404 Traffic

[Dzinerbear]

You know I haven't ever really done much with 404 traffic. Some of my sites have custom-built pages, others have nothing. It's really a sympton of being too busy. I didn't have time to do everything, so a lot of stuff slid.

When I started promoting Condom Cash and Lee told me about his hosted 404 affiliate tool, I was like, "You're kidding me, all I have to do is put one line of code in my htaccess file with my affiliate code and I have a 404 solution." Boy, did I feel dumb.

ErrorDocument 404 /http://www.condom404.com/?affiliatecode That's it.

What creative things do you do with your 404 traffic?

I also notice that I can create custom error pages for these error codes, what do you all recommend?

301 Moved Permanently
302 Moved Temporarily
400 Bad Request *
401 Authorization Required *
403 Forbidden *
405 Method Not Allowed
408 Request Timed Out
415 Unsupported Media Type
500 Internal Server Error *
501 Not Implemented
502 Bad Gateway
503 Service Unavailable *
504 Gateway Timeout
505 HTTP Version Not Supported

Thanks
Michael

[tombarr]

Hey Michael:

i think this topic is one people either don't want to talk about too much, dont' really place as a topic of high importance, don't want to talk about it because i posted it, or because answering might give away too much information.....

I posted the same "theme" a few days ago with little response. It's a shame because it certainly would help ... i see lots of pages with lots of lost exit link and error page traffic just being dumped into the open internet with no purpose or direction at all.

Here's my earlier post:

[abostonboy]

Webmasters tend to not think outside what they are comfortable doing.

I tend to play dirty (less so now). I use to rename directories just to send to TARGETED 404 sponsors.

I still put a throttle on certain domians that I send my own junk traffic to, just so the top link/banner loads fast and the pics load slower. It just another way to try and filter it out.

404 and any other is no secret.

MANY webmasters make a ton of signups on the free pass sites just by putting up a scary unauthorized page. Even though I tend to not like that practice as many paying members forget their own logins.

[Bec]

Hmm - I've setup the htaccess - and it does redirect, but it doesn't seem to be carrying the id forward to the sites.

www.gayasiantown.com/pic/ will give you the redirect, and you can see the affiliate id in the browser ... click any of the site banners and I'm not seeing the id carry forward. Am I doing something wrong in how I put in the id ? Here's what I added: ErrorDocument 404 http://www.condom404.com/?1176971

Hmm, actually I don't see a refer code just clicking the regular ccbill links either - these sites doing a cookie that doesn't show the refer in the browser to the surfer?

http://refer.ccbill.com/cgi-bin/clic....denimguys.com

[abostonboy]

Hmm - I've setup the htaccess - and it does redirect, but it doesn't seem to be carrying the id forward to the sites.

www.gayasiantown.com/pic/ will give you the redirect, and you can see the affiliate id in the browser ... click any of the site banners and I'm not seeing the id carry forward. Am I doing something wrong in how I put in the id ? Here's what I added: ErrorDocument 404 http://www.condom404.com/?1176971

Hmm, actually I don't see a refer code just clicking the regular ccbill links either - these sites doing a cookie that doesn't show the refer in the browser to the surfer?

http://refer.ccbill.com/cgi-bin/clic....denimguys.com

I can't see it either. Maybe if you actually fill out the first of the two part signup form it will get carried through.

One thing from previous experience I have learned about 404 traffic - It's not the easiest sell in the world. If traffic comes from a click from a banner or a text link on a site and you have told the surfer how great the site is, you mat make a sale to a $30 site.

The best luck I have had with 404 traffic is creating pages like this with programs like pythons where you can have at the top PORN FOR A BUCK and then show screencaps of all their sites.

We know one thing about the surfer - they are looking for porn. That's about it. And it doesn't get much better than a buck.....

Bec, If you are serious about doing 404 I will give you my python page or a coupld others. The Mulit sites do very well. Like Topbucks Multi Reality. And their other one.

This may work IF you have really good traffic.....

