I have been redesigning a few websites recently. On each of the sites I have been adding a 404 page. ( see example at my website http://www.bostonwebcreative.com. If the site had pages previously and you have moved them so they do not exist it is a good idea to create a error 404 page. This way if someone has booked marked your page they will not go to a blank page with a stale error 404 code, they will still be on your website.

Here are the easy steps to create and install a error 404 page.

Step 1

On your root folder create an .htaccess file and place this code on that page.
ErrorDocument 404 /error.html

Step 2

Create a blank page with the name error.html

Step 3

HTML/ CSS out your error.html page to look like the rest of your site.

Step 4

add some sort of graphic or text to show that it is a 404 error.

Step 5

FTP up to the server.