We configure custom error pages — a branded 404 page, a friendlier 500 error page — through your hosting control panel, replacing the generic, unhelpful default that most hosts show when something goes wrong or a page isn’t found.
Custom error page configuration
Custom error pages replacing your host's generic default for 404s and worse.
- Full backup taken before we start
- If we can’t fix it, you get your money back
- We never ask for your own password
What we need from you
- Access to your hosting control panel’s error page settings
- The custom page content or design you want used for each error type
- Confirmation of which specific error codes you want customised (404, 500, 403, and similar)
This or something else?
| You want custom error pages configured through your hosting control panel | This fix covers it |
| You want a WordPress-level 404 page customised, using WordPress’s own template system instead | Worth confirming your setup — WordPress’s own 404 handling and hosting-level error pages serve slightly different situations |
| You’re getting a specific error and want it diagnosed and fixed, not just displayed more nicely | A different, diagnostic fix — describe the specific error directly |
| You want a broader redirect strategy for 404 pages, mapping old URLs somewhere useful | 404 mapping & redirect implementation, in the Content & Updates bucket’s Links category |
What we do
- Confirm which error codes need custom pages and their intended content
- Configure the custom pages through your control panel’s available settings
- Verify each configured error page displays correctly when triggered
- Confirm the pages work correctly across different browsers
- Check the custom pages don’t interfere with WordPress’s own error handling where both exist
- Document the configuration for future reference
What is included
- Custom error pages configured for your specified error codes
- Verified correct display when each error is triggered
- Confirmed cross-browser compatibility
- A check for conflicts with WordPress’s own error handling
Not included
- Designing or writing the custom error page content itself, unless you supply it or specifically request that as additional work
- Diagnosing why a specific error is occurring in the first place, a separate, diagnostic fix
- Broader 404 redirect mapping strategy, a separate, related fix
- Ongoing updates to the error page content over time
Questions about this fix
What's the actual benefit of a custom error page over the default?
A default error page is generic and gives a visitor no path forward; a well-designed custom one can explain what happened in plain language and guide them back to useful content, which is a meaningfully better experience during an already frustrating moment.
Does this fix the actual errors, or just how they're displayed?
Just the display — this configures what a visitor sees when an error occurs; diagnosing and fixing why that error happens in the first place is a separate, different kind of fix.
Will my custom 404 page conflict with WordPress's own 404 template?
We check for and avoid this specifically — WordPress typically handles its own 404 pages through its theme, so a hosting-level custom error page is more relevant for errors WordPress itself doesn't intercept.
Can I customise the page for a 500 server error, not just 404?
Yes, if your control panel supports it, we can configure custom pages for whichever error codes you specify, not just the more commonly customised 404.
Do I need to design the page myself, or can you help with that?
We implement whatever content or design you supply; if you'd like help with the actual design or copy, that's additional work worth discussing separately.
Related fixes
If this is the second time this year
A bad update breaking the site is a symptom of updates not being tested first. Care plans run every update on a staging clone before it reaches your live site, which is the actual fix for this happening again.
Your access, your rules
Create a separate admin account for us and delete it when we are done. For anything else, we get in touch and agree a method — never a form field on this site, never by reply to an email.
We back up first, always
Before anything is touched we take a full backup and keep it for 30 days. If a fix goes wrong, we put the site back exactly as it was.
If it is not what you bought
If the problem turns out smaller than what you ordered, we refund the difference. If it is bigger, we stop and send a quote before doing any extra work.
If we cannot fix it
You get back what we received. Diagnosis is on us — you only pay when the problem is actually solved. The payment processor takes its fee before the money reaches us, so we never hold it and it is not ours to return. That is true here as everywhere else.
If it comes back
Reply within seven days of delivery and we put it back on the bench at no cost. The fix is not finished until it holds.
What we are responsible for
If something goes wrong with a fix, our responsibility is limited to what you paid for it. We take a full backup first so mistakes can be undone, and we tell you before doing anything outside what you bought.