too much text?

kinimod · 2004-04-22, 01:21 PM

let me first introduce myself to the board. HELLO, i'm still trying to learn as much as possible about link lists and SE optimization and i'm very happy that i found this board.

now for my question: is there such a thing as too much text? for example i have a template that i am using right now with on average 3-4 different gallery pages.

now on each one of the main gallery pages i have at least 200 sometimes 300 words talking about whats going on in each on of the movies(thumbnail pictures).

when a surfer clicks on a thumbnail they are taken to a .html page where there is at least 250 words on the movie page describing the movie.

like i stated earlier i have a lot of text, mainly for SE reasons. all of the pages are SE optimized very well but i just wanted to know how link list owners feel about this.

Surfn · 2004-04-22, 01:46 PM

Hi kinimod

welcome to the board

An example of what you are trying to explain would be most helpful.

baddog · 2004-04-22, 05:04 PM

text is king with search engines

DangerDave · 2004-04-22, 05:23 PM

Quote:

there is at least 250 words on the movie page describing the movie

sounds pretty spammy to me

DD

doublep · 2004-04-23, 05:47 AM

Text is good for the SE's and I would encourage anyone to use good copy on their sites - just stay away from repeating keywords in it over and over - and don't go over board - strike a balance between txt, images and graphics.

Cheers,

Paul

doublep · 2004-04-23, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DangerDave
sounds pretty spammy to me

DD

A bit harsh Dave - assuming you have not read the text! Webmaster was asking a legit question - No!

Greenguy · 2004-04-23, 09:19 AM

I'd have to agreee with DDave - without even looking at the page, 250 words seems like a large amount of text for a gallery:

*****
Greenguy & Jim Present......
Win A Trip To Internext In Hollywood, FL
That's right! We've gone insane once again! In Honor of your One Year Anniversary, we're
going to give away 2 trips to the August 13th-15th 2004 Internext Expo in Hollywood, FL.
Yes, that's right, TWO trips!
You want a chance to win? Here's the rules

Of course, you must be a member of the board to enter

We will have 2 separate contests, one using the
NHL Playoffs & one using the NBA Playoffs. In each contest, you are required to pick the winners of each
series. Everyone that has the most correct picks after Round 1 will move onto Round 2, where you will pick
again. Everyone that has the most correct picks in Round 2, you move onto Round 3. Everyone that has the
most correct picks in Round 3 will move onto Round 4, which is the finals in each series. Pick that one
correctly & you win! If only one person has the most correct selections after any round, they automatically
win!
(*see rules for tie breakers in Round 4)
AND.....You can enter BOTH contests!!!!!!!!
(the winner of the NHL Pool will be elimiated from the NBA Pool if they are still in the race)

How do you enter?
Send us an Private Message thru the board - NHL entries click here, NBA
entires click here - with who you think will win each series. If you are one of
the entries that....
*****

doublep · 2004-04-23, 09:40 AM

250 may sound a lot, but, if it is written up well, and the page layout breaks it up a bit - it shouldn't look to bad - and it will help the webmaster pull in some extra SE traffic - my pet hate is the opposite - absolutly no text, or very, very, little on the pages.

kinimod: Post some examples if you don't mind - lets have a look at your copy... as I said in the earlier post, it is about striking a balance - If you can say what needs to be said in 150 words, use 150 rather than 250.

Cheers,

Paul.

DangerDave · 2004-04-23, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by doublep
A bit harsh Dave - assuming you have not read the text! Webmaster was asking a legit question - No!

..and my answer was entirely legitimate...

Unless he is describing... the street of the man that bought the dye pigment of the thread that makes up the fabric of the covering of the matress under the sheets on the bed the too people are fucking on................

... how the fuck are you gonna get 250 words on a single page with a single movie!

Still sounds like SE spam to me.

DD

doublep · 2004-04-23, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DangerDave
[b]..and my answer was entirely legitimate...

Dave - Without having seen the copy your answer was pure conjecture - nothing more, nothing less. If you could call it an answer - looked more like an accusation to me.

Quote:

Unless he is describing... the street of the man that bought the dye pigment of the thread that makes up the fabric of the covering of the matress under the sheets on the bed the too people are fucking on

The webmaster may be reviewing/describing a one hour movie for all we know - then 250 words may be sufficient for what he is trying to achieve.

Cheers,

Paul.

Kezza · 2004-04-23, 10:58 AM

While none of us have seen the site in question, its hard to make a true judgement.

My thoughts are if the text involved actually helps the surfer to decifer the content he is about to see/view then it is all good.

We have all heard the words so often "content is god" and if you have the ability to give good content in text... well, good for you!

Paul is right... without seeing the site... we cannot assume it is spam

kinimod · 2004-04-23, 11:01 AM

http://www.asswatcherhoes.com/asswatcher-amber/

urb · 2004-04-23, 11:08 AM

That's quite a lot of text imo.

