Posts Tagged ‘404 error page’
July 20th, 2009 | 
Author: Appearance, Usability and Search Engine Visibility are vital to any Web design and E-commerce enterprise. To achieve and maintain these qualities, website creators have to be focused, plan, implement and update regularly.
The importance of website accessibility is often underestimated. Here are some common blunders, which can easily be avoided.
1. Missing search function tools – Website users like to save time and prefer using a search function, instead of browsing through an entire website to find what they are looking for.
2. Slow download time – Not all Internet users have a high speed Internet connection. If your site takes too long to download, your followers may go elsewhere.
3. Non-scannable content – Most Web users do not read entire pages. They scan for keywords and interesting, eye catching phrases. If you leve out features such as headings, link text, bold text, bulleted lists and short paragraphs, your site may become boring and will soon be deserted.
4. Unrecognizable link text – Knowing where to find the next article, shopping cart, check-out, or payment page is vital to website success. Make your links visible, because not every visitor likes to go treasure hunting! Avoid confusion by:
” Keeping non-link text in the same colour.
” Separating text-based-links from graphic-based links.
5. Badly designed 404 Error pages – 404 Error messages occur when a page or URL has been moved or removed, or when a user types in an incorrect URL. When you have to set up a 404 error page follow the following guidelines:
” It is unlikely that all Web users know what a 404 error message means. Therefore, title the page in a way everyone understands.
” Explain why there is an error and that the user is not at fault.
” Offer a call-to-action solution. Include links to the previous or home page, site map, and frequently visited pages.
6. Unclear visited links – Web users prefer to know which pages they have already visited when exploring a new site. Website designers achieve this by making visited links change colour, e.g. from blue to purple.
7. Do not use frames – Using frames has many disadvantages, such as:
” URL’s and pages cannot be bookmarked,
” Pages can be unprintable
” The back, refresh and history buttons do not always work
” Across frames, visited links do not change colour
8. Links stay on the current page – When main- and sub-navigation links are not disabled users are stuck on a page and cannot use the back-button. It is confusing and annoying.
9. Do not hide important information in images – If you have a message to convey, do not incorporate it into your pictures.
10. Exploring unconventional Web designs – Users do not have time to learn how to navigate through new, difficult or eccentric websites. They simply want to get their information, or order their goods.
Avoiding or correcting these simple mistakes can make a tremendous difference in the success of your website and business. Further, this will decrease you time on site and bounce rates which will effect your SEO camapign. Also, test your site frequently and keep your content fresh!
Revium is a leading web development agency in Melbourne. Revium have been in the web development for 12 years and are experiencing terrific results.
Article Source: Web Development – Common Web Usability Mistakes
Have you ever visited a website, but typed in the wrong url after the domain name? What did you see?
Chances are you saw a generic page that said something like, “The page cannot be displayed,” or “Not Found,” or “The requested URL was not found on this server.”
This is what is more commonly known as the 404 Error Page. It’s the page that shows up by default when someone ‘accidentally’ types in the address of the page they are looking for on your site incorrectly.
Now, in many cases, it truly happens by mistake. However, in many other instances, people end up on this page because they are snooping around trying to look for your download page or thank you page without having to pay or opt-in. Kind of shady, but people do it.
Why, not capitalize on it whether they are doing it purposely or they are truly ending up there by accident.
If you have your own website and it gets traffic, some of your visitors are ending up on that page. Now, if they are seeing the generic message that their browser shows them when it happens, then you are not making good use of your web real estate.
404 Secrets.
Every page of your website can put money in your pocket.
Even your 404 error page. You can customize that page just like any other page on your website.
Some ideas to utilize on that page include:
-Making an special offer at a discounted price.
-Having it be a squeeze page.
-Making it an Adsense page.
-Redirecting it to a related affiliate product.
Those are just a few of the many different, yet profitable types of ways you can make good use of your 404 error page.
It won’t make you rich, but it definitely will put some extra money in your account. Maybe it will help you pay one of your bills, or you can just reinvest it into your business.
Either way, if you don’t customize this page, you can be leaving money on the table. Having something for your visitors to see that end up on that page is extremely more beneficial to you then not having anything on that page.
Here’s to making good use of every page on your website.
404 Secrets.
If you want to learn even more effective methods to make the most of your 404 Error Pages, then make sure you visit 404 Secrets.
Article Source: Do your error pages make you money?
SEO campaign strategy can be an exciting stage in the website building process. As a lot of websites are looking to optimize their page, however, finding a creative edge is becoming more and more of a challenge. One way to add an extra creative aspect to your site is to make an awesome 404 error page.
404 error pages are often forgotten and get no attention, but what people fail to realize, is that it’s a page just like any other page on a site. It has the potential to be seen by visitors and it can generate traffic and awareness for your site.
First, a funny, interactive, and or unique 404 page can generate a buzz for your site. Some sites make it onto blog posts about creative custom 404 error pages simply because they have a 404 page that the blog writer found interesting. People may find a 404 error page they like and send the link to their friends, family members and co-workers. The viral marketing opportunity in a good 404 page can bring in traffic otherwise not seen by a website. 404 error pages are also important vehicles to carry a site’s branding strategy. An effective 404 error page should have the same look & feel of the rest of the site, following through on the branding strategy. What’s more, the 404 error page has a lot of freedom to have it’s own “voice”. If your company is fun loving, for example, a funny and interactive 404 page can strengthen that trait. Make your 404 error page work for you.
In conclusion, when a lot of work is put into building a functional and aesthetically pleasing site, don’t forget to unlock the power of the 404 error page.
http://seotricksguide.info/2009/03/adding-your-404-page-to-your-seo-strategy/
http://affiliate-marketeing.blogspot.com/
http://web-designtricks.blogspot.com/
Article Source: Adding Your 404 Page to Your SEO Strategy
A search engine friendly website with unique content is an extremely important asset for to have more traffic and success on the internet. Cluttered and unorganized content turns people off. However without traffic, even a well designed site will not produce results for you. As people use search engines to find information, products or services which are very useful for them. So, web site owners who offer these things take necessary steps to ensure that their site gains high ranking for a particular keyword phrase or at least on the first page of results.
The best websites are those that are both attractive and easy to use for an online user. Web site owners should keep in mind that site is for end users, not for search engines and also target the audience with the content they are looking for is convenient for the search engine robots that are trying to find and collect data from your site.
There are few things to look for when designing new sites or optimizing an existing site.
1)Web Content: Web sites should always be designed with your target audience in mind with unique content which should be readable and insert between 200-500 words of rich search engine friendly content on each of your site pages.
2)Site Navigation: Ensure that each and every page of your site has clear navigation. It’s frustrating for users to click on something and encounter the dreaded 404 Error Page Not Found.
3)Title, Meta keyword and Description Tags: The title tag is extremely important to both search engine users and search engine spiders, if it’s not optimized properly, than you’ve lost a vital source for high rankings. The information in Meta keyword and description tags can influence how search engines view your site, and optimally the description that you write will show up in search engine listings, so try keep it clean with useful tags.
4)Search engine spider cannot understand the text written on images. So, try to avoid flash animations, java objects and dynamic contents. Create alternate navigation using anchor text if your website is JS menu drive or contains flash menus.
5)Create sitemap links to important pages as sitemap act as alternate access point to website and dynamic pages should be converted into search engine safe URL’s using various tools.
6)Avoid using frames as search engine spiders have difficulty in index websites using frames and create rich content information rather than doorway pages.
By following the above guidelines will be helpful to design search engine friendly website and can provide website rankings among the top search engines.
Article Source: Some Tips For Search Engine Friendly Website Design!