This is what happens when you let an engineer write your website copy: “Sorry, this page isn't available. The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.” Gee, thanks, Facebook. Couldn’t you at least have displayed a list of similar pages? Maybe linked to some frequently asked questions? At the least, you could have expressed a witty apology or summoned a brand-appropriate quote. And, if all else fails, bring forth a kitten pic! Sadly, Google is no better than its neighbor to the north. Here’s what the minds of Mountain View deign to tell the poor soul who gets lost on google.com: “404. That’s an error. The requested URL was not found on this server. That’s all we know.” Really—that’s all? That’s the best message a company known for its NSA-like amount of data, along with its whimsical and beloved doodles, can conjure up? Surely, you jest. Hundreds of millions of people use Facebook and Google every day. If even a quarter of one percent of them slip into this no-man’s-land, that’s an awful lot of frustrated folk. These junctures are reason #639 why every website needs a wordsmith: to convert errors and necessary evils and other common, often-overlooked functions into opportunities. To turn frowns upside down. Check out this presentation for more examples, including tip jars, donation forms, and e-newsletter sign-ups and unsubscribe requests.

2. Error 404s
Turn an Error
Into an Opportunity

14. Secretly

15. E-newsletter Sign-ups
Lob Them a Rhetorical Softball

16. The New Republic

17. The Heritage Foundation

18. The Heritage Foundation

19. Mic.com

20. Upworthy

21. Unsubscribe Requests
Exercise Passive Aggression

22. Cat Facts

23. Tip Jars
Flatter, Don’t Beg

24. Wonkette

25. Pedometer++

26. Donation Forms
Trigger an Emotion

27. Optimizely

28. Comments
Reframe Fear As Fame

29. Sears

30. Facebook

31. Related Content
Make the Rabbit Hole Manageable

32. Upworthy

33. Click Here to Continue Reading
Whet Their Appetite

34. The Jonathan Rick Group

35. Social Sharing (1)
Make the Next Step Frictionless

36. SlideShare

37. Social Sharing (2)
Play on Their Insecurities

38. Eventbrite

39. Social Sharing (3)
When All Else Fails, Shame Them

40. Shareaholic

41. @jrick