Can I make two constructive observations?

1) Every paragraph starts with the word "Alright".
2) 2nd, 3rd & 4th paragraphs are all in caps.

DangerDave · 2004-04-23, 11:14 AM

kinimod · 2004-04-23, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by urb
That's quite a lot of text imo.

Can I make two constructive observations?

1) Every paragraph starts with the word "Alright".
2) 2nd, 3rd & 4th paragraphs are all in caps.

I can nuke the "alright" from the text and would it be better in your opinion to make all the paragraphs all caps or just use normal text?

kinimod · 2004-04-23, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DangerDave

what does that mean? you killed a demon?

Kezza · 2004-04-23, 11:24 AM

OK... that is cool you posted an example.

Apart from the part where I have a nasty eye disorder that I cant read captials... and you start ever para with "alright" your text actually isnt too bad. You are pushing your main keywords too hard (I would take off the bold) but all in all its a good description of the site.

Dave is right when he says text can be spammy, but if you use it well, and see the surfers as your friends and really tell them about something (content) then text is magic.

urb · 2004-04-23, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kinimod
I can nuke the "alright" from the text and would it be better in your opinion to make all the paragraphs all caps or just use normal text?

I think large blocks of caps are harder to read, you don't ever see books published in caps.

Also using mostly caps reduces the impact of when you do need to use caps for important links or text under banners.

<edited to add>.....

http://www.textpad.com/ has a free text/html editor and if you drag the mouse over the text you can hit Ctrl+L to reset that all in lower case or Ctrl+Shift+K for normal sentence case.

Kezza · 2004-04-23, 11:39 AM

very good point Urb!

kinimod · 2004-04-23, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by urb
I think large blocks of caps are harder to read, you don't ever see books published in caps.

Also using mostly caps reduces the impact of when you do need to use caps for important links or text under banners.

<edited to add>.....

http://www.textpad.com/ has a free text/html editor and if you drag the mouse over the text you can hit Ctrl+L to reset that all in lower case or Ctrl+Shift+K for normal sentence case.

thank you for that link because i was sitting here thinking to myself "damn thats a lot of text to rewrite."

doublep · 2004-04-23, 12:26 PM

Hey Kinimod - thanks for posting the link!

I see what you are trying to do there with the text - I would suggest this. first off lose the caps - as Urb pointed out, any other text you want to highlight, weather it be by capping up key phrases are bolding them - the effect is watered down if everything is capped. Keep it lower case and use the caps and bolding in the copy to catch the surfers eye as he scans the page - bear in mind that when someone surfs in to see your pics/movies they are unlikely to stop and read the whole text - so the above is an ideal way to get your message across.

I don't think you have went overboard with the amount of text - but you have stretched the point a bit in your copy describing the content on the vids, and there is no need to repeat keywords over to many times. What you could have done is replaced some of those video descriptions with some more info about the site you are selling - tell the surfer what he is getting... pics vids movies... are they downloadable... how often does it update... etc etc....

Dave - I bumped into a mutal friend of ours last week in Blighty!

2004-04-22, 01:21 PM	#1
kinimod I'm going to the backseat of my car with the woman I love, and I won't be back for TEN MINUTES Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 81	too much text? let me first introduce myself to the board. HELLO, i'm still trying to learn as much as possible about link lists and SE optimization and i'm very happy that i found this board. now for my question: is there such a thing as too much text? for example i have a template that i am using right now with on average 3-4 different gallery pages. now on each one of the main gallery pages i have at least 200 sometimes 300 words talking about whats going on in each on of the movies(thumbnail pictures). when a surfer clicks on a thumbnail they are taken to a .html page where there is at least 250 words on the movie page describing the movie. like i stated earlier i have a lot of text, mainly for SE reasons. all of the pages are SE optimized very well but i just wanted to know how link list owners feel about this.

2004-04-22, 05:04 PM	#3
baddog Kids are great, Appu. You can teach them to hate the things you hate and they practically raise themselves now-a-days, you know, with the internet and all Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: The Beach, So Cal Posts: 196	text is king with search engines __________________

