GEEK QUEEN
Why A 404 Page Is Important & How To Customise It
Jenny Marsden • Dec 09, 2019
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Customising your 404 Page
In Geek speak, a 404 error is when a visitor to your website tries to access a page that doesn't exist. Most commonly, they may either manually type in an incorrect URL or they click on a broken link. When that happens a 404 error is returned and without a customised 404 page they might see something like this error below.
This is not only pretty ugly it can be a little scary to some visitors and you might immediately loose them as potential customers.
By creating your own customised 404 error page you can reassure them that it's not some horrible spam virus and encourage them to click further into your website. You can also take this opportunity to reinforce you brand style and personality with your 404 error page.
Some great 404 custom pages
There are some really great 404 pages available around the web. Here are some examples of what you can do with your own customised 404 page.
The little girl actually drops her ice cream and while I'm not quite sure what a little girl with ice cream has to do with holiday accommodation, it is amusing. The link below will show you her in action.
This one above by Car Wow
a UK company has an actual game you can play. Simply click the "Start" text and use your arrow keys to drive the car around boulders and other traffic. I got sucked down the rabbit hole for about 15 mins but it was really fun!
How to customise your 404 page.
Fortunately on the platform I use, 404 pages are really easy to customise and this video below will explain how to do it. It might take a little bit of planning and research to fully embrace the style and theme you would like to portray, however as long as it is
- reassuring to your clients,
- reinforces your brand &
- enables your visitor to easily move on
If you are not one of my clients but your web provider uses Duda as a platform this video will also show you how to customise your 404 page.
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About Jenny
I started my IT career in Database Administration and .Net coding. While I LOVED that work, I realised very quickly that I also wanted a life. To be a top end coder or DB Admin, you have to comit your downtime to constantly learning and evolving and while that is also something I love, I wanted it to be my work and not my life. So I morphed my love of design with my knowledge of all things SEO and moved into building small business websites.
Why small business websites? I'm a small business myself and I know how hard it can be so I wanted to give my clients a great service, with an approachable point of contact where no question was a "stupid question".
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If you are considering designing and developing your small business website yourself, there are a few considerations you should be aware of. Check out my list of what to think about when doing your own DIY website Vs getting a professional web design expert.
Things you can do and that I will be doing in response to Google's latest Web Core Vitals update.
