Coming Soon vs Maintenance Mode: What’s the Difference (Explained)

Recently, a reader asked us if there is a difference between coming soon mode and maintenance mode?

The answer is: Yes. They are both used for different purposes and search engines treat coming soon mode differently from maintenance mode.

In this article, we’ll explain the difference between coming soon vs maintenance mode, so you can choose the best option for your needs.

What is Coming Soon Mode vs. Maintenance Mode, and Why Does It Matter?

Coming soon mode is used when your website has not yet been launched. Maintenance mode is used when your website is temporarily offline for maintenance.

It’s easy to get these 2 modes confused. Several WordPress plugins such as SeedProd’s Coming Soon and Maintenance Mode Plugin let you put your site into either coming soon mode or maintenance mode. You may not be sure about the difference.

It’s extremely important to use each mode correctly. Because if you choose the wrong option, then it can harm your WordPress site’s SEO rankings.

When to Use a Coming Soon Page

You should use a coming soon page after you have registered a domain name, but before you have finished creating your website.

A coming soon page lets you gather interest on your site before you launch it. Plus, it lets Google start sending you visitors.

It’s best practice to have an email newsletter form on your coming soon page. This allows people to sign up and get an email when your site goes live.

SeedProd lets you create great-looking coming soon pages with just a few clicks. Let’s take a look at how to create a coming soon page like this:

How to Create a Coming Soon Page

To create a coming soon page, you first need to install and activate the SeedProd plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

We’re using the Pro version for our tutorial, but you can also use the free version of SeedProd.

Upon activation, you should be prompted for your license key. You will find this in your account area on the SeedProd website. Simply enter it on your WordPress site and click the ‘Check License’ button:

After that, go to the Settings » Coming Soon page and click the ‘Edit Coming Soon/Maintenance Page’ button:

Then, simply pick a template for your coming soon page. There are over 50 different coming soon templates ones to choose from:

You will now be taken into SeedProd’s coming soon page editor. Go ahead and change anything you want using the tabs in the left-hand sidebar.

For instance, you can click on the Countdown tab to enable a timer. You will need to specify an end date for the timer:

If you would like to integrate your coming soon form with your email marketing service, then simply click on the ‘Email Form Settings’ tab. Next, select your email marketing service from the ‘Save Subscribers To’ dropdown:

You then need to follow the on-screen instructions to connect your coming soon page with your email list.

Go ahead and make any other changes you want. Once you’re happy with your coming soon page, click the ‘Save’ button at the top of the screen. Next, click the ‘Back to Settings’ link:

Now, simply click the ‘Enable Coming Soon Mode’ button then the ‘Save All Changes’ button.

Your coming soon page is now live. To view it, log out of your website and visit any page:

When to Use Maintenance Mode

You should use maintenance mode if you need to briefly take your site offline for changes or updates.

For instance, you might want to use maintenance mode while changing WordPress themes. This ensures that your site still functions correctly and looks good with the new theme.

Another good time to use maintenance mode is if you’re adding an online store to your site. You can leave your website online but put your store into maintenance mode.

Maintenance mode lets search engines know that your site is currently down. It does this by returning the header code 503. That way, your site’s SEO won’t be affected by the downtime.

It’s good practice to let users know that your site will be back soon, too. You can do this by putting a message on your maintenance page. You might want to add an email form so they can get an email alert once your site is back up.

Tip: When you update plugins, themes, or core WordPress, your site will automatically go into maintenance mode for a few seconds. If your site gets stuck in this mode, we have instructions on fixing the WordPress maintenance mode error.

How to Put Your Site in Maintenance Mode

To put your site in maintenance mode, first install and activate the SeedProd plugin.

Next, follow the instructions above for creating a coming soon page above to create your maintenance mode page.

When you are ready to put your site into maintenance mode, simply go to the Settings » Coming Soon Pro page in your WordPress admin. Then, select the ‘Enable Maintenance Mode’ option and click the ‘Save All Changes’ button.

Remember, maintenance mode should only be used when your site is down for maintenance. If you have not yet launched your site, use coming soon mode instead.

