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Ever landed on an Error 404 page? We’re pretty sure your answer is – yes. You probably know that Error 404 pages mean that something is wrong, but do you know exactly what?
What Is An Error 404?
In short, it means, the URL you’ve used, or link you’ve clicked, is wrong.
Say for instance, the University of British Columbia had added a link to our blog on A Beginners Guide To Facebook Advertising into an email to their marketing students, but then we decided to delete that blog page, the link would instead lead the students to our Error 404 page since the original URL is no longer in existence.
Similarly, a person could land on our Error 404 page if they went to type our URL, but misspelled it, e.g. missing the “c” in “contact” www.cucumbermarketing.com/contat
Creating An Error 404 Page
Now you know what an Error 404 status code means, let’s take it up a level. If you are developing a new website, it’s important to put time into designing the 404 page.
Take a look at our Error 404 page below. There are three main things to note.
1. It’s on brand
You may notice that some Error 404 pages are very basic with a simple white background and black “Error 404. Page not found” copy. There is no need for an Error 404 page to be like this. If your web design agency is creating a website for you, they should be creating a branded Error 404 page too. If a person lands on an unbranded Error 404 page, it can look quite alarming and make a person click away, thus losing you website visitors.
2. There’s a search bar
The website user was clearly hoping to see something in particular when they clicked to land onto the page. As they are instead being greeted by an Error 404, we’ve given them a way to search for the page they were actually hoping for.
3. There is engaging content to click on
Finally, our latest blogs are linked at the bottom of the page so that the page visitors have some content they can interact with. This discourages users from clicking away from the website, and instead invites them to visit more pages.
You could get really creative with your Error 404 page. If it suits your brand, be silly! One we love is the Error 404 page by Embrace Pet Insurance. It’s got cute dogs, how could you not love it?!
Feel like you’re an Error 404 pro now? Great! Then we expect big things from your Error 404 pages. Or if you’ve got some great ideas, but just need a web design expert to help you implement them, give us a call. You can reach us on 604-559-7509 or why not stop by our marketing and web design agency in downtown Vancouver – we always have chocolate!