5 Reasons You Should Be Creating a “Coming Soon” Page

Whether it's your first website or your fiftieth, there's something exhilarating about purchasing that domain and taking part in a new site building venture. But what happens between the domain purchase and site launch? Often, a blank canvas with great potential lays vacant on the web while site building is in progress. Many companies are beginning to catch on, and a new trend of building practical “coming soon” pages has emerged in the web design community. So, you ask: why should I spend time and resources on a coming soon page?

1. Capture contact information

Why wait until the site launch? Give visitors an opportunity to get connected with your business today with simple contact forms. Consider offering something in return for their email address, like a notification of the official site launch and a celebratory special offer. You could utilize the information to send out occasional e-newsletters or updates to give your business top-of-mind presence in your subscribers' minds. As always, take care to avoid wearing out your welcome in the recipients' inboxes, as that will reverse your progress—keep updates relevant, interesting, and well-timed.

2. Get a head-start on SEO

It never hurts to get started on Search Engine Optimization, especially if your site is on a brand-spanking-new domain. It can take weeks for Google to index new pages, so the sooner you have searchable content, the better. All of the usual suspects should be considered: a relevant title tag rich in keywords, searchable content containing keywords, and appropriate use of meta tags. The main point of starting SEO early is to gain credibility with search engines, so when the website officially launches, it climbs the rankings faster than a brand new website.

3. Build your identity

A coming soon page is a great opportunity to introduce (or reinforce) your branding identity. Everything from the color scheme to the writing style should begin communicating your company's trademark to your audience. By establishing brand recognition, customers will become more familiar and comfortable with your business. Brand recognition helps your business appear more reputable and can even help customers recall your business easier. For the coming soon page, this means early planning and strategy are important to ensure that it reinforces the branding of the new website.

4. Kick start your advertising

If you are using a new domain, you are probably anxious to add it to business cards, ads, and other media. A coming soon page gives you the green light to add it sooner—without fear of users running into an ugly blank page or error. That way, when your site launches, your new URL will already be on your print materials and other advertising media. In the interim, you can be capturing email addresses and promoting the big “launch” so the excitement builds up about your new investment.

5. Tie into Social Media campaigns

While websites remain supreme for customers seeking to know more about your business, social media marketing has emerged as a useful tool to generate interest in your business. A coming soon page can work together with your Facebook business page, driving traffic to it with a link. The major benefit to this route is that you can “capture” customers with Likes to your Facebook page, then keep them updated on the official site launch.

Remember, the main goal of a coming soon page is to keep customers from “bouncing” off your empty domain, never to think of it again. By providing an incentive for users to remain connected and updated, your effort in the short term will ultimately add to the success of your site launch.

Examples Of Great Coming Soon Pages

Here are several examples of under construction pages I have noticed that are great examples of the 5 tips I shared:

Guest post by: Mandy Barrington is a web designer at RYP Marketing, an online marketing agency focused on driving website conversions.

• Launch Your Site Without Losing Your Sanity: 7 Tips for Success
• 5 Awesome Websites and What We Can Learn From Them
• Making the Most out of the Coming Soon Pages for Optimum Results
• The Changing Web We Weave: Evolution of The 404 Page
• 11 Innovative HTML5 Websites
• Think Of Building Your Business Before You Think Of SEO
• 7 Things to Consider Before Getting a Website