A Plain English Guide to Internet Marketing 

Content Pages...How Many?

So the question is, “How many pages will my website need?”  

The quick answer is:  How ever many it takes to tell your story.  I am not being sarcastic.  It really depends on what you are selling.  

Amazon wants to be the world’s biggest store.  The Amazon web site has literally tens of thousands of individual pages. 

How many do you need?  

First let’s define what we are talking about.

Web Page Defined

Here is the definition of a web page: “A document on the World Wide Web, consisting of an HTML file and any related files for scripts and graphics, and often hyperlinked to other documents on the Web." (Source:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/web+page)

  What this means is that each page on a site is:

  • A stand alone page with it’s own unique address (URL). 
  • Discoverable by search engines
  • Contains text of between 300 to 1500 words. 
  • May also contain images, videos, etc. 
  • Confines itself to a single topic. 
  • Contains links to other pages within the site. 
  • May contain links to other websites.

Website Structure

Website pages could be thought of as pages in a book.  The title of the book would be Your Business@yourveryownbusiness.com 

However there is a definite structure to website pages.

Typically the pages are arranged in tiers much like a family tree. Look at the sample structure in the image below

As you can see the Home Page is in the first tier. 

The home page tells the visitor several things:

  • Who you are
  • What you do
  • How you can solve the visitors problem. 

In the second tier you will find pages:

  • That expand on information in the home page
  • Provide more information about you and your business
  • Provide more detailed information on how to solve the visitors problems.

In the third tier you will find pages:

  • That support and expand on information in second tier pages. 
  • Provide more detailed information on individual topics or questions raised in the tier two page they support. 

You can also add pages in a fourth, fifth or sixth tier.  

Remember Amazon? I’m guessing they go far deeper than that.  

The important thing to know is search engines don’t catalog anything below the third tier.

So How Many Pages Do I Need?

Again, the quick answer is: How ever many it takes.   Here’s where you come in.  

Get out some paper and a pencil.  Sketch out a rough site template like the one shown above.  Label the home page at the top.  Now start thinking of topics for tier two pages. There is no limit to the number of tier two pages. 

Now add some pages to tier three that will support tier two pages.  

 When you run out of ideas, you’re done.  

Don’t worry about getting this right the first time.  You will revise this a hundred times before the final product is done.  In fact, you will be adding pages constantly once the site is published.   For now, rough ideas are fine. 

Now to find out what to put in the pages you’ve sketched out go to the Website Promotion page

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