What is the best designed 404 page you've discovered?
Has a nerd reference to Star Wars and Obi-Wan's famous, "These aren't the droids you're looking for" quote. Instead, the Obi-Wan looking cartoon figure greets you with, "This is not the web page you are looking for."
Bonus: if you move your mouse around on the 404 page, the objects and background shift depending on where you move to make the page feel 3D and interactive.
Bigger Bonus: The 3D shifting even works on the iPhone! I haven't checked other mobile devices such as Android or iPad. Can anyone confirm?
This one from Dutch Studio Gewoon:
It’s fun, and I’m interested in learning more about this company because their 404 error page was so unique.
One thing they are missing? The 404 Page isn’t optimized for lead generation.
Let’s be honest: It can’t get any worse than it already is, so why not have some fun with it, and put a smile on people’s face when they see a 404 page on your website?
Collect leads with 404 page
There are two ways in which you can use your 404 page to collect leads.
The first is through a contact form like the below dating site has done:
They use a simple design to catch people’s attention so visitors don’t exit immediately, they use humor to put a smile on your face and they give you an opportunity to get in touch so they can make sure it doesn’t happen with this link again.
Another option is to offer them a lead magnet in exchange for their email address.
Here’s another one of my favorites, this time from Meera Kothand:
She uses her lead magnet to “apologize” for the error, and when you click the link, all you have to do is enter your email address, and the guide is yours.
Being creative with your 404 error page will not only give people a much better experience on your site, it will also help grow your email list.
Do you want to get more ideas on how to collect leads on your site? We’ve just written an article called “Optimize these 6 Underused Pages for Higher On-Page Conversions”.
In this post, you’ll get all the places on your website that can be optimized for lead generation and how to do it (I bet there’s one or two in there you haven’t thoughts of)
You Can't Always Get What You Want
But if you try sometime,
You just might find you get what you need.
http://www.rollingstones.com/404
We are sorry, it appears that your page has fallen and cannot get up.
Please visit our home page to get back on track.
Not to imply you weren't already on track or anything, just that you may have typed something incorrectly, or clicked on a dead link or something. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I have friends that are dead links, and they're just as normal as the rest of us.
I didn't mean to imply you are a bad typist or anything, either. I mean, my aunt Irma can type three thousand twenty-two words a minute, and even she makes mistakes. Now, my brother, that's a different story. One time, while skinning a moose, he fell head first into...
Sorry, I digress. Anyway, I am sure you are a perfectly capable person who knows their way around the Internet, and can type just as well as the next guy. But, well, frankly, you screwed up. There, I said it, I can't take it back now. Well, by "not take it back" I didn't mean to imply that...
(If this is an actual emergency, call 0118 999 881 999 119 725...3.)