Marketing with 404 Pages

While checking my site’s visibility through a search engine, I was horrified by some of the links. They were outdated, pages I discarded that now led potential visitors to a dead end rather than to my site.

My assumption, as a Web site creator, was that once I deemed a page to be useless, I could simply press a button to delete the page from the Web host’s server, and all would be right with the world. But it doesn’t work that way on the Internet.

The page is still “out there,” bookmarked in computers and cyberspace. Don’t ask me how or why regarding the latter. It’s difficult for small and solo business owners to keep their heads above water. Understanding the Internet’s complexities is a course in itself and a subject too broad for this space.

When someone attempts to access a page that’s no longer online, they see a 404 page message. We’re familiar with this. It’s a message stating that the page no longer exists. It’s also a lost opportunity to capture Web visitors, because the page does not provide a link to your site’s home page. What’s a solo business owner to do?

Entrepreneur Magazine’s February issue includes a short article by Catherine Seda on the subject. She suggests that you create a duplicate home page of that soon-to-be discarded page.

By incorporating your site’s look and feel, as well as site navigation, visitors are quickly reassured that they’ve got the right company.

Rather than turning the page into a hard sell that repels the potential buyer, add links to your newsletter and content, which creates a comfortable environment that naturally convinces the person to explore and consider buying.

That’s what I’ve done to my discarded pages. I reclaimed the deleted URLs (just create a page in your software with the dead URL address), copied and pasted my home page’s content, and uploaded the pages. The difference on these pages is a sentence at the top of each stating something similar to:

“Welcome to the site. Although you’ve reached a page that no long exists, you’ll find informative materials on this subject. Review and click links in the left column, subscribe to our newsletter, and bookmark this site to return for updates and ideas.”

Re-routing potential buyers is an important marketing task, so reviewing your site with search engine help is a project to consider ASAP.

Marketing dilemmas never end. Thank goodness this solution is easier than most.

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January 19, 2007 | Filed Under Online Ideas, Problems & Solutions, Recent Entries 

Comments

2 Responses to “Marketing with 404 Pages”

  1. Flora Morris Brown on January 24th, 2007 8:08 pm

    Thanks so much for sharing this technique for dealing with those 404 pages. It seemed a complex dilemma until you revealed this excellent way of dealing with it.

  2. Shirley George Frazier on January 30th, 2007 9:27 am

    Others may have a different way of bringing customers to their sites through re-channeling 404 pages, but for me, this was the easiest way.

    Easy is a necessity when you work alone.

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