404 error page Design also to meet the user experience

Article Description: We have previously explained the cause of the 404 error pages, and once the visitors have entered the 404 page, they probably don't know what to do next. The pages they are searching for may have been shifted, so you should help them find it as much as possible, or the pages they are looking for may have been deleted, which means they are likely to leave your site unless you can motivate them to stay

We have previously explained the cause of the 404 error pages, and once the visitors have entered the 404 page, they probably don't know what to do next. The pages they are searching for may have been shifted, so you should help them find it as much as possible, or the pages they are looking for may have been deleted, which means they are likely to leave your site unless you can motivate them to stay.

There are a number of things you can do to improve your error page, and we list some of the following creative and enlightening suggestions:

1. No need to use professional terminology

The use of the word "404 error" has always been very normative, but that is not the reason why you scare away visitors with your jargon. The idea of "not finding a Web page" is more accurate and easier to accept than that.

2. Don't blame the visitors

Your visitors are likely to be linked from other websites or from an old link on your site. It's not their fault to see this error page, so treat them kindly. Write the words with apologies and try to provide helpful help, rather than some words that make the visitors feel bad.

3. Prompt visitors to check their spelling mistakes

Another possibility: visitors see the 404 error page because they have misspelled their own URL URLs. Prompt visitors to check their spelling, but don't be rude. As we mentioned above, your words should not make the visitors feel that you are blaming them.

4. , let the page title return a 404 error code

Each page has a server response code. Code 200 refers to the page is all normal, 404 refers to the page can not be found. If you have specified a custom 404 error page, you need to make sure that the title of the page returns the correct response code. There are several different ways to do this, and the simplest is to use your htaccess file to specify the error page.

5, clearly that the page can not be found

Make it clear to the visitors that the page they are searching for cannot be found, and don't let the error page look too much like a normal content page (such as adding too much text and links). You want to show that this is a wrong page, so don't be shy about declaring it to your visitors.

6. Help visitors find what they need

The 404 error page is already present in front of the visitor, indicating that the page is not what they are searching for. So you should try to help them find the original page. Make sure your error page contains an option to help users find the page they want, and even include links to pages that have recently been changed.

7, place the website homepage the link

Don't let visitors have nowhere to go or find information about your site. At least there should be a link back to your site home page. As a result, visitors from other sites can get to know you and your site, and they may even find something they like on your site.

8, allow visitors to easily feedback information

If a visitor clicks on a wrong link on your site, you will want to know about the link failure. If you give them a quick way to provide feedback via 404 pages, let them report the failure so you can solve it. This only takes a very short form to prompt the visitor to tell you which page and which link they are from. In this way, you can get all the information you need.

Visitors may still be confused and bothered by the inability to find the page they want, so give them a place to vent and give you a chance to respond and help. This is likely to save you a potential customer.

9, to maintain the brand's unified style and feeling

We've all seen very cool "let visitors find a huge" Easter egg "bug page design case. But do not make this page design and other pages of your site is too big, otherwise it will look like this page is not the design of your site, visitors will be confused, mistakenly think that they have been taken to an external site.

10, translated into the language used by the visitors

If your site is multilingual, the 404 error page will get the error message from all your language versions of the site. Whether you want to display any information, you need to translate it into various language versions so that everyone can understand it. You will also need to provide a link to return to the language version of the site that the visitor corresponds to.

11, let the visitors search for what they want

If a visitor is visiting a page that has been moved, you may want to give them a way to search where the page has been moved, and consider adding a search box to the page.

12, repair your invalid link

If you get data that shows a large number of visitors visiting your 404 pages (check your site's Analytics data to determine the number), this indicates that there are many invalid links on your site. You can completely prevent visitors from entering 404 pages by fixing these links. Web site testing tools like Sitebeam and Nibbler can help check if there are invalid links so you can quickly find and fix them without waiting for someone else to tell you.

13, do not redirect to the home page

Some 404 error pages are immediately redirected to the site's home page, which is very bad. Your visitors do not know that they have linked to the wrong page, and they will be confused because they are chained back to the homepage of the website for no reason.