Customizing 404 Error Pages

In the previous post I spoke about how to find out if you have any bad links on your website.  Today I want to discuss customizing your error pages.

Unless someone has already configured a custom 404 error page (document not found), the visitor's browser will display a screen that looks something like this:

This will definitely halt your visitor in their tracks and will probably scare them away to the next site.  The good news is that you can customize these error pages and direct the visitor back into your site.

When customizing your error page, you should include the following information:

• A simple explanation of what has happened
• Some basic navigation like a Home or Site Map link
• A link to the Contact Us page

For those of you out there who are technically inclined, you can also add a search box for the visitor to use.

The actual mechanics of creating these custom pages is not too difficult, but slightly outside the scope of this blog.  The details depend on the type of web server you are using and if your host has provided an easy method to create these pages.  So your starting point should be the control panel of your hosting account.  If you strike out there, send an e-mail to your hosting company and ask them for the instructions for their particular web server.

Lastly, for some additional information on his topic, please check out www.404-error-page.com/