As a leading Charlotte web design agency, Alter Imaging makes sure that your site is functioning correctly. Occasionally visitors will land on page that is no longer available. This doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does occur, it’s best to be prepared. An example could be a promotional page. At the time, this page was a destination to learn more about a particular promotion. The viewer decided to save the page in their favorites and view the page later. Well, it’s later and they land on the page and receive an error.
When this happens, it’s best that there is a custom 404 page implemented. When developing a new website or updating it, it’s important to consider creating a custom 404 Error Page. There are a number of reasons why errors occur, be prepared in case your users experience them.
This article is going to explore their benefits and why you want to make sure your sites incorporate one. Do not lose visitors because your existing generic 404 page does not direct them back to your content. A bad experience on your site the first time they visit could drive them away forever. By putting in place a customized 404 Error Page can aid in keeping users on your page.
Broken and out of date links can result in 404 errors on your page but there are steps that you can put in place to keep them on your site. While it might not be very sexy, the 404 Error Page lends an opportunity for you to extend your brand into a zone that is otherwise as bland as the generic aisle at the grocery store. You can load up customized graphics that are branded with your company’s logo. It could also be a chance to be humorous or offer up a little comic relief, which is probably not a bad idea, considering that the reason why people have arrived is because something did not work properly.
Users are usually more pleased with a joke in those instances than a grey page that says something is wrong. Who can blame them? By creating a custom page, visitors will more likely push the back button or links on this page, rather than leaving the site all together and potentially visit a competitor’s site.
Renny Gleeson did a great TED talk on taking a creative approach with 404 pages that I found very interesting.
It’s sometimes overlooked, so take advantage of the technology to solve the problem of 404 Errors for you and the visitors of your site. There are content management systems (CMS) that allow you to create customized error pages for the visitors to the site. Keeping visitors on your site can be as easy as incorporating a script that redirects users to the site or content they were previously viewing.
It’s important to keep visitors on your site and eliminate the possibility of them leaving because of a simple mistake that can be easily addressed. Don’t miss a chance to retain users and keep driving traffic. Create a custom 404 Error Page for the websites; your visitors will thank you.