When working on your site, often you need to set up an under construction page, or a coming soon page, or even a maintenance mode page.

If you don’t know how to do this, then you have come to the right place.

This article will show you the Under Construction plugin, which is a free WordPress solution to achieve exactly what you need.

How it Works

If you have experience with WordPress, blogging, or online business, then I’m sure you know that any time your site is not available (e.g. offline), you can lose potential visitors, clients or leads.

So, if you need a simple solution for creating an under construction page, you can use this plugin. It’s really easy to use and in less than 5 minutes you can create your maintenance mode page.

Here are the main options of this plugin:

• Under construction mode – off / on
• End date & time – automatically disable construction mode on a set date
• Google Analytics Tracking ID – enable tracking via Google Analytics
• Theme – a new one is added with each update, see screenshots of available themes
• Custom CSS – adjust any part of the page to fit your needs
• Title – page title, for SEO
• Description – page description, for SEO
• Headline – main headline/title
• Content – anything you need to display, from styled text to images
• Login Button – show a descrete link to the login form, or WP admin if you’re logged in
• Social icons/links – new ones are added with every update; let us know if we missed your favorite ones
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • Dribbble
  • Behance
  • Instagram
  • Email
  • Phone
  • Skype
  • WhatsApp
  • Tumblr
• Whitelisted User Roles – user roles who see the site, instead of maintenance page
• Whitelisted Users – users who see the site, instead of maintenance page

If you like, check also this introductory video:

How to Install Under Construction WP Plugin

When installing the plugin, just proceed with the usual routine for all the other WordPress plugins:

1. Open your WordPress admin dashboard, go to Plugins, click Add New
2. Enter “under construction page” in search and hit Enter
3. Plugin will show up as the first on the list, click “Install Now“
4. Activate & open plugin’s settings page located under the Settings menu

Also, you can directly get the plugin for free in the WordPress depository page.

Important Note: the plugin is updated twice per month and the developers are currently working on non-WP version as well.

Under Construction Plugin Menu

The plugin menu is available under Settings in your WP dashboard.

In this place, you can work on the functions.

Check the Main tab,where you can turn on/off the plugin, enabling construction mode for all users (with an option to exclude selected ones). You can set a date and time to end the construction mode. There’s also a field where you can enter your unique Google Analytics Tracking ID to track visitors to your site.

While in the Design tab, there’s a series of layout you can choose to display on the coming soon page (included a field where you can add your custom own CSS code). I love this design:

Visit the Content tab to enter the title, description, headline or any other content you want to be displayed in your maintenance page. You may want to add all your social profiles, which will be linked with beautiful icons. Social networks available include Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Skype and a few other ones. A couple of icons will help you display your email and phone number too, if needed.

In the Access tab, you can whitelist user roles that will not be affected by the under construction mode and will always see the “normal” site (the default one is administrator).

Finally, visit the Support tab if you need to check the FAQ..

Testimonials and Reviews

The plugin has a 4,9 out of 5 stars average rating, on the WordPress.org page.

Users really like this plugin!

Here are a few testimonials:

Good Job
juse888

Just Beautiful
Professional covers and it’s free. You guys have outdone yourself.
eelink

Easy to use and attractive looking
Thanks for such as easy to use and great looking images.
bdcassoc

Final Words

I find this plugin a really simple method to create a maintenance mode or coming soon page.

The plugin is so easy to use! And I like the beautiful design available. Plus, they are free!

Now, over to you.

Have you ever tried the Under Construction plugin?

Please share your experience in the comments below, thanks!