I am going to write a post on why your conference site should be on the WordPress platform soon, currently it is a draft and I have been writing it for a long time, things just keep popping up that keep me from finishing it.
In the meantime, I thought I would dive right into a great plugin that can help you because there are times when you want to keep the world out of your site. This can happen for a variety of reasons.
- There is the “Big Reveal” for a new conference site, layout or content.
- There is a total overhaul that is underway for the next year.
- There is a move from one platform to WordPress.
- You really are having a site issue.
Regardless of the reason, sometimes you just want to keep those prying eyes from your site. That is where this handy little Plugin comes in.
Maintenance Mode (here is the description from the WordPress Site):
Adds a splash page to your blog that lets visitors know your blog is down for maintenance. Logged in administrators get full access to the blog including the front-end.
Visitors will see a message like “Maintenance Mode – SITE is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance. Please try back in 60 minutes. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
The cool thing is that you can create a custom message to say what you would like, things like:
Conference Registration Opens 2/2/22
Check for our new site 1/1/11
When the site is ready to roll, just turn off the Plugin and your site visitors will go straight in. This is a generic image of the plugin, there is no custom message but rest assured, you can add a custom message.
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy
I use this Plugin on all of our WordPress based sites and I have to tell you it is by far one of the easiest plugins to use, it really is “plug and play” and lets people know that although you are not open to the public, you will be soon and it gives visitors a time and a date to prove it.
Our Grade: A-, You Can Download Maintenance Mode Here