[abostonboy]

On a techical note, MANY servers are set up so you have a page at the top level and name it missing.htm and just putting whatever on that page does the trick as well.

[Dzinerbear]

Hi guys,

The referral code is being carried. Bec, I used your link above and clicked one of the Condom Cash sites, then Instant Access, and then, like you guys, I went hunting on the Sign Up page in the source for the affiliate ID. I couldn't find it. However, when I completed the sign-up form and clicked the "join" button, I found the affiliate code on the ccbill page:

[input type=hidden name=ccbill_referer value='1176971'><input type=hidden name=referingURL value='http://www.condom404.com/?1176971'><input type=hidden name=referingDestURL value='']

Lee can confirm this for us, but I believe the initial sign-up page is still on his side of things and the referral code doesn't get passed to the billing company until you actually hit their page.

And thanks for trying it out.

Michael

[Lee]

Hi guys,

The referral code is being carried. Bec, I used your link above and clicked one of the Condom Cash sites, then Instant Access, and then, like you guys, I went hunting on the Sign Up page in the source for the affiliate ID. I couldn't find it. However, when I completed the sign-up form and clicked the "join" button, I found the affiliate code on the ccbill page:

[input type=hidden name=ccbill_referer value='1176971'><input type=hidden name=referingURL value='http://www.condom404.com/?1176971'><input type=hidden name=referingDestURL value='']

Lee can confirm this for us, but I believe the initial sign-up page is still on his side of things and the referral code doesn't get passed to the billing company until you actually hit their page.

And thanks for trying it out.

Michael

Yup that is correct

Just to double-double confirm though, ill ask PaulK to pop and tell you a little more about how CCBill tracks sales Bec

Regards,

Lee

[Lee]

Also, on the topic of 404 traffic and how to use it....

Yes, contrary to popular beliefs, 404 traffic isn’t 'useless'.

In fact, you can make some very good money from 'not found' traffic - as long as you have a promotion method in place. A 404 promotion to the surfer should use a harder sales pitch than you would normally use on your sites. You have to grab the surfer’s attention when using 404s to build sales. Using semi-blind links, linked thumbs, flashy buttons all work in selling to the misguided surfer. We have designed the pages at Condom404 to do just that.

So how do you use the Condom 404 pages? Its actually a lot easier than you might think, all you need to do is create an htaccess file that is linked directly to the Condom 404 page. Your ‘.htaccess’ file should have the following:

ErrorDocument 404 http://www.condom404.com/?YOURAFFILIATEID#

That is all there is to it. All you need to do is create the ‘.htaccess’ file with that line (of course add your affiliate number). Upload the file into your main html directory and you are on your way.

So now you have your htaccess file uploaded to your domain root, how can you market this excellent sales tool? Here are some methods that I have used over the past few years that I have found to work really well.

1. File names.

When building sites, make sure you use 'generic' file names for images for example, 1.jpg, 2.jpg, 3.jpg, etc however, every 6-8 files, skip a digit. This way, if the surfer starts to browse your content directly in the browser (bypassing your ads) when they get to 6.jpg they will be sent to your 404 page and, ultimately, on to one of the Condom Cash sites where they can join, making you a sale.

2. Link Tables.

If you use link tables on your existing sites, add a link directly to the Condom 404 page that you are using in addition to other Condom Cash pay sites you are promoting. This actually works well. Even though it is blind linking, it’s worth the sales.

3. Exit consoles.

As with the Condom POTD page, you can send your surfers, in a last ditch attempt to make a sale off to your Condom 404 page of choice. Simply add your linking code to the console url field.

4. Parked domains.

If you have 'unused' domains just sitting on your server at the moment, rather than lose traffic, send any hits to these domains over to your Condom 404 link code. We have been doing this for years. Recently, we did this on one of our undeveloped pay site domains and it worked wonders.

