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Are you wondering how to edit your WordPress blog, without your work in progress
So how about we go through how to quickly get this powerful WordPress coming soon plugin setup? We can also take a look at what this plugin has to offer and what it lacks.
By the end, you’ll know exactly how to use this plugin, why it’s amazing and what you can and can’t do with it.
How To Install The WordPress Coming Soon Plugin – Under Construction Page
Search for ‘under construction’ and the plugin you are looking for should look like this:
As you can see it has a strong star-rating and a massive amount of active installs. The reviews themselves are also highly positive. The fact that the plugin has also been recently updated means it should also work with the WordPress Gutenberg editor.
Click Install Now, then once installed click Activate. And that’s it! This WordPress coming soon plugin is ready to go on your WordPress blog.
Under Construction Page Plugin Configuration Settings
Once installed you should notice an extremely helpful pop-up. That will appear to get you straight to the WordPress coming soon plugin settings screen. There’s no need to hunt it down like some other plugins!
You might also notice a new icon on the top toolbar of the WordPress dashboard. This also gives you easy access to the plugin and a quick glance as to whether the WordPress coming soon plugin is currently active.
Main Settings
So, let’s take a look at the Main settings!
If you are ready to implement your WordPress coming soon page now. Then you can switch the Under Construction Mode to On.
Here, the option to Prevent Search Engines from Indexing the Temporary Site is a premium feature that requires their Pro plan. This prevents search engines like Google from indexing your temporary site which can be beneficial for your SEO.
But, it is worth noting you can use a similar option available in the WordPress dashboard Settings > Reading. If you scroll down this page slightly and tick the Discourage search engines from indexing this site it will prevent Google from indexing it. Just make sure you don’t make one of these 53 mistakes bloggers make when they start a WordPress blog and ensure you turn it off once your site is live!
If you know exactly when you want your WordPress blog to go live using this WordPress coming soon plugin. Then you can turn on Automatic End Date & Time. Set it to when you want your WordPress blog to be live. And it will happen automatically, even while you are sleeping.
The Google Analytics Tracking can be used to track pages visits to your WordPress coming soon plugin page. All you need to do is add in your code that starts with UA-. Just be careful not to end up with Google Analytics installed twice on your blog. As it will make your traffic look like double compared to what it actually is.
Use The Design Tab To Set Your Free Coming Soon WordPress Theme
Next up, we have the Design settings tab.
Here is where you can select the overall appearance of your coming soon or maintenance mode page. There are many options, without the need to purchase the Pro version of this WordPress coming soon plugin.
You can distinguish the Pro Themes by the orange star in the top right corner of the thumbnail.
If you want to take a sneak peek then you can see all the free themes available here.
Once you decide on your theme click Activate
The Content Tab Lets You Set Text & Elements For Your WordPress Coming Soon Page
Once we’ve set our design theme. Next is to edit the Content settings.
The first few options let you set the page Title and Description. The Headline is what shows on the page itself as your main heading. And below is the Content section.
To be able to use other shortcodes you’ll need the Pro version. The same is also true for setting a Content Font, MailChimp Integration and Custom Footer Code.
At the bottom of this page is a list of Social & Contact Icons which you can fill in to use on the page.
After you’ve made some changes. It is important to note that next to the Save Changes button there is also a Preview button. Which will show you what the WordPress coming soon plugin page will look like.
Access Settings Control Who Sees Your WordPress Coming Soon Page
Next up is the Access settings.
The main setting to consider here is the Whitelisted User Roles. This is set to Administrator by default. But if you need other users to be able to bypass the WordPress coming soon plugin page. You’ll want to change these settings.
You can give more specific access rights depending on IP, direct links, username, or URL. But most of these are unnecessary and require the Pro version.
Use The Support Tab To Get Help With Editing Your Under Construction Page
The Support tab is less about settings and more for submitting tickets if you have any problems. If you get stuck try sending a support ticket through this tab. All tickets are replied to, with Pro users getting priority.
Pro Tab Lets You Enter Your Key For The Under Construction Page Plugin
The last tab in the settings screen is for Pro users to add in their Licence Key.
Free Version Of This WordPress Coming Soon Plugin Includes
So far, we’ve covered all the options you have to customize this WordPress coming soon plugin for your needs. But let’s go over what you can do with it again.
- Quickly get setup in minutes with a basic page with all other website pages hidden with zero coding required
- 25+ Theme Templates to choose from
- Basic Google Analytics tracking
- Whitelist by user role
- Automatically stop showing on selected date and time
- Social Media sharing icons
- Compatible with caching plugins: W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache, Endurance Page Cache, SiteGround SuperCacher, WP Fastest Cache and Swift Performance Cache
What’s Not Included & Requires The Pro Version
It is important to note that there are a lot of features locked behind the paid Pro version. For example, although the Content section says it can support any HTML. Posting your email opt-in forms won’t work. Or at least when I tested by posting in the HTML code for my MailerLite forms nothing would show.
Here’s a list of things you cannot do with the free version. You’ll need the Pro version to use any of these features:
- Automatically start on selected date and time
- Email opt-in forms, including MailChimp Integration
- No custom theme to design your own
- Missing access to 50+ Pro Themes
- Whitelisting on IP, username, URL and more
- Zapier Integration
- SEO indexing options
- No drag and drop builder, everything has to be done through settings
- Only default font available for page content
- 3rd Party shortcodes are not supported, meaning Better Click to Tweet and more won’t work
- Unable to add scripts and advanced tracking into the footer, for things like Facebook pixel and alternative email opt-in forms
- No cool looking countdown timers
Check out this full comparison of the features vs the other popular WordPress coming soon plugins – SeedProd, WP Maintenance Mode and Maintenance Pro.
Is The Pro Version Of The Under Construction Page Plugin Worth it?
If you just want a simple and clean WordPress coming soon plugin then Under Construction Page will make it a breeze. And your page will be up and running in minutes.
If you want more advanced features like a countdown or MailChimp Integration. Then you’ll need to get the Pro version at $39/year.
Personally, it is not worth the price, unless you regularly do maintenance on your blog. After all, you’ll likely only every launch your blog once!
A simple maintenance page with the rest of your blog hidden is all you really need for this. And is the most intimidating part of setting up a WordPress coming soon page for beginners. The free version of this WordPress coming soon plugin does this perfectly.
So if you’re considering having a maintenance or coming soon page for your blog. Why not give the Under Construction Page plugin a try?
If you’ve just started your WordPress blog, then you’ll find these 5 best WordPress plugins that will help boost your blog immensely useful too.
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