![\"under](\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/files\/2015\/06\/under-construction-300x167.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn the early days of the web \u2018under construction\u2019 notices or animated\u00a0construction worker images were common on websites if an organisation didn’t have any content to add to a page. These messages have fallen out of fashion but have been replaced by messages such as \u2018coming soon\u2019 or \u2018information to follow\u2019.<\/p>\n
The terminology and formatting of this message may have changed, but the outcome is the same \u2013 a dead end for users.<\/p>\n
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Imagine a prospective student has clicked through to a page on your website expecting to find something out. Instead of an answer or information to help them complete a task, they are greeted with nothing more than an \u2018information coming soon\u2019 message.<\/p>\n
How do they feel? Disappointed and frustrated. What do they do? They leave.<\/p>\n
Perhaps they come back at a later date to check if the page has been updated but it\u2019s more likely they will go somewhere else to find the information they need or worse\u2026 go to a competitor\u2019s site.<\/p>\n
People generally go to a website to find an answer to a question<\/strong> or to complete a task<\/strong>. An ‘under construction’ notice doesn\u2019t tell your customer anything and is therefore a waste of their time.<\/p>\n \u2018Under construction\u2019 notices can also damage the credibility of your website<\/strong>. They make the page look sloppy and unfinished. This consequently reflects badly on the organisation<\/strong>, giving the impression that the organisation is uncommitted and unprofessional. It could also mean that users don\u2019t trust the other information on your site.<\/p>\n Search engines also respond badly to \u2018under construction\u2019 pages. If there\u2019s no content on a page the search engine won\u2019t rank it very highly.<\/p>\n Worse, if the page has a meaningful title containing key words that people are searching for, it may come up in search results. Your reader goes to read more on the page\u00a0only to discover that it contains no content. This is harmful to your organisation\u2019s credibility.<\/p>\n If it\u2019s business critical to advertise something (eg funding opportunities or a new research facility) before the full details are available you should\u00a0add relevant information<\/strong> rather than a blank page. To do this, you should:<\/p>\n Finally, if you<\/strong> don\u2019t have any meaningful content<\/strong> to add to the site don\u2019t add a new page<\/strong>. A blank page or a page with irrelevant information is more harmful than excluding information altogether. You wouldn\u2019t publish a brochure containing a blank page with a generic \u2018coming soon message\u2019, so the same rules apply to the web.<\/p>\n Visit our website for help on planning web content<\/a> (University login required).<\/p>\n Image credit<\/strong>:\u00a0Under Construction Grunge Sign by\u00a0Nicolas Raymond,\u00a0www.freestock.ca<\/a>,\u00a0licensed under\u00a0CC BY 3.0<\/a><\/p>\n In the early days of the web \u2018under construction\u2019 notices or animated\u00a0construction worker images were common on websites if an organisation didn’t have any content to add to a page. These messages have fallen out of fashion but have been … Continue reading Damage to credibility<\/h2>\n
Bad for SEO<\/h2>\n
Solutions when waiting for content<\/h2>\n
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Final thoughts<\/h2>\n
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