So you’re launching a new website! What an exciting new chapter for your business. You’ve put a lot of thought, time, and energy into your business to reach this point. So kudos to you.
But what about all those potential leads that are visiting your website while the build is in progress? We can’t show them the whole new site yet, so how can we capture their attention and encourage them to work with you despite the new site not being live yet?
Introducing, a coming soon page.
A coming soon page is a single landing page that we publish on your site while the remainder of the website build is in progress. A coming soon page helps prevent site visitors and users from interacting with your site while things are changing, being redesigned, or completely rebuilt, which would create a really poor user experience.
Instead, we can create a positive experience by providing necessary information for users to be able to work with you, learn more about you, and connect with you while your site is in progress.
A coming soon page is especially useful and important if you are currently taking applications for clients, selling a product or service, or launching a new offer. We can build anticipation and capture early interest of your users, and even begin building a waitlist or bringing in active leads. Regardless of what you’re doing or selling, this offers a central hub for people to be able to connect, engage, and purchase from you.
Since we want to make sure that we are able to connect, engage, and encourage our site visitors to purchase or take action on our site, there are a few key things you should include to support this.
Now that someone has come across your site, you need to grab their attention. This should speak to what you do or the transformation that you provide.
This shouldn’t be too lengthy, and instead just a brief little note that your site is under construction. We want to inform the viewer that there is more to come.
Something like: “Our website is currently undergoing an upgrade! Please use the below information to x with us/me in the meantime.”
Elaborate on your engaging header. What is it that you do? How are you different from others offering the same thing? We want to stand out in the user's mind and elaborate on why they need this service, and the value that they receive from working with you.
Now we want to go over your services and what you actually provide. This should include your different offers or packages, what’s included in them, and a link to take the first step in working with you for each service (even if it links to the same place!)
Do you offer or provide any resources that people can check out, that isn’t your blog? This would be something like a podcast, a specific marketing channel, community, etc. Anything that you provide as far as free resources go that people can check out and engage with, and allows you to flex your expert muscles a bit.
Your viewer now knows what you do and who you serve, and how you’re different from competitors. But who is the person providing these services? Who is the face behind the brand? We want to make sure we include a photo of you, as well as some intro text into who you are, what you specialize in, and a little bit on how you got here and how you help your clients. This allows the viewer to form a connection with you and begin to trust you.
Now that someone has begun to connect with you, we want to encourage them to take action. If you have an email newsletter or free opt-in, this is a great place to put it. Give the user an opportunity to engage with you outside of your website and receive more information from you on a regular basis. Additionally, they’ll already be on your list for when you announce your site launch and can go check it out.
If you use a Client Management tool such as HoneyBook or Dubsado, you can really easily embed your contact form right into your site so that you can begin collecting leads.
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Otherwise, create a contact form within your site and insert that here to begin collecting leads.
Last but not least, we want to create a simple footer that just includes your copyright information.
If you use the outline provided above to build a coming soon page, you’ll be giving your site visitors the opportunity to know, like, and trust you, which are the key components of making a sale. A simple “Website Under Construction” page just doesn’t give them any substantial information, and definitely doesn’t stand out. Even if you put a newsletter opt-in on this basic page - what is actually going to encourage visitors to give you their precious email? They know nothing about you or what you do, so why should they care when your full site is live?
Instead, you can connect with them, go over your services, offer free resources, and stand out in their search.
Another huge benefit that I covered briefly is the ability to build and test your site without it affecting your user experience. It really does not look good if someone is browsing your site, and they refresh the page or jump to another page and suddenly the visuals are entirely different, or there’s placeholder text, or it’s not optimized for mobile yet. The user will just leave your site and likely not return. YIKES. We do NOT want that! We want to instead create a positive experience and encourage them to come back!
With a solid coming soon page, you’re also able to build anticipation with pre-launch strategies, whether it’s just for your site or if you have a new offer or service that you’re launching. You can build the excitement appropriately, as people have a place that they can go to learn more about it or purchase from you, even if your site isn’t launched yet.
Preparing to launch your site is no easy task. There are so many little things to check, test, and fix, preparing content, sourcing images, and so much more. If you’re getting ready to launch your site, but you’ve been building the site on your own or you’re using a template, and just don’t even know what to look for - I can help.
Book a website audit as part of your launch strategy to have my expert eyes on your site and take a look at everything on the backend, check the visuals, and provide you with actionable tips that you can use to improve your site before launch.
Learn more about Website Audit's here!
A coming soon page is a single landing page that is up on your site while your site is being revamped, built, or preparing to launch. There are some key features and elements that your coming soon page should have to help your audience know, like, and trust you, such as your services, free resources, intro to you, and more.
A coming soon page allows you to build and test your site without affecting user experience, and gives you the opportunity to build out a pre-launch strategy with your site or other offers while your site is being built.
Being able to have this single page where people can connect with you, learn about you, and take action in working with you will be much more successful than a single page that only says “Website Coming Soon”.
If you’d like some support in your site launch or maybe just want an expert to take a look at your site and see how it’s performing - book a website audit and receive actionable tips that you can implement to see improvements on your site. DIY-ing your site doesn’t have to mean that your site is “just good enough”. Let’s put all your hard work to good use!
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