Error pages as Marketing tool?

[holliewould]

Originally Posted by holliewould

Maybe I'm confused about the original post? Using error pages as an marketing tool right?

So what I was trying to type is how I have started to utilize my error pages. I think it came out all wrong though. I give a statement about URL, then some links to my other sites, however I'm looking for some content for my 404's so I can use adsense or bidvertiser! I hope I made more sense of this heha

[alex-party]

Yes, you're right, but what's the story with 5 bucks?
Oh, Man....forgive my stupid head, I must be tired today....
Don't bother too much about it ....
Have fun....

[holliewould]

No worries. I just write something stupid about Url. Sounds like Earl only it's Url....get it haha! And Url has moved and he owes me 5 bucks... I know it's silly but ya just have to see the error page I guess =)

[alex-party]

LOL: Ok, I got it now... I'm like a computer, if I don't have sufficient information, I need to reboot myself

[Philski]

HI my first post, so please be gentle,

i have been using my 404 page as a,,, "while your here, why not explore the web and my fantastic website," and have a google search box close by... plus ads and of course a way to get back to the main site and a bit of nice content, and links to my other sites, it dosent have to be a blank page you can and should jazz it up to match your sites feel. or even a totally new look.

no one wants error pages of course, but if a link falls out, perhaps it is still in old search results or from link building gone wrong, or if you change your tags about, or even a simple spelling mistake, they do pop up from time to time. your making great use of a dead end, and letting the person know your serious about them and want them to stay on your site or at least give you and your site a second chance,

it also looks a lot better than,
"you go away. 404 your not allowed here"
because they will, and more than likely will never return,

i also tracked my error "page view time" and saw it increased a staggering 1200%, so its more than worth it, CTR was pretty good too,

have a great day
Phillip

[Philski]

HI my first post, so please be gentle,

i have been using my 404 page as a,,, "while your here, why not explore the web and my fantastic website," and have a google search box close by... plus ads and of course a way to get back to the main site and a bit of nice content, and links to my other sites, it dosent have to be a blank page you can and should jazz it up to match your sites feel. or even a totally new look.

no one wants error pages of course, but if a link falls out, perhaps it is still in old search results or from link building gone wrong, or if you change your tags about, or even a simple spelling mistake, they do pop up from time to time. your making great use of a dead end, and letting the person know your serious about them and want them to stay on your site or at least give you and your site a second chance,

it also looks a lot better than,
"you go away. 404 your not allowed here"
because they will, and more than likely will never return,

i also tracked my error "page view time" and saw it increased a staggering 1200%, so its more than worth it, CTR was pretty good too,

have a great day
Phillip

[alex-party]

I absolutely agree with you, good notes...
P.S. How is the weather on the Tasmania Island?

[internetgal]

Humn, Thanx a lot guys for your helpful information and suggestions... Can anyone help me with some good posts on "How to use error page as marketing"? I have found many but a bit confused with these

[Philski]

Hi if you just want to make a few bucks out of your error page,
plaster the error pages with pop ups and pop unders and affiliate banners from one end to the other, if you load enough popups on it. you should get about 20 cents a unique, you need to find pop firms that allow other pop up company's on the same page,

you can then buy targeted traffic that have to stay on a page for 30 seconds, time all you pops at 5 10 15 seconds etc, and the cost is approx 4 - 5 cents a visit, so you should profit from most hits, some will not stay long enough, and some will have blockers, however there are popups that even firefox IE cant touch, so time early if possible, even if you make 1 cent per person, its a profit and the more people that visit the more pennies,

also being an error page has a lot of benefit too, it wont make your real site look cheap and nasty, just dont use adsense, or google will have blue fit.

the one downside is it must be calculated, you must profit from it everytime and make enough of a margin to cover the extra bandwidth,, as well pay for more traffic and put some money in your pocket,
test if with 1000 visits at first and see what you make, if its up, get 10000 then 100thousand, or till your server melts,

or just let it do it naturally, lol


Tasmania is starting to get cold already,

Kindest Regards
Phillip

[WebGeek182]

Originally Posted by internetgal

Can error pages be used as a marketing option?

Absolutely! You may want to read this: Custom Error Pages and Friendly 404’s