Error 404: Check Your Links
Well authors, it finally happened → bad links. Here I am preaching about constant vigilance, and unbeknownst to me, I had several bad links. It can happen to everyone! (Clearly…)
This is your monthly reminder to check your links. Every. Single. One. Yes, every link. Tedious? Yes. Rewarding? Probably! At the very least you will know that no internet users will have issues on your website or social media pages.
I know the struggle of exploring a website and finding links that are not working. So frustrating. You don’t want to allow users to get close to that emotion because they might never return. There’s a lost potential sale right there. So you gotta do what you gotta do, and check your links!
First, start with every social media profile you have. Check your links in your bio and anything else you have linked that leads directly to a site about you. If they don’t work, reupload a fresh copy of the link and try again. If that still doesn’t work, there might be a deeper issue. Check FAQs and info pages first, and if you still cannot resolve the issue, consider submitting a help request and go from there.
Second, check your website. This one will take longer especially if you many pages. Check each link on each page, and each link for each page. Make sure in your website settings you have every page you want visible toggled to live. If you have a blog, make sure your links on those are functional, too.
Third, check your newsletter links. Especially if you had to update any links on your website, make sure the links in your newsletter are current (and functional). If not, update those links, send out a test, and check it all over again.
Bad links will ensure a quick exit from most users, never to return again. You definitely don’t want that to happen, author. Set a monthly reminder to check your links. This type of vigilance is extremely tedious but very rewarding. No 404 errors is what you want, promise.
