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Create_custom_error_pages_and_keep_your_visitors
| Create custom error pages and keep your visitors!
HTTP 404 - File not found is a browser error message that we've
all grown to know and hate. On a number of search engines, it
gets to a stage where we feel that all their links will return
this result? How is this happening, who is to blame and how do
we fix it?
On reviewing my server logs, I had noticed around 1% of all
requests from my site will return this HTTP error code. One of
the reasons for it was a stupid mistake I made around 6 months
ago. I wasn't happy with the naming of a couple of my files, so
I renamed them without considering the consequences:
- The files had been on my site for a few days
- During that time a couple of search engine bots had crawled
through the pages. A search engine bot is a software program
that scours web sites for content and returns the results to a
search engine database. The search engine interface feeds off
this to return links and descriptions to surfers when they have
entered their search criteria
- Since I changed the names of the files after the bot went
through, the pages in their original state no longer "existed".
- The search engine query results reflect the database entries,
pointing to the wrong filename, visitor clicks on the result -
404.... aaaaaaaaargh!
It would appear that some search engines only update their
results once or twice a year, such is the hugeness of the task
of spidering the web these days. Last month, the percentage of
requests to my site that resulted in this HTTP error code was
2%, the previous month to that - slightly higher. While I am
happy that this is reducing, I am kicking myself that I didn't
think things through six months ago - we live and we learn. 404
errors may also be caused through a malformed browser request
(user error - wrong URL typed into address bar)
Save yourself the shame and embarassment (and homicidal thoughts
directed at you from frustrated potential visitors) - plan your
site carefully before you promote to search engines.
If you do or have found yourself in the same situation as me,
there is something that you can do about it (dependant upon your
hosting service set up). Instead of a visitor being directed to
those rather horrible "file not found" pages, you can create
custom error pages. Here is an example:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/aaaargh The above link is
incomplete which triggers a 404 response on my server.
By implementing custom error pages, you have a good chance of
retaining the visitor, especially if you include the standard
navigation buttons. It also acts as a means of apologising to
the visitor for the inconvenience. It isn't just 404 error
messages that you can apply this to. There are a number of error
code returns that you could customise, all with the goal of
alleviating visitor stress and encouraging them to further
explore your site. A listing of http error codes can be viewed
here:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/educat/ errcode.htm
Creating custom error pages:
-You may want to check with your hosting service first before
creating custom error pages as certain hosting configurations
may not allow you to create custom error pages.
-first design and publish the pages to your web space. You'll
only really need to design a couple for the more common errors,
for file not found (404) or unauthorised/forbidden (403, 401).
Your custom error pages should have a brief summary of what went
wrong and an encouragement for the visitor to try again or
explore a different area of the site. The best custom error
pages are those that match the site's other pages in navigation
and layout.
-After publishing the pages, you'll need to edit the .htaccess
file in the root directory of your server based web (not your
local copy) . Use the Edit utility (set to ASCII transfer mode)
in your FTP program to view the file. The .htaccess file
contains a number of settings to control who can access the
contents of a specific directory and how much access they have.
It can also be used to create a "URL Redirect".
-If you have a FrontPage based web, be especially careful, as
the .htaccess file contains other settings as well.
-If you don't find a .htaccess file, you can create your own,
but once again, check with your hosting service first.
-Add the following lines to the end of the file (examples
provided as a guideline alter path and file names to point
towards your error pages)
ErrorDocument 404 http://blah/blah/404.htm ErrorDocument 403
http://blah/blah/403.htm ErrorDocument 401
http://blah/blah/401.htm
Custom error pages are simple to produce, help you to increase
your site traffic and encourage better visitor/customer
relations.
Michael Bloch michael@tamingthebeast.net
http://www.tamingthebeast.net Tutorials, web content and tools,
software and community. Web Marketing, eCommerce & Development
solutions. ____________________________
Copyright information....If you wish to reproduce this article,
please acknowledge "Taming the Beast" by including a hyperlink
reference to the website (http://www.tamingthebeast.net) & send
me an email letting me know. The article must be reproduced in
it's entirety & this copyright statement must be included.
Thanks. Visit www.tamingthebeast.net to view other great
articles FREE for reproduction!
About the author:
Michael is an Australian Information Technologies trainer and
web developer. Many other free web design, ecommerce development
and Internet articles, tutorials, tools and resources are
available from his award winning site; Taming the Beast.net
(http://www.tamingthebeast.net)
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