Under Construction Page

I’m sure everyone remembers when they were building a website, most of you liked to have an Under Construction icon with a text saying just that. Well, practicing that is a really bad thing because as much as the sign means something to you labeled undercontstruction.jpg, it might not mean anything for the new user of your website.

Adding to the error most of us have done and maybe still do, we tend to be lazy and leave the page with just those two words. However, there have been new approaches to deal with the lack in communication when there’s a webpage like this nowadays. I’d like to share with you what I’ve found working and not really working.

The Bad Practice

(Under Construction Image)
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The only advantage of this example is the signage. The signare normally used are detour signs, blinking yellow/red construction lights, or the black and yellow striped barrier. For the more funny type people, they’ll probably put a foreman mining or a half naked woman man digging a hole.

The biggest disadvantage of this example is the content used. When you tell someone something is under construction, it’s not even a complete sentence so they’ll be taking a few seconds or minutes to get the message. The easy way to solve this is just adding the word WEBSITE or WEBPAGE in front.

That solves the first stage of a problem. The second stage is when your visitors keep coming back daily to find out that after 5 days, the webpage is still empty and become frustrated. So what can we do? We could place a simple apology message.

We’re sorry to inform you that this webpage (or website) is still in the process of development. Please bear with us at the moment as we are trying to get everything up and running as soon as possible.

That takes care of an expectation..for awhile.

The Good Practice

(Under Construction Image)
WEBPAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION
We’re sorry to inform you that this webpage (or website) is still in the process of development. Please bear with us at the moment as we are trying to get everything up and running as soon as possible.

Maybe these links will be of interest to you:

  • Link 1
  • Link 2

This is a good practice for webpages that are still under development. If you’ve noticed, I’ve actually included a convenience for the visitor by offering them some links that might be more popular in the website.

Practices like this aids your visitor and gives them some comfort to continue on journeying through your website.

But what about an Under Construction page if the entire website is still under development?

Well, here are the best ways I’ve noticed online so you could take your pick.

Example #1

(Under Construction Image)
Coming Soon!
(Company Name) offering a brand new service near you..bla bla bla. If you’d like to know more about us, please enter your email address below to be notified of the official launch date.

Example #2

(Game Goes Here)
(Company Name) offering a brand new service near you..bla bla bla. Please check back soon or spend a little time with the game that we’ve prepared for you. ;)

Example #3

Uh Oh!
(Company Name) offering a brand new service near you..bla bla bla. If you’d like to know more about us, please enter your email address below to be notified of the official launch date and maybe stand a chance to win (prize).

Example #4

(Faded Background Image of New layout)
We’ll be back soon!
Please check back (date).

As you can see, these are several of the practices I’ve met online for new services or websites launching. The first example is the most common practice nowadays and it has many advantages to it other than useful statistical purposes or some other demegrpahics.

The second example is handy if your company concentrates on game development or interactive multimedia services in Flash or Director. You’re actually subtly charming your visitors and getting them excited of what you’re here to offer in future.

If you’re a company launching a new product and have the budget for some marketing, the third example might be up your alley. This is the best thing marketing normally has to offer and the engine of it doesn’t have to be this simple. ;)

The fourth example was really new to me and very unique. It was used by CSSBeauty not long ago when they were revamping their website. Yes, it’s got a new sleek blue interface now.

So there you have it, several good practices when you need to utilize the construction page.

Posted by Danny Foo on October 21, 2005 | Filed Under Website Lessons | Bookmark and Share |

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Comments



5 Responses to “Under Construction Page”

  1. Response #1 by Danny Foo on October 21st, 2005

    @sotong
    LoL! good one.

    Well, everyone I think has their preferences. The gist of it I suppose is a good Under Construction needs to be a communicated one. :)

  2. Response #2 by Jonathan on October 21st, 2005

    I’d certainly prefer a shorter version of “If you’d like to know more about us, please enter your email address below to be notified of the official launch date.”

    Something like: “Enter your email address to be notified of updates!” followed by a text box would be better IMO…

  3. Response #3 by EngLee on October 21st, 2005

    As a web surfer myself, I think the best thing to do is to state the date when the construction will be done. :)

  4. Response #4 by Giant Sotong on October 21st, 2005

    It reminds me a lot about an old web page:
    http://www.cs.utah.edu/~gk/atwork/

    Funny!

    My narrow view is that sites for corporations shouldn’t contain any under construction pages whatsoever.

  5. Response #5 by Jacky on October 21st, 2005

    Wonderful. Most registrars automatically park your newly registered domain name on a “coming soon” or “under construction” page with their offers.


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