We hope this article helped you understand how to choose coming soon vs maintenance mode. You may also want to check out our guide on the must have WordPress plugins for your website and our guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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5 Best WordPress Request a Quote Plugins (Instant Quotes)

Are you looking for the best request a quote plugin for your WordPress website or WooCommerce store?

Some businesses may not be able to list prices on their website. A request a quote form allows your customers to ask for the quote by providing the information you need to determine the price.

In this article, we will take you through the best WordPress ‘request a quote’ plugins that you can use to make more sales through your website.

Why Use a Request a Quote Plugin for WordPress?

Some products and services can’t be easily priced without some details from the customer.

For instance, if you provide a lawn care service, your price will vary depending on the size of the lawn, existing condition, and other factors. You might also offer optional extras, such as creating decorative borders.

Similarly if you sell custom made furniture on your online store, then the prices will vary based on customers’ requirements.

Some companies share their complex custom pricing in a table, but this can be confusing for customers.

Others ask customers to email for a quote. But customers might not send all the information that’s needed.

The best solution is to use a request a quote WordPress plugin. Depending on the plugin you choose, this might be able to provide an instant quote.

Alternatively, you can simply respond to the customer by email once you’ve received their request.

Note: This article is about price quotations provided for a product or service. To display or rotate interesting quotes on your site, see our guide on showing random quotes in your sidebar.

With that said, let’s take a look at the best request a quote plugins for WordPress and WooCommerce.

1. WPForms

WPForms is the best contact form plugin for WordPress. It allows you to easily add any kind of forms to your WordPress website using a simple drag and drop form builder.

It includes ready-to-use templates including one for a Request a Quote form. You can use it as a starting point to quickly build your form and then customize it to match your specific requirements.

WPForms’ Conditional Logic feature lets you show specific fields based on the information that the customer gives you. For instance, you could create a form that shows different options based on the service that your customer requests.

It also lets you create special Conversational Forms that take a ‘one question at a time’ approach. This can help reduce form abandonment rates, by making your form feel easy and attractive to your customers.

You can create lots of other types of forms with WPForms, too. For instance, you can use it to run a survey on your website.

Price:

WPForms costs from $39.50/year. This includes Conditional Logic. However, to get Conversational Forms, you need the Pro package for $199.50/year.

2. Wholesale Suite (Order Form and Prices Premium)

Wholesale Suite Order Form and Wholesale Prices Premium are a great option if you use WooCommerce on your website.

These plugins let you offer wholesale pricing, providing an instant quote so customers can buy straight away.

Wholesale Suite’s plugins also integrate with several popular WordPress and WooCommerce plugins.

If you sell bulk products to wholesale customers, then these plugins make it much easier for them to order from your store.

With Wholesale Suite Order Form, your products are all displayed in a searchable and sortable WooCommerce table. This means your whole product catalog can be seen on a single page.

By also using the Wholesale Prices Premium plugin, you can offer discounted wholesale prices in your quote. The plugin also lets you set minimum purchase rules. You can discount by a percentage based on the product’s category, too.

Price:

Each plugin costs from $59/year for a single site license.

3. Formidable Forms

Formidable Forms is an advanced forms plugin for WordPress. It has powerful features that mean it can be used to create online calculators.

You can use Formidable Forms’ Request a Quote form to make a form that automatically calculates a quote for the customer instantly. Because of Formidable Forms’ flexibility, it’s easy to add as many variables as you want.

The quote that Formidable Forms produces can then be emailed to your customer. It can even be included in a booking form so your customer can book and pay for your service or product.

There are plenty of other forms you can create using Formidable Forms, too. For instance, you could use it to create a quiz for your WordPress site.

Formidable Forms also comes with visual design tools that let you make your request a quote form look great.

Price:

Formidable Forms costs from $99.38/year.

4. YITH WooCommerce Request a Quote

YITH WooCommerce Request a Quote hides the price and/or the Add to Cart button for the products you select in WooCommerce. In the place of these, it gives your customers the option to request a quote for the product.

