Error 404 Page –Tips on How to Turn it into an Opportunity

Everyone who has been online would have stumbled upon the dreaded 404 error page. This is often a frustrating experience for users when they are trying to reach a certain page and see this message. This could be due to an expired promotion or some website updates were performed and inbound links were forgotten in the old format.

Whatever, the reason, when a visitor lands on error 404 page, there is no navigation, no merchandising, no branding, nothing at all to indicate what visitors should do next besides hitting the back button. This unfriendly error page loses prospective customers. While you can take steps to rectify this error, but it is important to make sure that you have an interactive 404 error page in place to help your visitors find what they are looking for in the event they encounter this error.

Here are some tips to turn an error into an opportunity.

Transform That Frown into a Smile

Extraordinary utilisation of diversion will help lighten the visitor’s state of mind. They will comprehend your self-criticism at not being able to provide the data they were searching for, and in addition the endeavour to perk them up. Many visitors stick around on a website which shows 404 pages in a humours and creative way. However, these pages should be accompanied by helpful links or search box to guide visitors to other website pages.

Enhance On-Site SEO

Experts say that inbound links are an awesome approach to enhance your page rank in search engines. However, the question is how. Here are some tips how it can help to do that. The first thing you need to do is, post a link to your website’s homepage with a goal so that the visitor’s can begin their browsing session all over again. Second being, share your latest blog posts or promotional discount on landing pages. The third option is to, give visitors a selection of links from your main product categories or services to browse through.

Design Creatively

The 404 error page is a special kind of page that can be customised to provide visitors what they are looking for. 404 custom pages are special kind of pages which is free from other rules governing web design. You can get as creative as you can be by displaying branded animations, artwork or anything that promotes your brand value and images in an artistic and interactive manner. You can find various customised and interactive error 404 pages of various companies and take inspiration from them. For example, e-commerce websites can add categories of their products or a gaming website can invite the visitors to play a game or you can go for an apologetic graphics and easy navigation on your error 404 page.

Use Simple Text

The language used on 404 error pages is abstract and cold and most visitors do not understand it. They see it as being blamed for doing something wrong. However, a custom error 404 page reassures visitors and shows them there are people behind the websites who are working to make it interactive. The people working have the courtesy to tell visitors in simple text what the problem is as well as guide them elsewhere on the website.

Covert into Landing Page

In case your company has merged with another company, you can customise the error 404 page to inform people of the new products available. Even for small companies, which do not undergo big changes, this 404 error page is a valuable digital area where you can promote your latest products and services and allow visitors to stay longer.

There are numerous helpful and imaginative courses in which you can transform your visitors’ disappointment into a fervour by designing a custom 404 page. Along these lines, there is no reason why you should give the browser a chance to choose what your prospects see on your page any longer.

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