Is Your 404 Page Helpful to The Lost Visitor?

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The 404 or ‘Page not Found’ is the most common error page people experience on the internet. About 25% of my daily time online is taken up by these 404 pages. Your figure might not be very different.

What I have noticed is that most of these 404 pages are just simple lines of text saying ‘Page not Found’ or something similar. As a result, the visitor becomes even more confused and that doesn’t help her. She has no choice but to click away from your blog. Those 404 pages are so unhelpful one has no choice but to go to another site!

So, here are some tips on making your 404 pages a little more helpful and ‘normal’ for your visitors:

Blend It In

This is the number one tip even a newbie website developer can give to you. Make your 404 page look like any other page in your blog. Don’t settle for the ugly default black-text-on-white-background 404 pages that most web servers provide. The visitor shouldn’t left be thinking like ‘Hey is this a new website? Or part of this one?‘ When they see that they are still on your site, they’ll be a lot more comfortable.

Use the same colors and fonts and everything. Don’t use a different color for your 404 page heading than the usual page heading. Also, speak in the same ‘voice’ as the ‘voice’ you write your posts in.

What to include in the 404 page?

Don’t leave your 404 page barren and devoid of information. Include some stuff which will guide the visitor so as to what to do next. For example, include an apology for the error. Include a search box which the visitors can use to search your blog. Also, you can include links to the recent and most popular entries of your blog.

So, go check your 404 page whether it fits the definition of a good and helpful 404 page. If not, act upon the above tips and help your lost visitors!

Anyone have more tips on improving a 404 page?