Launching a brand new website can take time, however if you already have already purchased, or have an existing domain, you are going to need a temporary solution until your site is ready to launch. This solution is otherwise known as the 'Coming Soon' page. The coming soon page is no newcomer to the web design realm, however gone are the days of it being acceptable to publish an image of a man in a hard hat with the copy 'under construction', expecting that your audience will sit tight and come back at a later date.
These days a coming soon page acts as a potential marketing opportunity and can be a valuable tool in building up online buzz prior to the launch of your main site. In order for this page, your very first chance to impress potential clients/readers, to be successful there are some key elements that need to be considered from both a marketing and design perspective.
Identify Your Purpose
Is the purpose of your coming soon page to provide information to visitors, is it to facilitate sign ups for updates or a newsletter, or perhaps to give away freebies/samples prior to launch. Identify what is the most important goal of this page and make this the basis of your design.
Use Clear Branding & Precise Messaging
Once you've identified the main purpose of your coming soon page, you need an attractive design that matches this objective, as you want your first impression to have impact. Be precise and intuitive in how you display the information without making the page cluttered. A coming soon page should tell visitors what to expect from the upcoming website or service without giving away the whole picture. You want to create a little intrigue, as curiosity is a great motivator and will assist in generating buzz prior to launch. This page is the first glimpse visitors will get of what is to come, so your branding and colour palette has to be consistent with that of your soon-to-be launched website. Make your design interesting with the use of icons, logos, high quality imagery, or even a short video if possible.
Add Email/Newsletter Sign Ups
Providing a short email newsletter sign up field for visitors to be notified of the site's launch is an immensely valuable marketing opportunity. Email marketing is one of the best performing online marketing methods and is relevant to all types of business. It's highly likely that if someone is interested enough in your company to visit your page, they'll want to receive updates on when you'll be launching, or when your product will be available, etc. Sending a quick update to subscribers on where things are at will go a long way towards building buzz prior to launch and will boost your websites credibility. \
Don't Overlook SEO
Although a coming soon page is only a temporary solution it's still worthwhile tooptimise it for search engines. No, it's not going to make an impact on your search engine ranking, but making your page SEO friendly from the start might go a long way towards gaining credibility with search engines and therefore put you in a better position when your full website launches. Have any tips of your own for creating a successful coming soon page? Let us know in the comments below.