Maintenance page

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  tessalove1 · Member · Oct 18, 2015 at 12:25 am

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  Hello, I will soon be switching my theme and doing general maintenance on my site. While I’m working on it, I don’t want visitors to see my site in disarray. I know there are plug-ins that can make a maintenance page, but obviously I can’t download those. Is there any other option for easily creating a splash/maintenance page?

  Thank you!

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  dmcwong · Member · Oct 18, 2015 at 8:34 am

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  Hello! The easiest way to make your site not visible to users is to make it private. From WP Admin, click on Settings > Reading, and scroll to the Site Visibility options. Under Site Visibility there is an option ” I would like my site to be private, visible only to myself and users I choose.” Once you select this option and hit “Save Changes” at the bottom it will be private. More information on Privacy Settings here:

  http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/privacy-settings/

  Hope that is what you are looking to do!

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  tessalove1 · Member · Oct 18, 2015 at 3:13 pm

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  Hi thanks for the help! My concern with only setting my site as private is that visitors won’t know that my site is just under construction. I’m hoping to have some kind of page with a message on it that will tell them I’ll be back soon, etc.

  Thanks again

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  dmcwong · Member · Oct 18, 2015 at 11:45 pm

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  I understand your predicament. One way to achieve what you are trying to do is to create a static page with whatever message you want your readers to see and to create a second page for all of your posts.

  Here’s more information on how to create pages:

  Create a Page

  Once you create the pages you can choose which one will be your front page and which one will be your posts page. To do that go to Settings > Reading and click the drop down menu to choose your desired options. Make sure to save your changes at the bottom of the page. After saving it will display your under construction message when your visitors go to your page. Once you are done you can change it back.

  Here’s another link with info on the static front page:

  Set the Homepage

  I know you said you didn’t want your visitors to see your site while you are working on it. But one other simpler way to give them a message is to just create a post informing them that your site is under construction and to pardon the mess. Hope this helps!

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  auxclass · Member · Oct 19, 2015 at 12:28 am

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  <opinion>

  My Thoughts as a site owner and someone that visits a lot of sites – If I see a note about under construction it does not bother me

  setting a site to “Private” is like slamming the door in your face and search engines, turns off search engines and visitors and costs you traffic and it takes a while for search engines and visitors to come back

  Me?? I would use the static front page as noted above and then not worry much about it –

  Remember – most people come to a site for the content

  </opinion>