This is not the most riveting post, but it could have an impact on your sales and overall user experience so I urge you to read on. If you are not a Volusion user, the focus of the post is still important.

Let’s begin. There are three types of 404 errors that can happen on Volusion. A 404 error is when your browser picks up the phone, calls the servers over at Volusion and asks for some URL. The server responds, “hey, I can’t find that”. There you have it, a 404 error.

1. Rick James Slap 404 Error Handling

This happens when either you have deleted your /* entry in the redirect manager (/admin/RedirectManager.asp) or are using it incorrectly and your browser takes over the messaging. Uh oh. This is the worst case. The browser returns an ultra generic, sterile message. Who knows what your users will do now. They may shop somewhere else, they may swear at you, they may forget you even existed, who knows. We do know they didn’t find the page nor did they find any helpful information.

I tested this on a very large handful of clients in the Volusion design gallery. I was slapped many times. Cold Blooded!

2. No-Look-Pass 404 Error Handling

This is when you have used the Volusion Redirect Manager properly, but you have simply told the system to redirect all bungled requests to your home page.

Source Path: /*
Target Path: http://www.yoursite.com

This is ok, but it does blindly route everyone to the home page. Not very helpful and still adds to the confusion. Not an ideal user experience, but better than a smack in the face.

Note: The forward slash is your domain root and the asterisk is the “wildcard”. In the web development world, the wildcard is used in many, many areas. Get used to the terminology.

3. Eagle Scout 404 Error Handling

This is a friendly helpful 404 page that helps your users understand what just happened. Here is a sample redirect rule for Volusion:

Source Path: /*
Target Path: /404error-a/123.htm

Ah, now you can control the information users see. You can add all sorts of stuff to a page like this. There is an entertaining article on Smashing Magazine about 404 pages. It gives you some very creative 404 page examples. Let your imagination go. Eagle scout salute!

Note: You have to change the 123 to the actual article you created in your database. You can name the file anything you want as long as you follow the name up with a -a. It could be /blahdeblah-who-cares-im-out-of here-a/123.htm. (see the Volusion Knowledge Base)

Consult your Google Webmaster Tools, Analytics or your proprietary server side tools to get the 404 reports.