Fixing 404 Errors
In my post yesterday I wrote about taking 404 errors and using them to your advantage, in this post I want to build on that and talk about tracking down 404 problems and fixing them.
What is A 404 and Why Fix It?
404 is the error returned by web servers to browsers if a file cannot be found. This is a standard error and is usually a dead-end on a website.
We need to fix certain 404 errors because people are coming to your site expecting to find content but are getting errors instead, this does not look good to fickle blog readers, the slightest thing can make people unsubscribe or not come back to your site.
Finding 404 Errors
How do you find what URLS are causing 404 errors on your site? You look in your logs. You should have a log file of all the accesses of your site, these will show what page, the referer, what user agent (browser) and many more things. The thing we are interested in is the http return code, searching for 404 will show your problem URLS.
Each hosting provider will have a different config for their logs, please refer to their documentation on how to review your access logs.
Here is a sample from my log file, I have highlighted the 404 error message and the page/post name.
“150.70.xxx.xxx – - [19/Nov/2009:10:28:25 -0700] “GET /hire-me HTTP/1.0″ 404 17600 “-” “Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)”
Here I can see that there was a file not found error trying to retrieve the page hire-me. This is not good, a potential client is getting a 404 because I have renamed that particular page.
Fixing That Problem
Once I find a 404 error I want to fix it by redirecting to a live page. I know what you are thinking, he is about to tell us about a plugin after he had us ferreting about in our log files, you are quite correct, and it’s only because I care and want to give you a holistic view of your 404 problems that I asked you to look in your logs 
Redirection Plugin
I use a plugin called redirection which (as the name suggests) redirects URLs to other URLS. Check it out at http://urbangiraffe.com/plugins/redirection/
The beauty of this plugin is that it has a 404 detection function. Using that I can very quickly find out which URLs are causing me problems and then fix them. Below is a screenshot of my 404 for today.
Both of these URLs are ones I have renamed, I want to fix the 404 errors by redirecting them to the new page.
301 Redirection
Using the redirection plugin I can set up a URL interceptor which will capture all visits to the 404 URL and do a 301 redirect to a new page or post. 301 redirects are cool if the visitor came from a search engine, because next time you site is indexed, the incorrect URL will be updated to the new one.
See It In Action
I have setup a redirection for /hire-me, see what happens if you click on
http://wpdude.com/hire-me (hint check the browsser bar for the new URL)
Don’t Fix Them All
If people are getting 404s because of typos or things like that I do not recommend creating redirects, only redirect things which are real issues like renamed pages
404 No-More
Get your 404 errors fixed, it makes you look more click and professional with an increased chance of subscription or other action.
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Turn A 404 Error To Your Advantage
The dreaded 404 error is the scourge of most websites, in this blog posts I want to tell you how to re-purpose the 404 error and use it to your advantage.
What Is A 404 Error
404 is the error returned by web servers to browsers if a file cannot be found. This is a standard error and is usually a dead-end on a website.
Why Are 404s Returned?
You site will return a 404 for one of the following reasons:
- Typo in the URL e.g. wpdude.com/aboutt instead of wpdude.com/about
- The pages really does not exist e.g. wpdude.com/how-to-build-joomla-sites
- You created the page, it got into the search engines indexes, then you took it down
- You renamed the page
Create a Custom 404 page
Most WordPress themes have a page called 404.php, this is designed to handle any file not found errors and display a dull yet nicely themed message saying you went to the wrong page. What I want to suggest is that you take this page, and transform it into a springboard to other live pages on your site.
Editing 404.php required some coding skill, if you feel up to it, put on your code monkey hat, order a dozen pizzas, loose your social skills and follow me.
Add A Search Box
Why not add a search box to your 404 page this gives people the chance to search your posts for the title they want. Here is the code to add a basic search box to your 404.php file.
<form id="searchform" method="get" action="/index.php">
<div>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" /><br />
<input type="submit" value="Search" />
</div>
</form>
Contact
Another good way to springboard people to the content they want, or to bring your attention to the problem is to add a contact form. I use the plugin contact form 7, which does not support forms in themes, so I provide an email address to contact me on.