Customers can choose from the options you set. You can even allow them to upload files. For instance, if you provide printing services, then you could ask the customer to upload their print-ready files when they request the quote.

The plugin also supports product variations, letting you add specific variations to the quote list.

When you are ready, it’s quick and easy to respond to the customer with a quote. The customer will receive this in a nicely-formatted email.

The whole process can be managed through your WordPress dashboard. Here, you are able to see quote requests, pending quotes, pending payments, and more.

Price:

YITH WooCommerce Request a Quote costs from $59.99/month.

There’s also a free version of the plugin, with limited features.

5. Request a Quote for WooCommerce

Request a Quote for WooCommerce is an official WooCommerce plugin. It lets your customer add products to a quote basket, just like they would normally add products to their cart.

You can customize the quote button text, the quote submission messages, and more. You can also automatically redirect the customer to a specified page on your site after they submit their request for a quote.

Request a Quote for WooCommerce is a great option if you have personalized products that could have a range of prices depending on what the customer wants.

You can also use this plugin to sell to wholesale, B2B, or retail customers.

Price:

Request a Quote for WooCommerce costs $59/year.

We hope this article helped you learn about the best request a quote plugins for WordPress. You may also want to see our comparison of the best live chat software and best business phone services to help you get even more sales from your website.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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How to Create a Questionnaire in WordPress (Easy Way)

Do you want to create a questionnaire in WordPress to survey your visitors or collect data?

Getting feedback on your products or simply learning more about your users can help your business to succeed.

In this article, we will show you how to easily create a questionnaire in WordPress, step by step.

Why Create a Questionnaire in WordPress?

Creating a questionnaire is a great way to learn more about your audience. This lets you tailor your content to their needs. You can also use the results to create or modify the products / services that will be most helpful to your audience.

There are several survey tools that you can use outside your website, but having your questionnaire on your website itself means you have full control over how it’s displayed. Plus, it’s more familiar and reassuring for your audience.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily add a questionnaire to your WordPress site.

Creating a Questionnaire Form in WordPress

For this tutorial, we’ll be using WPForms to create a questionnaire.

WPForms is the best forms plugin for WordPress and allows you to easily create any kind of forms using a simple drag and drop form builder.

First, you need to install and activate the WPForms plugin on your WordPress site. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: You’ll need the Pro version of the plugin to get the features that we will use in this tutorial.

Upon activation, you need to visit the WPForms » Settings page in your WordPress admin area to enter your license key. You’ll find the license key under your account on the WPForms website.

Now, it’s time to move on and create your questionnaire.

Creating a Questionnaire Using WPForms’ Survey and Polls Feature

WPForms’ powerful surveys and polls addon lets you create questionnaires easily. It also produces beautiful visual graphs of the results.

First, visit the WPForms » Addons page to install the Survey and Polls addon. Use the search bar to find it, then click the Install Addon button.

Next, go to WPForms » Add New to create a new form. First, type in a name for your form at the top of the screen:

There are 4 different pre-built survey form templates to choose from. These are the Poll Form, the Survey Form, the NPS Survey Simple Form, and the NPS Survey Enhanced Form.

We are going to use the Survey Form for our questionnaire.

After you select the template, it will open up in the WPForms editor.

We recommend that you edit the questions to make them appropriate for your audience and needs. We are going to use the form to gather customer feedback on products and delivery.

To edit any field, simply click on it. The editing view will then open up on the left-hand side of your screen. Here, we are editing the Name field at the top. We changed the format to ‘Simple’ using the dropdown.

We also made it optional by unchecking the ‘Required’ box.

The ‘How can we improve?’ box only appears if the user rates their experience as 1 star or 2 stars.

We’re going to add a new feedback box that will appear if the user rates their experience as 3 or 4 stars. To do this, simply bring your mouse cursor over the ‘How can we improve?’ box then click the Copy button:

Next, WPForms will check that you want to duplicate the field. Go ahead and click the ‘OK’ button to continue:

Now, you can edit your new field on the left-hand side of the screen. We have changed the label, which appears above the box. We also changed the description, which appears below the box:

You also need to set the conditional logic for this field. To do that, click the Conditionals tab. Then, set the numbers to 3 and 4 instead of 1 and 2:

Finally, we are going to edit the ‘How satisfied are you with’ Likert scale. A Likert rating scale is a 5 or 7 point scale that is often used to measure satisfaction or attitudes.

