Are ‘Under Construction’ web pages damaging your business? If your website has pages with ‘Under Construction’ live on the web then they are almost certainly costing you enquiries, leads and sales. You wouldn’t allow a customer to walk in your showroom only to tell them you were unprepared to help them. You wouldn’t answer the phone and say, ‘Sorry, were under construction’. You wouldn’t add a page to your new brochure or catalogue with Under Construction across it, so why do business owners allow pages with Under Construction on them live in their website?
Offending Web Pages on the Increase
Under construction pages seem to be back on the rise, I have come across several in the last couple of months, prompting this article. This is nothing new, a new website or new section of a current website goes live unfinished with the words ‘Under Construction’ accompanied by a horrific animated image. Why? I have never found a satisfactory explanation to this and it is usually the fault of the website design company. Some website design companies seem to be waiting for copy (the text to go on the page) and some seem to be pushing a deadline. The worst offenders may even be developing the client’s site live in the web (which is simply unforgiveable).
Whatever the reason, if you have these pages on your website, now is the time to decide that you need to either finish them or remove them. If it is up to your web designer then nag them constantly to get this sorted (and vow to never use them again). If you manage your own site then you can get them finished or take them down. If you don’t want to remove them completely then you can just remove any link to the pages.
Do this one thing for your online business before you do anything else. Under Construction web pages send the worst possible signal about your business to all who view them. Your website is your most valuable online ‘Real Estate’. Treat it with respect
Surely this is not news? What about Coming Soon Pages? Bigger Offenders, surely
Sorry to burst your bubble, but I replied to a forum thread last night for a new web developer who had an under construction page on his site. This is an old problem that doesn’t go away. As regards ‘Coming Soon’, I think that sounds like a good idea for a Friday Rant. Watch this space.