Generally speaking, the more words - and the more plain text - your website has, the more visible it will be to the search engines.
However, there are certain circumstances in which you might need only a very small number of words in order to build a successful website.
Non-Search Sites
The most obvious example is when your website simply does not need to perform well in search results.
Consider:
- a site that gets most of its traffic via referrals or social media
- a site that receives mainly type-in traffic - via print ads or catalogues
- a site created to support an existing, search-visible website elsewhere
For these and other reasons, you might simply want text that is compelling or entertaining, without pandering to the whims of the search engines' ranking algorithms.
Local Sites
This is an expansion on the points above, but it's worth mentioning in its own right.
As a Didsbury-based copywriter, I probably have more exposure than many people to the rise and fall of small businesses.
In this one south Manchester suburb, there are musicians, artists, journalists and a whole host of shopkeepers, from traditional butchers and florists to specialist wine and cheese retailers.
The market for each is very geographically specific - so why have a website that tops the SERPs worldwide?
In many cases, location-specific websites can perform well with relatively little text, as competition is likely to be less fierce in a confined area.
Getting It Right
I'm happy to handle any size of project, from a handful of words right up to entire site rewrites with thousands of words involved.
But, as my pricing structure recognises, every word is important - however many or few your site contains.
With very little plain text on a site, the responsibility of each word is heightened. The considerations change too - from SEO to the impact each word, sentence or paragraph will have on a human reader.
Think twice before having a go yourself - although there may not be much of it, your content is as important as ever.
And if you decide you'd like an expert to handle your text - however small your order may be - drop me a line and I'll turn your project around as quickly as I can.
