I've noticed people referring to so and so number of content pages. How many words make up one content page, or how do I know how many content pages I have. I'm currently writing content for my website. I have not purchased the SBI system yet, but will do so shortly.

It all depends on the article you write for the content normal is about 500 to 600 words per article.

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Don't worry so much about content length, number of pages, etc. Focus on giving your audience what they need. Let's say you are building a site about car maintenance and it takes you 1,000 words to explain how to change the oil. If you've written this article in the most concise, useful way possible, then that's all you really need to concern yourself with.

Ken Evoy once told me "Lisa, an article should be as long as it needs to be." I know that sounds vague, but it's true. With some articles it may take 300 words and in others it may take 1500. Just do your best to break up the longer articles with sub titles, pictures or even split them up if you think it's necessary. However, don't concern yourself with finding the perfect length. It will vary as Govindji stated.

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Thanks Lisa and Govindji

VERY GOOD ADVICE! I had a fansite dedicated to my favorite author a couple of years ago. The homepage had less than a hundred words on it total as it was mostly the guidepost to other pages and content. I did a bit of basic SEO with the keywords and it stayed a PR3.

Another site I ran had over a thousand words on the homepage but was of a more general nature and usually only ranked a PR1.

"They" say Metatags and keywords are not important anymore but I have observational evidence to the contrary.

Write your article with a specific focus and tune it with a bit of SEO and it will do good for you. 100 words or a 1000, whatever it takes to make your subject clear.

Luck and L8r

Great information Lisa. Thank you.

Shirley

Ideally, I try to have no less than 300 words on a page. I usually try to have at least three keyword phrases per page and three paragraphs that correspond with the phrases. By using this as a guide, I generally reach 300 words with no problem. Actually, I don't even count them anymore the system works so well.

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One caveat to a really long article is that you need to make sure that it's organized and broker up into smaller than 1000 word sections. For instance, you mighe have headlines for the oil change example of preparing to change your oil, removing and collecting the old oil, adding new oil, testing your work, and disposing of your old oil. That way you have manageable pieces that someone will read rather than a huge article that has to be read completely to for the reader to get at the info they want.

My 2 cents.

Joe

Years ago, I read an interesting article on how much content should be per each page. Page-meaning-what is displayed on each WEB PAGE. As I recall the author stated that each WEB PAGE of material should be no longer than 6-7 paragraphs in length, before creating another WEB PAGE.

I don't recall a limit of words, but I do a bit of writing on the side. As per
another members post here, 400-600 words ought to cover it. For instance, I may write an article and end up with a 1000 words. It may take me a few rewrites, but I am always able to narrow it down to the 400-600 word area.

The purpose of limiting an article is not to bore a reader or customer. I also read that the average view of a webpage is something like 5-6 seconds initially. If the reader can't find something quickly, or finds a lenghty article they may leave quickly.

This makes sense. There is so much information on the net on all subjects that you can leave one site and find another one on the same subject very quickily. If one is of poor design, to slow to load, the viewer is going to split.

Honestly though, and I'm sure a lot of people will agree with me when I say that just sheer quality content and not lengthy content will net you better results.

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Good one! Thanks I can use this information for my article work.

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So what you guys are saying is that the quality of the page is much more important then the length.

So, if it takes me 200 or 1000 words to complete the content it should not matter as long as the quality is great and it answers questions or solves problems?

I have the problem of being a bit wordy as I write my content but as I proof it and rewrite a bit I always make sure to have the article say what it needs to and always be presice and complete.

One week and I have 8 pages complete, the shortest is 500 or so words and the longest is close to 1200 words.

Should I try to shorten them up?

You got it, hey__bob.

I'm wordy too and one thing I need to work on when I get the time is to break up some of my longer articles. When your articles are very long, I've read it's best to break them up into multiple pages. Ever read an article online where they have a few paragraphs and then a link to "page 2" or "next". It feels less overwhelming when you break up your content that way and people have a tendency to read more.

And if you don't want to do that, at least try to make use of bullets, subtitles, images, etc. as much as you can to make your content "scannable." I don't ever count my words and have no idea what the "ideal length" is if there is such a thing but the lesson here is that people tend to scan pages and the easier you make them for scanning, the greater chance they'll continue reading and not feel so overwhelmed.

But as you said, quality should be first and foremost!

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Even some of the posts here, mine included get a bit wordy. Even if I am interested in a topic, a really long reply will make me skip along quickly. Same with web pages.

It only makes sense that CONTENT matters much more than length, but content can be filler. What you need is short, concise and relevant content that your customers want. Why in the world, would you want to read something, just because it is 400, 600 or 1200 words in length. Not I!

Whether I am reading a book, magazine, web page or even a forum post, it has to catch my attention and keep me there. If it starts to ramble, or goes off topic, I will usually lose interest.

I'm guilty of being one of the wordy ones, but if people saw how much I cut out they would be amazed. Nevertheless, I need to reduce the size of many of my pages.

However, it is easy to go to the other extreme for some. I like about.com and read certain writers there, but I find it frustrating that there are about 3 paragraphs and 300 ads on every page and I have to read 20 pages to get what could have been on one or two.

Also, every writing event calls for its own approach. For example, on this site I frame my answers based a lot on the background of the person asking a question.

If Bob (Donk) ever came up with a question (it would be hard to find something he doesn't know already that one of us might!) it would be adequate to give a one sentence, short hand answer. But if someone asks a question from the point of view of a beginner, a more detailed step by step answer is needed.

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