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You have just launched your website online and rest calm that it is now freely accessible to the Internet audience? However, what if the hosting server goes down for a while or the user mistypes your domain, or a link is accidentally broken? In none of the cases will your visitors be able to access your website, seeing generic non-user-friendly error messages instead of any original web page of yours. This is where the so-called custom error pages come in force.
What is a Custom Error Page?
Custom error pages are specifically created to fill in the gap between your website and its visitors in the event of a problem with the website accessibility. They are standard HTML pages intended to help website owners make their own customized version of the standard system error message pages, which appear by default when a website is temporary unavailable and often lead to visitors frustration. This way, their main purpose is to inform visitors of the current problem and take them quickly to the web page they are searching for, if possible.
Why set a Custom Error Page?
Custom error pages can be customized to such an extent so as to appear that they are an integrate part of your website. You can set up an error page to feature the theme layout of your website, including a custom message that explains to your visitors in a simple, non-technical language what the current status of the page they are trying to visit is and how or when it can be accessed. With a clearly set message your visitors will stay interested with your website instead of feeling lost on their way to finding it. Why lose your visitors instead of keeping them in the game with a few simple actions.
How to Create Error Pages?
Generally, it would be fine to set a universal custom error page for all types of situations. However, it would be wiser to use different custom error messages for the most common website availability problems. This will considerably raise the orientation effect they have on your visitors.
Making helpful error pages is as easy as setting a simple HTML page with a WYSIWYG editor. Actually, it is even easier! Simply select the standard error messages you'd like to customize, rephrase them the way you like, then get a ready HTML file with your basic site design layout and insert the custom error message into its <body> section. That's it.
To further enhance your custom error page informativeness, it is recommended to add some navigation elements to the page, such as a simplified site map, a drop-down menu with links to the main pages of your website, or even a simple site search box.
Custom Error Pages with NTC Hosting
The Custom Error Pages tool integrated into all plans offered by NTC Hosting will allow you to set your custom error page in a matter of seconds. You will have 3 basic options at hand – to select the default error page set by the host, to set a standard system Apache page or to include your own custom error message in the standard error page. The choice is yours.