File Not Found

To help you jump start the new year, we’re posting thirty-one technology and business treats, one for each day of January.

I’m sure you’ve had this experience. You click on a link or go to a webpage and you encounter the 404 Page, aka File not found page, aka a dead end. As frustrating as it is to land there, it’s also saying something about your website.

Yes, your website. It’s telling the person who landed there that your web team does not attend to generally unseen details and your website has no personality. It is inevitable that someone will not be able to find a page they’re looking for, but do you really want to turn them away, possibly never to come back, because they think something is permanently wrong with your website?

This is how many standard 404 pages look:

Of course not. So what’s so special about the 404 page?

The 404 page is a standard response code indicating that the client has found the server, but the server cannot find the file requested. I know. Geek talk. However, when you get the 404 page you know the server is working or that there’s communication between you and where the file you’re looking for resides. For some reason, the file cannot be found. Usually it’s a typo or broken link.

When someone lands on the 404 page, the last thing you want is for them to leave frustrated. Here’s an opportunity to have some fun, extend goodwill, and help your webpage sleuth find the page they’re looking for.

Do you know what your 404 page looks like? You can find out by mis-typing your domain name in your browser bar. If it doesn’t leave you all warm and fuzzy, or at least with some suggestions of what to try to find the page you’re looking for, you might consider having it changed.