There you are, a brief look at how not to waste your 404 traffic. One man’s typo is another man’s sale – especially if you’re using the Condom 404 pages. Take a few minutes now to get your Condom 404 pages linked and start using what was lost traffic.

http://forums.gaywidewebmasters.com/...ad.php?t=13573

Hopefully you'll find that of some help

Regards,

Lee

[DEVELISH]

Yup that is correct

Just to double-double confirm though, ill ask PaulK to pop and tell you a little more about how CCBill tracks sales Bec

Regards,

Lee

Is he going to do this here - it would be nice.

[CCBill Paul]

Hey Everyone,

Lee is actually correct , jk Lee, but yes our system does not read the cookie until the surfer actually hits the bill.ccbill.com signup form. If you check the source code on the actual CCBill signup form and you don't see your ID in there, then there is a problem somewhere.

-Paul

[tombarr]

I am wondering why sites are redirecting 404 traffic to other programs, when it is a "page not found" error that is presented when someone clicks a page link that is no longer present, either from a bookmark, link list, or SE listing...so the surfer has been filtered and / or is looking for YOUR site...why would you send it to another program?

I can see sending 401, (authorization required), 403 (forbidden) traffic to other programs or sites because these many times mean someone is trying to do something they should not...

But 404, 500, 501 traffic is still productive for your site, as they are all error codes given for legitimate reasons for potential customers who were looking for YOUR site not someone elses...

Maybe i am missing something in the reasoning of sending them away?

[Lee]

I am wondering why sites are redirecting 404 traffic to other programs, when it is a "page not found" error that is presented when someone clicks a page link that is no longer present, either from a bookmark, link list, or SE listing...so the surfer has been filtered and / or is looking for YOUR site...why would you send it to another program?

I can see sending 401, (authorization required), 403 (forbidden) traffic to other programs or sites because these many times mean someone is trying to do something they should not...

But 404, 500, 501 traffic is still productive for your site, as they are all error codes given for legitimate reasons for potential customers who were looking for YOUR site not someone elses...

Maybe i am missing something in the reasoning of sending them away?

Good points Tom and to be honest, its a catch 22 situation for webmasters, sometime you are correct, a bad link causes the error and, in an instance like that, it certainly makes sense to show the surfer a list of all current entry points to your site however, for the vast majority of webmasters, 404 traffic is actually received from surfers that are trying to 'browse' site directorys thus, avoiding the sites marketing and getting directly to your content, costing you money. In this instance, redirecting all 404 errors is one way to ensure that you not only save money on bandwidth from freeloaders but, serve up ads to surfers which have the potential to make you money.

Also, lets not forget that many webmasters (myself included) deliberately 'skip' directory and image names so that surfers who are just looking for free directories of content, do get served up the 404 page.

Regards,

Lee

[Dzinerbear]

Yes, Tom you make some good points. In my case, on Universal Bear, for instance, I have created a custom 404 page that tries to direct the surfer back into my site ... you're absolutely right that 404 traffic may still be valuable to me. On a review site that I'm running, my goal is to sell memberships, so whether I'm selling one through a review or through a 404 error page, it doesn't matter to me. On a link list, free site, or TGP, I would think about it the same way. The goal is to sell a membership.

Cheers,
Michael

[abostonboy]

Yes, Tom you make some good points. In my case, on Universal Bear, for instance, I have created a custom 404 page that tries to direct the surfer back into my site ... you're absolutely right that 404 traffic may still be valuable to me. On a review site that I'm running, my goal is to sell memberships, so whether I'm selling one through a review or through a 404 error page, it doesn't matter to me. On a link list, free site, or TGP, I would think about it the same way. The goal is to sell a membership.

Cheers,
Michael

I feel like Tom and you do. For a paysite or an AVS hub, send it back to your own.

Remember one thing about 404 traffic, you don't know much about the surfer. So it MAY not be the best traffic in the world.

I use to send it to my link list. Where they were offered free sites, $1 sites, AVS sites, and a chance to bookmark.

I have had the best luck sending it to email programs (when they were around) and giving them a choice of say 10 $1 trial sites. Would never try and send to traffic to a full price membership site. UNLESS I was playing games with renaming directories and knew a little bit about where the traffic was coming from.