Long Copy or Short Copy

is a long web page with tons of key words more effective?

[Hoystidd]

I am doing some research about Sales Copy on a web page.

On average, do you feel that the reader will want to click through the web site if they are genuinely interested in what we are offering, or would they rather have all the copy on one page and simply scroll down as they read?

Corey Rudl swears by Long Copy rather than short but I was curious as to what you all would say to this question...

Also, does long copy help with keyword optimization in the long run?

Thanks!

Guy

[Vivi_Labo]

I can only speak for myself. But as a reader I clearly prefer to click through a website.

I don't like long copy on one page that goes on, and on, and on - usually I click away before the end.

Vivi

[Vivi_Labo]

I can only speak for myself. But as a reader I clearly prefer to click through a website.

I don't like long copy on one page that goes on, and on, and on - usually I click away before the end.

Vivi

[Eldorado]

IMO short compelling copy does the trick. Or if it has to be long it should be structured so that readers don't have to put too much effort to find the info they are looking for. A long copy CAN be engaging if we use font color, font size imaginatively.

[Marcia]

Maybe it's because I've been around for a few years, but long, sales-oriented pages look very much like deliberately stylized and contrived cookie-cutter hype that I'm unlikely to read through to the end, much less click on a buy button.

[deejay]

What Marcia said... word for word.

[Old_Honky]

IMHO The ideal page is so short you don't have to scroll at all.
Links are much better than long pages. Most of us want our info in small size easily digestable pieces.

The main problem with a long page, even if it is chock full of vital interesting information, is that you can't see all of it at once so when you scroll down you are in danger of ignoring things at the top of the page.

[buckworks]

It would depend on a variety of factors, including how you intend to promote youer service/product.

For SEO it's often easier to work with multiple pages rather than one long one, because you can optimize them to target different terms, and word the internal linking to support that. You need to craft your presentation so that if a prospect arrives via an internal page rather than the home page, they can get their bearings and navigate logically through your sales process. That's not an issue with a long, linear page, although even there it can be good to provide links to jump straight to the content that interests them most.

Either way, learn the difference between putting a positive spin on things and merely writing hype, and learn to present benefits, not just features. Serious prospects will gobble up serious information if you present it well.

Always remember: an approach that works for someone else might not be the most effective for your product or service. You can learn much from others, but ultimately you have to do your own testing and tweaking to see what works best for you.

[Robert Charlton]

Serious prospects will gobble up serious information if you present it well.

For most content, I would advise organizing the content by focused topics in sections of roughly 250 words, and putting these sections on separate optimized pages.

After much pondering, though, I find myself disregarding this advice on a current project. I've set out to write an article on a subject essentially to attract links (and to provide a reference for site visitors), and I feel that, in order to get those links, the article has got to be one of the two or three best researched and written articles about the topic on the web.

Currently, there are dozens of articles online about the subject, but only two have any inbounds to speak of. In both cases, these are very long articles. One is about fifteen printed pages.

I decided that, to be authoritative, I had to be long and detailed too... not 15-pages long, though... and that short paragraphs, clear subheadings, and scrolling were the best way to go to get the article read. Because the article was conceived to focus around three overlapping phrases from the start, keeping it optimized wasn't too difficult.

I avoided bullet points as being too much a cliche. The articles that didn't attract links oversimplified and were all bullet point articles.

The article came in at 1,200 words. It will be an interesting experiment.

is a long web page with tons of key words more effective?

No, I don't think so, particularly if you mean tons of different key words. For SEO and for readers, I think pages built around focused titles are best... but definitely include synonyms and "peripheral" content in the content. Don't just repeat the phrases. I think long pages are generally harder to optimize.