Once a 404 error is logged, however, it’s pretty much up to you to go into your code, create redirects and fix the problem so your users don’t constantly land on those same 404 errors over and over again.  Subscribing to a tool like Errorlytics will take you the extra step.  Not only will it track your 404 errors for you, but it allows you to set up simple, plain English (no code) rules so the specified 404 error gets automatically redirected in a search engine friendly manner.   Errorlytics also has the capability of showing you where these 404 errors are coming from, so you can see if you can go even further in decreasing the number of 404 errors that come up on your site.  For example, if an old posting on your friend’s blog links to a page that no longer exists, Errorlytics can show you that URL so you can tell your friend to change the link to the new page.

If your website runs on Wordpress, then the 404 notifier does have the benefit of having all the information in one place, but Errorlytics does feature the RSS feed and/or email update, so that will minimize the amount of times you’ll need to log into Errorlytics to check up on and fix 404 errors.  Also, since Errorlytics works on many types of sites (Wordpress, Drupal, Ruby, PHP, etc.) you can log your 404 errors for all your sites in one location and see what bots or spiders are tripping 404s across all the sites you manage.

As Wordpress users ourselves, we love the 404 notifier plug-in.  If, however, you need a 404 tracking tool, that adds SEO benefit AND works for all different types of websites, then check out Errorlytics.

1. Links to homepage and other possibly related links. A simplified version of your site navigation can help the user get away from the 404 error page, but stay on your site (the ultimate goal).

2. “It’s not your fault” Attitude. Let the visitor know that they are not to blame for the error that brought about the 404 error page. The best attitude to portray would be one that is apologetic, while at the same time, quickly working towards a solution. Many 404 error pages have a humorous spin to them, which is perfectly fine. Just make sure that the humor is appropriate for your audience and matches the rest of your website.

3. Suggestions as to what may have gone wrong. A list of popular errors may help the visitor figure out on his/her own what happened. Simple errors can be a mistyped URL, slight variations in the URL (use to capital letters and special characters) or a recent site re-launch.

4. Use the same look and feel as the rest of your website. This way, the user at least knows that they are on the right site. This goes a long way to helping a visitor feel like their efforts aren’t going completely down the toilet. This piece of advice also includes making sure that your logo is always somewhere on the 404 error page.

5. Give them a way to contact you directly via email. This email address is for two groups of people that are guaranteed to visit your site: the people that like to be extra helpful and the people that like to point out when someone else has made a mistake. Make an email address available so they can contact you and let you know that they have come across an error that needs attention.

6. A simplified version of your site search. Better yet, a pre-populated searched based on the page they tried to reach. This way, they can see a list of pages on your site that do exist and maybe it’s what they were looking for. In this case everyone’s happy. Just be sure to keep the error page as simplifies and confusion-free as possible.

If you would like to see some examples of what we’re talking about, check out this medium-sized list of great examples of custom 404 error pages.

Befor I get into the list, this has to be the coolest 404 error page I’ve seen.  It made me lol (laugh out loud). . .literally: http://www.lookitsme.co.uk/404_me.

The following are simple 404 pages that aren’t too extravagant, but get the job done:
http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites/404
http://www.cnn.com/404
http://flickr.com/photos/404-error-page
http://www.imdb.com/404
http://nytimes.com/404
http://www.walmart.com/404
http://www.nfl.com/404

These pages sacrifice some functionality for creativity. They also make us laugh out loud [lol]. Nevertheless, these are some great examples of 404 error pages:

http://www.dazeofourlives.com/404.htm
http://www.limpfish.com/notfound.html

http://www.intuitive.com/badpage
http://www.snopes.com/badpage

http://www.fryewiles.com/templates/errors/404.html
http://www.patterntap.com/404
http://www.geeksquad.com/404.html

http://ifolderlinks.ru/404/

http://www.rush68.net/404/

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/html/404.html

http://www.larknews.com/july_2004/5.html
http://www.centerd.com/error.html

http://www.hulu.com/404 (turn volume on)

These are our favorites. They turn 404 error pages into an art form!
http://www.homestarrunner.com/systemisdown.html (turn up the volume)
http://www.homestarrunner.com/404 (speakers are necessary)
http://www.orangecoat.com/404
http://www.southparkstudios.com/404
http://www.expansionbroadcast.com/404