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Coming soon page or keep the biz running?

by kongoguy
20 replies
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I recently acquired an ecommerce site. I am in the process of redesigning and rebuilding from what the original owner had -- i have allowed the owner to continue to run the business in the meantime as i prep over the next few weeks. Is this smart? I do not have a fear she is taking business else where, i am still getting orders. She had inventory she wanted to sell off. Should i just stop that activity and put a coming soon page? The traffic is minimal, but it is traffic. Any suggestions is most welcomed.
#biz #coming #page #running
  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    Leave it up, the pages are already indexed and will be valuable when you re-launch. The initial acquisition is the hardest part of selling, any customers you get now may one day be repeat customers in the future. No reason to lock them out.
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    Ron Rule
    http://ronrule.com

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  • Profile picture of the author JenChan
    Before anything else, you need to make sure to have all the access to some important data like server and website credentials....

    I have previous experience where I trusted the previous owner and I care less on credential stuff... When I have an arugument with him a month later, he took the domain and server stuff and runaway....

    Although Im the supposed new owner, he is the one who bought the server and domain so it is registered to his email and credit card... When I contacted the server to retrieve the data, they asked me the proof of purchase and credit card stuff which i do not have....

    So i lost everything even the domain... although i have a backup, i lost 75% of the business and all traffic are completely gone... but it's 4 years ago and i decided to stop.

    Hope this experience of mine will help you.
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  • Profile picture of the author kongoguy
    What should i do about page indexing-I expect to relaunch with a more seo friendly site but those older pages technically would be removed - should there be a redirect?
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  • Profile picture of the author kongoguy
    thank you for sharing your experience!
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  • Profile picture of the author kongoguy
    New platform. Everything will be updated.
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  • Profile picture of the author kongoguy
    is that the best solution? thank you
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  • Profile picture of the author kongoguy
    thank you for your input
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  • Profile picture of the author kongoguy
    if I remove the indexed pages will it hurt the seo?
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    • Profile picture of the author Hermes Urbanus
      I'm by no means an expert here... But I've had a little luck in the past with a similar experience. I did NOT un-index my page, I just visited Google, Yahoo and Bing (Don't forget that Bing and Yahoo Index together these days, so you only need to visit Bing to effect change on both networks) and requested to have the site re-crawled just before launch day, since the site was ready before that.

      What I did before was started trying to build a marketing campaign about three months beforehand, though I'm sure you could do something similar with as little as a month - just have to be diligent about your marketing and PR efforts. I used social media, email and even a press release to announce the launch date of the new site. I also worked closely with some writers to develop and fine tune some really tightly focused and relevant content because the anticipation I was trying to build was certainly going to demand some heavy-duty material.

      The result? More traffic on the first day than the site had seen for the entire previous year! (Confession: The site was not worth visiting before the re-launch.) Obviously, the traffic began to level off after awhile. But the G ranking seemed to feel it because I went from the nether regions up to page 1 in just a few weeks (though, this was also pre-panda/pre-penguin days.) And I kept many of the unique visitors for about a month. Not monumental by any stretch, but it worked out nicely enough that I was later able to sell the domain and the site off for a very nice profit.

      Also, while I did have an opt-in (used OptinSkin for that ) I did not have one affiliate link in sight for the first day. Some may disagree with that, but I wanted to see the traffic stats more than anything that day to test what I was doing. Also, no reviews, no offers, and no squeeze page that first day - again, wanted to see data more than anything for that day.

      So... If you were so inclined, you could possibly begin building a potential-audience long before your re-launch date. My only firm advice to you on that level is that if you start a campaign - FOLLOW THROUGH WITH IT. If you start a PR campaign and then abandon it halfway through, change your launch date, whatever, you will really the aftershock of a bad decision. (That just means get your ducks in a row before spreading the word so that you can deliver what you boast on the date that you say you will.)

      Best of luck of with whatever you choose to do!
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      • Profile picture of the author kongoguy
        Thank you for that reply. It really means a lot to me you spend a good deal of time sharing me your experience.

        May I ask what your campaign looked like? What it entailed?
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        • Profile picture of the author Hermes Urbanus
          Originally Posted by kongoguy View Post

          May I ask what your campaign looked like? What it entailed?
          In my case, nothing very technical. Just time consuming.
          • Emails to private list (and some friends/fans sent out select emails from their lists)
          • Newsletter with tidbits of upcoming information, useful current info, and surveys asking for input on various things for the new site (amazing how people respond when you ask for their opinion - more amazing how fast they show up to see if you implemented their "great" idea)
          • Social media posts, shares and tweets (with some help from friends/fans)
          • Wrote some guest articles on some related blogs
          • Got some (very) nice mentions from friends/fans on some related blogs/sites
          • Finally, in order to gain some extremely new traffic and to spice the serach world a little bit, I spent a few bucks (at places such as PRWeb) to push some press releases out about 14 days before the launch date.
          I'm sure I did a few more things, but the above was the basics of it. I was in a fortunate position at the time to be heavily involved in a gaming community and I was very well known for my work and efforts within the community across many different websites, some not even gaming sites (just computer related.)

          The key for me was being knee-deep in my niche. Being involved allowed me knowledge of my audience and access to information/experience that the common "Keyword" jockey can't even dream about (much less achieve.) I had a working knowledge, I made myself well-known for my efforts in teaching and helping others, and I positioned myself in way that I could present information which people wanted but had limited access to.

          Look, you can barely turn your head in here without smacking it in to yet another "Secret" that will make you millions of dollars overnight. But if you want a real ROI, and want to lay a foundation you can return to again and again, then "sweat equity" is the only thing that will do that for you.

          If you are involved in your niche enough, you can follow the steps I took (or do it even bigger and better!) But what I did worked well for me because of the position I put myself in. If you are not in the same position, then take the ideas I used and create something more fitting for yourself. If I had some golden formula that worked for everyone and could teach everyone to do it, I'd probably be advertising it below in my signature like everyone else here.

          Just take a critical and unbiased look at your position, your potential and your goals. If you have gotten this far, then chances are you can create a campaign that will suit your needs. Besides, like the song said, "Parties aren't meant to last!" This experience with your current site is just the beginning of many opportunities yet to come. So, use this as an opportunity to test some things and you will be much more prepared for the next website you launch or re-launch (next month or next year.)

          Best of luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author kongoguy
    Make sense. I appreciate the feedback. i believe that is exactly what im going to be doing. THANK YOU!
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  • Profile picture of the author tonydbaker
    Don't put up a coming soon page. It's possible that you have a few returning customers and you don't want to have to earn them all over again. When building your new site, try to make sure you do something that makes people want to come back to you, share your content with others, etc.
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