Give Up Your Pillar Content
Why not give them something excellent ot read anyway, give them a list of your pillar content or your most popular posts. In my case I am using the popularity contest post plugins to display my most popular posts judged by the number of times a post has been read. To do this I add the following php command to my 404.php file:
akpc_most_popular()
See It In Action
I have implemented these on my own 404.php file you can see this in action by visiting wpdude.com/zzzzzz
Don’t Make The 404 A Deadend
A 404 is usually a dead-end, the wrong page to be on. Why not repurpose this into a useful experience for your site visitor. Push them to your key content or give them a call to action so they can find what they want, small actions like this turn casual visitors into subscribers.
If you need help implementing a useful 404 page, please contact me via my service page.
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Plugin Review: After the Deadline
I was griping the other day on Twitter that the default spell checker that comes with WordPress throws a typo up for each instance of WordPress I type, this irony was not lost on me.
When I shake my fist at the universe and have a good old grump on Twitter, I usually find someone who will tell me a solution, this time I was not disappointed.
Stop The Presses
I have found a replacement for the standard visual editor spell checker, and this is called After The DeadLine. The name comes from a review process the Times runs which picks up and highlights typos, grammatical errors and style errors which have gone to print, the deadline has gone, so the errors were published.
Letter To The Editor
After the deadline has been acquired recently by Automattic the lovely people who wrote WordPress, so you know it is going to be good. I’m reading between the lines here, but I guess they saw the need for a better spell check solution.
You are not going to cough up your hard-earned money to buy a solution if it is not up to par.
Hold The Front Page
After the deadline is a spell check and plugin for WordPress with a little more added on, it also has a grammar checker and a style guide.
You are probably familiar with spell checkers and grammar checkers, but style guide for those of you who have not studied journalism is a standard style of writing something so it is consistent across your publication. For example if you date style if October 21st, an incorrect style would be 21st of October.
Is Your Source Reliable?
You can download After The Deadline here http://afterthedeadline.com/
Installation Insanity Ensues
Installation is a standard affair, upload th plugin to your wp-content directory and activate it. The plugin requires an API key, this is where I cam a little unstuck. I presumed since it was an Automattic plugin it would be the usual API key I use for Akismet and WordPress.com stats, but no it is a separate api that you need to register at afterthedeadline.com to retrieve.
Come on Automattic, how you make my life difficult, I am of course joking,I am sure this will be transitioned in due course, this is a fairly new acquisition for Automattic.
What The Plugin Does, More On Page 13
The plugin is a direct replacement for the existing spell checker and is activated from the visual editor by clicking on the spell check icon
The plugin will underline the perceived errors, red for typos, green for grammar and blue for style issues.
Clicking on teh highlighted word or phrase provides a drop down of suggested replacements, standard fare for a spellchecker.
My Two Cents The Weekly Column of WP Dude
I really like this replacement spell checker, it has a slicker interface, and a bigger database of words. As an Englishman, is appears to cater for my spelling style (s instead of z in words like utilise) and the style guide will help to keep my “blog voice” standardised.
Using After the deadline is more like the spellchecker of a word processors than an after thought to the visual editor. Check it out you will not be disappointed.
Other Plugins By Automattic, Struggling to Get A Print Journalism Cliche in Here
Here are some of the other excellent plugins supplied by Automattic
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10 Things To Turn Your Vanilla Install Into Double Choc Chip
An out of the box install of WordPress is okay, but you can spice up your vanilla install and make it extra tasty by following these ten steps:
1 Permalinks
The default permalink structure of WordPress has a lot to be desired, change this to a custom one and you can improve your SEO and make your posts more meaningful to search engine users. Change your default permalinks to %postname% in the custom section.
I wrote an article How To Change Your Slug For SEOon this subject.
2 Jazz Up Your Admin Account
The first user created by WordPress is usually admin, make your blog a bit more personal by giving admin a nick name, give it your name, put a personal touch to your posts. This is done from users and subscribers section.
3 Add a Liberal Dash Of Plugins
Plugins rock, they extend a dull old WordPress install and make it sing, here are my “must have” plugins
4 Put On A Pretty Dress
Figuratively speaking, don’t use dull default themes, go shopping for a new theme, if you are serious about blogging, check out a premium theme, better still check out one of the cool breed of new themes like Headway which allows you to design your own look and feel without any coding skills.
