To prevent users from leaving your web site due to page pages or server errors, we suggest you take the following information and implement it on your web site.

Error messages have numerous causes, such as misspellings, outdated links or internal server errors. When an error is encountered, your server will display specific generic error pages according to the error.

These error pages are not only dead ends, but they are also very frustrating for your potential visitors. When your visitors mistype your web address or click on an outdated link and receive the dreaded error page, they'll most-likely click on their back button and never return.

However, you can recover a majority of your lost visitors simply by taking the time to create some customized, user friendly error pages.

Guidelines for creating your error pages in cPanel

1. Create your error pages in standard HTML -- just as you would create any other web page for your site.
2. Don't alarm your visitors. Never include the word "ERROR" in large, bold text. Your visitors may immediately become alarmed and think they've done something to cause the error. Instead, be apologetic and encourage your visitors to click on the navigational links to locate additional resources and information.
3. Your error pages should look just like the rest of your web pages. Each error page should contain good navigational links, a search feature, and provide information in regard to the specific error they received.

To create the error pages in cPanel you have to login into you panel. Now Click on the link on the main page of the control panel that is called Page errors.

You can create for the following error pages:

400 Bad Request
401 Authorization Required
403 Forbidden
404 File Not Found
405 Method Not Allowed
500 Internal Server Error

To create the page, use your favorite html editor and create the page like the guide lines above so that it will fit in to your web site. Now copy and paste the page from your editor into the text box for that specific error page. Save the file. Now the file will be saved to public_html dir.

If you have created all the error pages and you can ftp into your server you will see all these error pages in you public_html dir.

You can now change the pages with your HTML editor connecting to your web site.

/public_html/400.shtml
/public_html/401.shtml
/public_html/403.shtml
/public_html/404.shtml
/public_html/405.shtml
/public_html/500.shtml

That's all there is to it. When your visitors click on an outdated link, your custom error page will now be displayed.

Creating your own custom error pages is well worth the time and effort, as they will enable you to recover an unlimited number of your visitors. If you follow this step by step guide, you can have your pages up and running in no time.