2004-04-23, 09:19 AM	#7
Greenguy The Original Greenguy (Est'd 1996) & AVN HOF Member - I Crop Pics For Thumbs In My Sleep Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Blasdell, NY (shithole suburb south of Buffalo) Posts: 41,929	I'd have to agreee with DDave - without even looking at the page, 250 words seems like a large amount of text for a gallery: ***** Greenguy & Jim Present...... Win A Trip To Internext In Hollywood, FL That's right! We've gone insane once again! In Honor of your One Year Anniversary, we're going to give away 2 trips to the August 13th-15th 2004 Internext Expo in Hollywood, FL. Yes, that's right, TWO trips! You want a chance to win? Here's the rules Of course, you must be a member of the board to enter We will have 2 separate contests, one using the NHL Playoffs & one using the NBA Playoffs. In each contest, you are required to pick the winners of each series. Everyone that has the most correct picks after Round 1 will move onto Round 2, where you will pick again. Everyone that has the most correct picks in Round 2, you move onto Round 3. Everyone that has the most correct picks in Round 3 will move onto Round 4, which is the finals in each series. Pick that one correctly & you win! If only one person has the most correct selections after any round, they automatically win! (see rules for tie breakers in Round 4) AND.....You can enter BOTH contests!!!!!!!! (the winner of the NHL Pool will be elimiated from the NBA Pool if they are still in the race) How do you enter? Send us an Private Message thru the board - NHL entries click here, NBA entires click here - with who you think will win each series. If you are one of the entries that.... ** __________________ Promote POV Porn Cash By Building & Submitting Galleries to the Porn Luv Network**

2004-04-23, 10:58 AM	#11
Kezza 24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think NOT! Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 559	While none of us have seen the site in question, its hard to make a true judgement. My thoughts are if the text involved actually helps the surfer to decifer the content he is about to see/view then it is all good. We have all heard the words so often "content is god" and if you have the ability to give good content in text... well, good for you! Paul is right... without seeing the site... we cannot assume it is spam __________________ Kezza Now This IS Groovy Free Porn

2004-04-23, 11:08 AM	#13
urb All the way from Room 101 Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 3,557	That's quite a lot of text imo. Can I make two constructive observations? 1) Every paragraph starts with the word "Alright". 2) 2nd, 3rd & 4th paragraphs are all in caps. __________________

2004-04-22, 01:46 PM	#2
Surfn If you don’t take a chance the Angels won’t dance Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Earth on occasion Posts: 8,812	Hi kinimod welcome to the board An example of what you are trying to explain would be most helpful.

2004-04-23, 05:47 AM	#5
doublep If something goes wrong at the plant, blame the guy who can't speak English Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Europe Posts: 306	Text is good for the SE's and I would encourage anyone to use good copy on their sites - just stay away from repeating keywords in it over and over - and don't go over board - strike a balance between txt, images and graphics. Cheers, Paul

2004-04-23, 09:40 AM	#8
doublep If something goes wrong at the plant, blame the guy who can't speak English Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Europe Posts: 306	250 may sound a lot, but, if it is written up well, and the page layout breaks it up a bit - it shouldn't look to bad - and it will help the webmaster pull in some extra SE traffic - my pet hate is the opposite - absolutly no text, or very, very, little on the pages. kinimod: Post some examples if you don't mind - lets have a look at your copy... as I said in the earlier post, it is about striking a balance - If you can say what needs to be said in 150 words, use 150 rather than 250. Cheers, Paul.

2004-04-23, 11:01 AM	#12
kinimod I'm going to the backseat of my car with the woman I love, and I won't be back for TEN MINUTES Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 81	http://www.asswatcherhoes.com/asswatcher-amber/

2004-04-23, 11:14 AM	#14
DangerDave Bonged Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: BrisVegas, AUSTRALIA Posts: 4,882	__________________ Old Dollars >>>> Now with over 90 Hosted Free Sites <<<< DangerDave.com.au - Adult Links to Free Porn

2004-04-23, 11:24 AM	#17
Kezza 24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think NOT! Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 559	OK... that is cool you posted an example. Apart from the part where I have a nasty eye disorder that I cant read captials... and you start ever para with "alright" your text actually isnt too bad. You are pushing your main keywords too hard (I would take off the bold) but all in all its a good description of the site. Dave is right when he says text can be spammy, but if you use it well, and see the surfers as your friends and really tell them about something (content) then text is magic. __________________ Kezza Now This IS Groovy Free Porn

2004-04-23, 11:39 AM	#19
Kezza 24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think NOT! Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 559	very good point Urb! __________________ Kezza Now This IS Groovy Free Porn

2004-04-23, 12:26 PM	#21
doublep If something goes wrong at the plant, blame the guy who can't speak English Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Europe Posts: 306	Hey Kinimod - thanks for posting the link! I see what you are trying to do there with the text - I would suggest this. first off lose the caps - as Urb pointed out, any other text you want to highlight, weather it be by capping up key phrases are bolding them - the effect is watered down if everything is capped. Keep it lower case and use the caps and bolding in the copy to catch the surfers eye as he scans the page - bear in mind that when someone surfs in to see your pics/movies they are unlikely to stop and read the whole text - so the above is an ideal way to get your message across. I don't think you have went overboard with the amount of text - but you have stretched the point a bit in your copy describing the content on the vids, and there is no need to repeat keywords over to many times. What you could have done is replaced some of those video descriptions with some more info about the site you are selling - tell the surfer what he is getting... pics vids movies... are they downloadable... how often does it update... etc etc.... Dave - I bumped into a mutal friend of ours last week in Blighty!