We’ve all stumbled on them. we’ve all clicked a link on another site or via Google (other search engines are available) and landed on them. They can be frustrating… but they don’t have to be! In fact, they can be used to engage your site visitor, even converting them in to a customer. How? Read on.
When someone clicks on your website from a referral link or a Google search, they expect to land on a specific page, article or post.
But what happens when that page is no longer there and no redirect has been added to safely usher you through to where your visitor intended? Or of course, sometimes your site visitors will ‘get lost’ by themselves – its easy done, it only takes a typo if not using a populated link!
Often you site visitor will be greeted with a plain old, bog standard, non helpful 404 page. Urghh.
But what happens when a 404 error greets them instead of the post they thought they were heading to?
The visitor will often bounce. They don’t come back because your content , or more importantly, the content they were looking for isn’t there.
Every site has trouble with 404 errors. It’s just the nature of the business.
So what the solution? Customer 404 pages. So easy to do but often overlooked by designers. And don’t be fooled into thinking only ‘big’ sites have them. No matter what size your site or what service/product you provide, a custom designed 404 page will keep your visitor on site instead of frustrating them…. and they’re gone.
Heres a few examples:
https://www.cats-cradle-cattery.com/cat
https://www.harmoni-boutique.co.uk/coat
https://www.markeatongardencentre.co.uk/can
https://www.onlinedesignuk.co.uk/tap
You’ll notice on each ‘error’ page not only do we provide easy links/navigation or a search to get visitors quickly back to where they need to be, but we try to be lighthearted about the fact they’ve taken a wrong turn – whether that be our fault or theres. Its a simple way to keep (and good web etiquette I might add) a customer on your site and not leave in frustration.
To test if you have a custom 404 page, simple visit your website and add /pingpong at the end of the site address -or and garbled text. So for example:
ww.yourwebsite.co.uk/pingpong
Not got a custom 404 page… speak to your developer… or us!
Website Designers in Derby since 1999 – 01332 460064
