Custom Domain Tricks – Using the Root Path and the 404 handler

There are 2 more advanced features in the Squeeze Page Toolkit that are particularly useful when you’re using a custom domain. The whole point of a custom domain is to allow you to have:

www.thisisyourdomain.com/your-squeeze-page rather than yourusername.sendmedetails.com/your-squeeze-page – as clearly the former is more attractive and useful for your marketing.

Trick 1 – Use the ‘Root Path’ for your domain

Rather than using www.thisisyourdomain.com/your-squeeze-page, you can actually use www.thisisyourdomain.com – which is perfect for use in marketing where you expect visitors to type it in (e.g. in flyers, business cards, etc).

1) In ‘Page Settings‘, click on the ‘Landing Page URL‘ tab.

custom-domain-root-01

2) Then click in the drop-down box that says ‘Customise the Page URL‘ and choose the option that has ‘[Root path]’ in the selection.

custom-domain-root-02

 

3) Once selected, the box that changes the URL at the end will disappear, and look a little like this.

custom-domain-root-03

4) Once you’ve clicked ‘Update Page & Close‘ and clicked on the ‘Save Changes‘ button in the editor, you’ll be able to access the page using just www.thisisyourdomain.com. Much shorter!

 

 

Trick 2 – Use ‘Default Page’ handler

Say your web page is actually  www.thisisyourdomain.com/correct, but your visitor goes to www.thisisyourdomain.com/wrong, then they’ll see a Squeeze Page Toolkit error page, which probably isn’t what you want them to see!

We’ve got a really useful feature in the toolkit that allows you to send visitors to a page even if they type in the URL incorrectly. This means you’re always sending visitors to a valid page, even if they make a small mistake.

Default 404 Page
Default 404 Page visitors will see if they type in wrong URL and you do not have a default page set up.

(In geek language, we’re setting up the HTTP 404 error page – the page to send visitors to if they enter the wrong URL).

1) Click on your name in the top-right of the page (when you’re logged in), and click on ‘Your Account Settings‘.

default-page-01

2) Click on the tab that says ‘Default Page’ (or you can just click on this link).

default-page-02

3) Then you can choose any of your pages from the drop-down list that you’d like to send visitors to if the enter the wrong URL. Just click on save. Now if the visitor enters a URL different from the correct one (e.g.www.thisisyourdomain.com/wrong), then you can send them to somewhere useful, such as a generic squeeze page.

 

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Important notes

  • The default page setting works for your custom domains (e.g. www.thisisyourdomain.com) and pages usingyourusername.sendmedetails.com.
  • If the visitor enters your domain name incorrectly. e.g. They enter www.thisisnotyourdomain.com rather thanwww.thisisyourdomain.com – then the default page will not work. This is because the incorrect domain name will not know how to talk to the toolkit. This is exactly the same as if a visitor mistyped in your normal website address – unless you had the typo domain name redirecting to the correct one, they won’t reach your website.