Best Message for Maintenance?

[thelady]

Hi - I am totally revamping one of my websites - it was my first attempt at html, and now looks painful! I need to put it to good use, hence the revamp. However, for reasons I won't bore you with I want to put up the new front page even though none of the links will be working as the rest of the site is still offline. What would be the best way to draw attention to this fact? You see, I don't want to put a "down for maintenance" tag as I need the new layout to be visible to some visitors. Do you think a scrolling marque, or some other scripted text message appearing on screen over the top of the page would work? any other ideas?!

[lammert]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld!

If I were you, I would keep the old site on-line as long as possible. It will catch visitors and they might return in the future. Whenever I see an "under construction", "coming soon" or similar message I know I won't visit that site ever again because my experience is that on most sites that message will stay for months or even years before the new content is uploaded.

[thelady]

Hi - thanks for that! The problem is that I am applying for some affiliate based programs, and am being turned down because of the site. However, the new style site should receive a more favourable response. That's why I wanted to put the new front page up, and maybe just a pop-up or something that came on and said something like "this site is undergoing maintenance and some or all of the links may be temporarily unavailable". What do you think?

[TheDoctor]

Do not have links that are unavailable - under any circumstances.

While your site is being transformed, let the visitors see the mixed design. It won't so any harm and it might do you some good.

[rj87uk]

I think you have to remember and plan everything out, dont rush things. Stop applying for them untill your site is done - well thats what i would do.

[thelady]

thank everyone for the advice - it's been helpful. I'll let you know when the site is changed :-}