon design and put your site into coming soon mode. If you’re happy to go ahead, then click on ‘Yes, Activate.’
If you don’t want to enable coming soon mode just yet, then click on the ‘No, Close’ button.
When you’re ready to show the coming soon page to visitors, simply go to SeedProd » Pages. Here, click on the switch in the ‘Coming Soon Mode’ section so that it shows ‘Active.’
While your website is in coming soon mode, you can still log into your WordPress dashboard and work on your site.
However, logged-out users and visitors will only be able to see the coming soon page.
Advanced Settings for Coming Soon Page
This is all you need to create a simple coming soon page. However, SeedProd has some advanced settings that can help you collect leads, keep your clients happy, build brand awareness, and more.
To take a look at these advanced settings, go to SeedProd » Landing Pages and click on the ‘Edit Page’ button under the ‘Coming Soon Mode’ box.
This will open the SeedProd page builder.
Simply click on ‘Page Settings’ to see the advanced features.
Restrict and Grant Access Based on User Role
By default, SeedProd will show your coming soon page to all non-logged-in users.
Sometimes, you may want to change who can access your site while it’s in coming soon mode. For example, if you’re designing a client website, then they may want to see their site while it’s being built.
WordPress comes with a built-in user roles and permissions system, which controls the actions users can take on your site and the information they can access. You can use this system to grant and deny access to your website while it’s in coming soon mode, by selecting ‘Access Control.’
To give access to certain users, click on ‘Add Role.’
This opens a dropdown where you can grant access based on the user’s assigned role, such as subscriber or author.
You can also grant access based on IP address, which is useful if a person always accesses your site from the same location. For example, you might whitelist the client’s office or your home IP address.
To do this, simply type the address into the ‘Access by IP’ box.
Improve Your Coming Soon Page’s SEO
While you’re in the ‘Page Settings,’ you may also want to switch to the ‘SEO’ tab and provide an SEO title, description, and a featured image that will be used when your coming soon page is shared online.
This can improve your WordPress SEO and start to build brand awareness, even before launching your full website.
Another option is to tell search engines not to index the page, by clicking to activate the ‘Enable No Index’ switch.
If you’ve installed popular SEO plugins like All in One SEO, then SeedProd works seamlessly with them as well.
Track Your Website Visitors
Lastly, you can switch to the ‘Scripts’ tab and add any third-party scripts that you may want to use.
For instance, you may want to add Google Analytics code, Facebook pixel, or some other tracking code to your coming soon page. This allows you to track visitors and gather information, even before launching your website.
When you’re finished, don’t forget to click on the ‘Save’ button at the top to save your advanced page settings.
Switching off The Coming Soon Page
When you’re ready to publish your website, SeedProd makes it super easy to turn off the coming soon mode.
Simply go to SeedProd » Landing Pages and switch off the ‘Active’ toggle under the Coming Soon Mode box.
Now, if you visit your website you’ll be able to see all your posts and pages.
Creating a Maintenance Mode Page in WordPress
If your site is underground maintenance, then you may want to show a maintenance mode page instead of a coming soon design. The good news is that SeedProd also allows you to create beautiful maintenance pages in WordPress.
Simply go to SeedProd » Landing Pages and click on ‘Set up a Maintenance Mode Page.’
The rest of the process is the same as creating a coming soon page. You can control exactly who sees this page and can easily turn off maintenance mode when you’re finished.
To learn more, see our guide on how to put your WordPress site in maintenance mode.
We hope this article helped you learn how to create beautiful coming soon pages in WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate guide on how to increase your blog traffic, and our comparison of the best business phone services to improve your workflow.
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Fauwaz Marjan says
Is there a way for the logo to be aligned left of the page in the coming soon page? Because every time I save the changes, it automatically keeps the logo aligned to the center.
WPBeginner Support says
Please reach out to SeedProd’s support and they should be able to take a look and assist you.
Admin
Jerome Brooks says
Hello,
My page is presently set on the Coming Soon Mode Active. How do I make my page active for the world to see? Thank you.
Jerome Brooks
WPBeginner Support says
That would normally be due to a plugin, you could either check through your plugins settings or disable your plugins that you are not actively using for finding where that is set.
Admin