linkedin - 6:47 am on Feb 12, 2007 (gmt 0)

Hi Graham,

I have a couple of different sites, for one site articles are typically about 500 words each, however for another the word count goes up to about a 1000 words.

And honestly, there's no difference between them. The one thing that makes all the difference is that the articles are quality. I believe the articles are really helping people that visit my sites.

That being said, I think there is something to be said about the design. Typically, I'll only include 500 words on a page, I'll put a link to 'more' if there is an additional 500 words. It all has to do with user interest, there's been multiple studies that show if a visitor just sees a block of endless text it looks unappealing and there's a good chance that they'll hit the back button and try another link. Make sure you provide a good aesthetic sense to your design and that can be eliminated.

All in all, I really do not believe word count matters all that much on the web...it's what those words are providing for the visitor.