Website under con­struc­tion? How to create a coming soon website

If your website is still under con­struc­tion, your domain can still be online and offer content. A website coming soon page promotes your upcoming web presence. A website under con­struc­tion message is also helpful for main­ten­ance work. Find out here what to consider when designing and setting up these types of pages.

What is the purpose of a coming soon website?

It’s not unusual for weeks or even months to pass between re­gis­ter­ing a domain and launching a website. Still, it pays to submit your URL to Google for indexing and to keep visitors informed with a coming soon page. Whether you’re preparing an online store, a blog, or a company site, this page builds an­ti­cip­a­tion, boosts vis­ib­il­ity, and gives users a reason to return.

How to set up a website under con­struc­tion

If you are building a com­pletely new online presence, you can simply create a new page for the coming soon website, design it, and set it as the homepage. Once all the content is ready, replace the page with the actual homepage.

The potential of a coming soon website is often underused. Simply dis­play­ing ‘website under con­struc­tion’ or ‘a new website is coming soon’ with a stock con­struc­tion image isn’t wrong—but it doesn’t spark curiosity or give visitors a reason to return. It also wastes a valuable chance to introduce yourself in advance. Below, you’ll find an overview of the most effective content and elements for coming soon pages.

Introduce yourself or your vision

What will happen on your website in the future? The in­form­a­tion you provide here doesn’t have to be as detailed as on an ‘About Me’ or ‘About Us’ page, but it should give an idea of what users can expect here in the future.

When your site is “under con­struc­tion,” give visitors a reason why. Maybe it’s a website relaunch —or maybe you’re just clearing out stock for the new season. The latter adds a fun, playful twist that explains the downtime in a charming way, even if it’s not the actual cause.

Establish your corporate identity

At least include your logo or company name, even if your page is under con­struc­tion. Ideally, you already have colours, fonts, and other design elements de­term­ined that you can use on the coming soon page. This way, you can convey a visual im­pres­sion of your future web presence.

Inform visitors when the con­struc­tion will end

Many sites use a countdown to show when they’ll be back online. The tricky part? You need to stick to the deadline—or risk letting visitors down. A better approach is to give a looser timeframe, like ‘in August’, ‘this autumn’, or ‘end of the year’, so you have some wiggle room. You can also offer an email alert so users know the moment your website is live again.

Integrate current contact options

Link to an existing contact form, provide an email address or phone number, and, if ap­plic­able, include links to social media profiles (provided there is already content to see).

Collect news­let­ter sub­scribers

Also popular on coming soon pages is the in­teg­ra­tion of news­let­ter sign-ups, depending on the website type, combined with the promise of discounts for first-time sub­scribers. You might even send these out before the launch or during the con­struc­tion phase. Or you can use the launch for an initial mailing.

The right style for your website coming soon page

A memorable ‘website under con­struc­tion’ page isn’t just about features and content—it also comes down to how it’s written. Depending on your brand voice and target audience, the style can be light­hearted and playful or more straight­for­ward and in­form­at­ive. Ideally, it should tie into your website’s theme—for example, an online store could use the metaphor of a warehouse being cleared out.

If you sell furniture online, you could describe it cre­at­ively as: ’Our interior designer is re­meas­ur­ing our online store to make sure all the furniture really fits’. If you run a res­taur­ant, fitting al­tern­at­ives might be: ‘We’re currently rewriting our menu’ or ’We’re still per­fect­ing the tastiest pasta creations north of Italy, so please be patient a little longer’.

3 examples of a suc­cess­ful coming soon website

Humorous company in­tro­duc­tion

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Countdown & news­let­ter

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Chatbot

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How long can a website be under con­struc­tion?

If you are launching a com­pletely new website, you can the­or­et­ic­ally keep the coming soon page active in­def­in­itely. For an under con­struc­tion page, however, the situation is different: keep it as short as possible, ideally no longer than a few days or a week. Whatever timeline you com­mu­nic­ate, it’s important to stick to it—otherwise, you risk losing cred­ib­il­ity with your visitors.

What should you keep in mind about SEO for under con­struc­tion websites?

While SEO doesn’t play a major role for a coming soon page—since Google hasn’t yet indexed much content—it is far more critical for a website under con­struc­tion. If Google’s crawler visits your site during main­ten­ance and only finds a place­hold­er page, this can be in­ter­preted as a negative signal and lead to a ranking downgrade. Repeated or prolonged main­ten­ance phases can amplify this effect. That’s why it’s essential to keep such phases as short as possible to reduce the risk of crawlers arriving at the wrong time.