There’s nothing more annoying to some of your website visitors than a plain Jane 404 error page.

It is very easy in WordPress to create a customized 404 page for your site, which will help visitors locate the information they are looking for and keep them on your page longer!

Most themes come with a 404 page as part of the theme set, so from this point, I will assume you already have a 404 page in your theme. For more information on how to create a 404 page, visit the WordPress Codex.

Below is a screenshot of what you will see when you first go to Presentation > Theme Editor and click on “404″ or “404.php”.

Take note of the h2 heading in the code. You can edit the text within the h2 heading and add more information below that.

For my customized 404 page, I added the code for my most recent posts and code for my most popular posts, since I have the Popularity Contest installed.

You can add any information you want, add pictures or even have a contact form on your 404 page, so visitors can contact you and let you know what they were looking for! Be sure to save frequently and test your page to see how it displays and functions. Visit my custom 404 page and see how it works!

It is up to you on how to create your customized 404 page. Send us links to yours!

This post covers step 54 of 101 Steps to Becoming a Better Blogger.

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