htaccess file: “ErrorDocument 404 /404.html”. Just open up a text editor, such as Notepad, and name the file “.htaccess”. htaccess file, just take a look in the root directory for your website using your usual FTP client. Step 1: Creating or finding the “.htaccess” file: To find your. htaccess can have many functions these are the steps to create your 404 page. htaccess file in root directory of a WordPress install htaccess, including how to find it or create one, check out our guide here. htaccess file, or create one.Īpache web servers use “.htaccess” file to let users customise their web server configurations at the directory level. For more details on. To start, you’ll need to either find your websites. The overwhelming majority of web servers use Apache software, so we’ll run through the apache method for redirection. What we want to do is ensure that if anyone ever visits a page (URL) on your website that doesn’t exist, the server will always display back your helpful 404 page. This probably sounds a bit more complicated than it is. There are plugins available that make things even easier, without the need to touch any code.įor full details on 404 pages for WordPress, check out this complete guide over at Elegant Themes.Ĭonfigure the server to redirect to your custom 404 page The process is a little different if use WordPress. Then upload your page to the root directory of your server/web space. What you name your 404 page is important. Remember to include a light-hearted message explaining why a visitor has landed on this page, a search box so they can find what they are looking for, and perhaps a sitemap so the user can choose to navigate elsewhere. The process starts by designing a standard web page, and including all the elements you require for your 404 page. Instead, explain the problem in a casual and light-hearted way. Besides, perhaps a link on your website sent your visitor there in the first place!Īs mentioned, creating a custom 404 page does require a little coding and design, and unless you have some experience with coding web pages, it’s maybe best left to your web designer. Whilst your visitor may have entered an incorrect link, do not blame the visitor for the error. You can do this by providing links to important and popular sections of the site like recent posts, subscriptions, contact us, etc. Now your task is to offer alternative courses of action to the visitor. You know that a 404 error page is like a dead end. This enables the lost visitor to search for what they are looking for on the site. Remember, one of the primary reasons why we’re creating a custom 404 page is to replace the blunt and annoying “page cannot be displayed” message with something which is less likely to chase away visitors.Īlso, ensure to place a search box at a prominent location in your custom 404 page. Now, before we go about creating your custom 404 error page, there are some things that you need to keep in mind: ![]() Check out our range of web hosting plans here. If you’re reading this and haven’t already got hosting for your website, we can help with that. You begin by creating a new webpage on your site (either on your CMS such as WordPress, or a regular HTML page/PHP script). More on truly excellent 404 pages at the end of this article…Ĭreating a custom 404 page is fairly easy but does require a little coding and design. If you create a truly unique, engaging, amusing 404 page, visitors will want to tell the world. ![]() This way you encourage your user to keep browsing.ĭifficult to achieve, but possible. Provide a site search option or a site map link. Otherwise, they’ll have to go all the way back to the homepage and rummage through the site’s contents to find what they are looking for (if they stay at all).īy making the 404 page friendly and welcoming, you can ease your visitor’s frustration, rather than increasing it with a blunt “Error” pasted across the page.Ĭustomise the error page to make it resemble the other pages of the site. Include a set of links to popular pages on your site and try to tempt a lost visitor to continue browsing. There are many advantages to be had by creating a custom 404 page for the website, some of which include: On the other hand, a friendly and engaging 404 page will help prevent your visitor from exiting your page and encourage them to check out other sections of the site, effectively decreasing bounce rates. Thus, an unfriendly and blunt 404 page may result in visitors being dissatisfied or annoyed with the site’s user interface and cause them to swiftly exit your site. It essentially forms a dead-end for the visitor, since they can do nothing else but return to the homepage or go to a different site. 404 is an error that is displayed when the server fails to locate the page or file that the user requests.
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