5 The Key To A Good Blog is An API Key
Stop reading and go over to wordpress.com. Create a free account and get yourself and API key, this will be used to register visits for your wordpress stats and combat comment spam.
6 Get Yourself Noticed
You’ve got a fancy new blog, now you need readers, get yourself noticed on the search engines by first getting your self indexed. Step one is to add a sitemap, a text file on your site which tells Google and Co all about your blog posts and pages, read more about sitemaps in my article Getting Your WordPress Posts Into Google Using Sitemaps
7 Set A Comment Policy
The best time to set a comment policy is when your blog is new and you have no comments. Check out How To Control You WordPress Comments
8 Feed Me, Feed Me Now
Get yourself a feedbuner account and stream yoru rss feed into it. Feedburner gives you statistics on how many people are subscribing to your blog, and how people are using the content you publish. You can setup a feedbuner account at http://feedburner.google.com.
9 Backup Your Blog
Learn how to backup and recover your blog before you have too much content.
10 Get Writing
You are thinking I couldn’t think up tenth config item so I threw in get writing, you are wrong, this is the most important item, get writting your pillar content, the important stuff for your niche, have something cool to read when your first visitors begin to arrive.
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I’m A Raving Fan Of WishList Member
The name of the game when you run an online business is trust and establishing yourself as an authority in your niche. When you work over the net as I do, chances are you will never see the people you are doing business with, most of the communication is via email, IM, Twitter or on the odd occasion via a telephone (you remember the thing on your desk that makes a noise, no not your iPod the other thing, yes that’s the one).
One of the ways I do this is to over deliver when supplying my WordPress services, it makes people talk about you and you establish a reputation as someone client focused, not just in it for a quick buck. People give you testimonials, tweet about you, tell their friends link to your site and all of that good word of mouth for the Internet age stuff.
With that in mind I am going to rave about the customer service I have just received from the tech support team at WishList Products.
I am using their membership site plugin to power the WordPress Owners Club, and I was having an issue when potential members were returned from Paypal, it was not registering their details correctly and giving people access t0 their content. A potential show stopper for me.
I dropped a tech support request onto their ticketing system, and I was very quickly given various support steps to try. None of these worked. I was then passed an incredibly detailed step by step( with videos and screen dumps) document to work through, The effort that has gone into the support docs of WishList Products is very high indeed.
Again none of this worked, the final solution, talk about going the extra mile, they requested login details and did a review of my configuration. They gave me a suggestion, which I implemented and which fixed my problem. I hasten to add it was a clash with another plugin not a bug with WishList member.
The bells and whistles on teh sales page make you buy the product, but quality after sales support make you go out of your way to sing the praises of a company from the rooftop or in my case write a blog post.
If you are interested in creating a membership site with WordPress wishlist member is my recommended solution, it has all of the features you could need from a membership site solution
- Integration with payment processors
- Integration with email list
- Time released content protection
- Multiple levels of membership and updating of members to those levels
- The list goes on.
I could have been supplied lack lustre support, dug into the code, and figured it out myself, and come away with a neutral or negative opinion about Wishlist Products, but now I am a raving fanboy.
Check Out WishList Member NOW!!
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Poll: What Is Your WordPress Expertise Level
It is very important for every blog owner to be in-tune with their readers, are you pitchng your blog posts at the correct level and interest of your average reader?
With this in mind, every now and again I like to poll you the readers of this blog to make sure I am pitching my posts at the correct level, I want to run that poll again to find out what the majority of readers class their expertise in WordPress at.
If you could take the time to quickly click on your level it will help me to write future blog posts with you in mind. If I am writing beginners guides, and most of you are code masters, then my blog needs to change direction, or the other way if most of you class yourself as beginners, posts on writing plugins would not be appropriate.
If you are reading this from your RSS reader you will need to come over to the site, the url of this post is http://wpdude.com/what-is-your-wordpress-level
Thanks for taking the time.
Loading ...If you would like to know how to add a poll to your blog like this, I’ve written a post about it at http://wpdude.com/adding-poll-blog
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