Again, simply click on the field to edit it. Then, change the labels of the rows or columns to the text you want to use.

We are going to change the labels of the rows to make them more specific:

Go ahead and make as many changes to the form as you like. Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top of the screen:

Setting Up Notifications for Your Questionnaire

WPForms will send each completed questionnaire to the business email address that’s set in your website settings. It’s easy to change this by going to Settings » Notifications.

Simply delete the {admin_email} in the ‘Send To Email Address’ box and enter the email address you want to use instead:

Tip: Not sure what your WordPress administration email is? Go to Settings » General and check what is listed in the ‘Administration Email Address’ box.

Don’t forget to save your questionnaire after making any changes.

Adding Your Questionnaire to Your Website

You can add your questionnaire to any post or page on your website. You can even add it to your sidebar.

To add your form to a page, edit your page or go to Pages » Add New to create a new one. Then, click the + button to add a new block. Select the ‘WPForms’ block:

Next, simply click on the dropdown and select your questionnaire form.

Now, simply preview or publish your post to see the form live on your WordPress website:

Creating a Questionnaire Using Conversational Forms

You can also use WPForms’ conversational forms feature.

A conversational form is an interactive form that flows like a conversation. Users answer a question and it automatically shows them the next one.

It makes longer forms like a questionnaire easier to fill out and reduces form abandonment.

First, you need to go to WPForms » Addons in your WordPress admin. Then, search for and install the Conversational Forms addon:

After that, go to WPForms » Add New and create a new form using the instructions in the previous method.

If you already created your form, then simply go to WPForms » All Forms page and click on it to edit it:

Now, we are going to convert your form into a conversational form. First, go to the Settings » Conversational Forms tab. Then, simply check the ‘Enable Conversational Form Mode’ box.

You will then see a number of extra options to fill in. Conversational forms can’t be embedded in a post or page, so you need to give your form a title here. You can also write any text that you want to display above the form:

WPForms will automatically create a URL for your conversational form based on the form’s name. If you want to change this, simply type in a different URL here.

Optionally, you can also upload a header image, choose a color scheme, and change the Progress Bar style.

Once you are happy with your form’s settings, don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top of the screen:

Now, click the ‘View’ button next to the permalink for your form to see it live on your site:

The customer simply clicks the Start button to begin the form.

They can then enter their responses one question at a time. The questions that aren’t active will be faded out until the customer moves to them.

The sticky progress bar at the bottom of the screen will show how far through the form the customer is:

That’s it. You’ve successfully created your conversational questionnaire.

Viewing the Results from Your Questionnaire

Whether you created a regular survey or a conversational form, the process for viewing the results is the same.

Each questionnaire response will be emailed to the email address you set up under Settings » Notifications.

WPForms also stores all your survey results in your WordPress database. To view them, go to WPForms » Entries in your WordPress dashboard. Then, click on the name of your survey form:

You will then see some of the answers from your questionnaire. Simply click the ‘View Survey Results’ button to view all the questionnaire results.

WPForms will automatically create graphs and charts to make it easy to interpret the results:

It’s easy to export any of the graphs as a PDF or JPG. You can even print them to share with others in your organization. Just click the ‘Export’ link next to any item and choose from the dropdown menu:

You can also download all your results as a CSV file. Just click the ‘Export All (CSV)’ button near the top of the page to download all the results:

If you want to view the questionnaire answers from individual customers, then click the ‘Back to All Entries’ button at the top of the screen:

Next, scroll down to the table at the bottom of the screen. Click the ‘View’ button for the entry you want to see:

You will now see all the answers submitted by that person.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create a questionnaire in WordPress. You might also enjoy our articles on the best email marketing services and how to start an online store.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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