Overview
This article describes several options to create a static Coming Soon page that is set as the homepage for your WordPress website. This type of page is useful when you need to display a general page to visitors before your full website is made public.
Creating a static page
There are several options you can follow to create a static page, depending on your needs and level of expertise.
Option 1 — Create a static page
To create a static page in WordPress:
- Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
- In the left panel, navigate to Pages > Add New.
- Edit the Coming Soon page as you would like it to appear.
- On the top right, click the Publish button.
- A confirmation message appears on the top right.
- On the top left, click the WordPress icon to return to the dashboard.
- In the left panel, navigate to Settings > Reading.
- On the Reading Settings page, click the Homepage dropdown and choose the Coming Soon page you just created.
- Click the Save Changes button to save this new homepage.
- Visit your site's homepage to view the new page you created.
Option 2 — Manually enable WordPress' scheduled maintenance page
An alternative to creating a Coming Soon page is to enable the WordPress scheduled maintenance page.
- Log in to your server and create a file named .maintenance.
- Add the following lines to the file:
<?php
$upgrading = time();
?> - Visit your site. You should see the default maintenance message.
To remove the scheduled maintenance page, delete or rename the .maintenance file.
Option 3 — Use a plugin to create a Coming Soon page
There are also third-party plugins that can be used to create a Coming Soon page with some extra options. Below is a list of some third-party plugins.
How to manage maintenance mode
To know more about managing the maintenance mode, see this article.