Software developers' page length varies
Asking how long your web pages should be is like asking how many grits there should be in an order of grits, or how many Pips Gladys Knight should have. If you're curious, Gladys had three Pips, Dion had three Belmonts, and Dave Clark had four Fives.
Your web pages should be as long as required to tell a convincing sales story about your software to your target audience. There is no right or wrong length.
Some people claim to know the proper length for web pages. They don't. There are researchers who watch people as they navigate web pages. These researchers suggest that their observations let them properly define the right page length for every web site.
Their findings cannot be applied to your situation. People who are observed, and who know that they're being observed, don't act the same as they would act if they weren't being observed. More importantly, the proper length of your web pages depends upon a number of factors that are unique to your software:
How interested are software buyers in your program?
If you're marketing a Windows wallpaper manager, then you'd better tell your story quickly and convincingly. Your prospects know that installing a wallpaper changer isn't going to have a huge impact on their lifestyles. They're not going to read a long web page. Page length matters.
By contrast, If you're marketing mission-critical business software, you can describe your application in detail. You need to start with a crisp overview that puts your software in context. Mention the main benefits immediately. But you can - and should - talk in detail about all of the program's features and benefits. Use long pages, short pages, comparison charts, bullet points, screenshots, movies, and anything else that will tell your story effectively. Don't be afraid to create long web pages.
How much do you have to educate your software prospects?
If you offer a simple utility, or a program that even a computer novice can master in just a few minutes, then you don't need to use long web pages to tell your story. By contrast, if you need to educate your prospects, then use as much space as you need.
Some software doesn't fit neatly into well-known software categories. This inability to be easily classified might be your program's unique selling point. Start by explaining the main benefits of your application, and take as much time as you need to ensure that prospects understand how your software can make their lives better.
Sometimes you need to tell multiple stories. Perhaps you have a utility that would be intuitive for experienced Windows users, but a real challenge for newbies. The correct solution might be to link to a "Quickstart Guide" for the experienced people, and point to a much longer, more detailed explanation for people who need hand-holding.
How do you want to position your software?
If you're selling an application that you claim is easy to use, and requires almost no training, then you'd better have a short web page to describe it. If it takes a half dozen screen scrolls to understand your program, you're not going to convince anybody that it has an easy learning curve.
By contrast, if you're positioning your application as a powerhouse, then you need to give people an in-depth description of its features and benefits. The very fact that you have a long web page reinforces the power and complexity of your app.
Similarly, your testimonials page can be huge. People may not read the entire page, but they'll be impressed by the number of users who have endorsed your software.
How many people contribute to the decision-making process?
If you're selling education software, you may have to deliver a sales presentation that satisfies the needs of kids, parents, teachers, school administrators, and tech support people. Similarly, for business software, you have to appeal to the end-users, their managers, the accounts-payable people, and support staff. The right answer might be to have one humongous web page. Or it might make more sense to have one page for each stakeholder. Don't give a second thought to the length of your web pages. Just make it easy for key people to find the information that they need to contribute to the sales decision.
How will prospects read your web site?
If prospects are going to read your site online, then it might make sense to split your sales message into multiple pages. For business software, managers might ask their secretaries to print the information. In that case, you'd be more effective if your sales message were on a single page.
A few more software marketing things to consider:
Page-loading time isn't important. Psychological page-loading time is very important. As long as you put something immediately onto your prospects' screens, it doesn't matter how long it takes to load the rest of the page. They'll be busy reading the sales message that you've displayed immediately.
Like most users, I use my web browser's "find in this page" function a lot. If all of your information is on a single page, it's easier for prospects to find it using the browser's "find" function. If you have a lot of web pages, you might want to look into offering your web site visitors a real search function.
If you want to include Google Adwords or any type of advertising on your web site, the more pages you have, the larger the advertising impact you might make.
You might spend less time using your web log analyzer if you have fewer pages. On the other hand, you might be able to get much better marketing information from your web logs if you have lots of pages, each with a separate sales message.
It might be easier to maintain your web site if you have a smaller number of large pages. Or it might be easier to maintain a large number of tiny pages. If you only update pages every few months, then you're better off with lots of small pages. It really depends upon your work habits.
The bottom line about page length and software marketing
"How long should my web pages be?" is a silly question. There's no "one size fits all" answer. Don't listen to so-called experts who tell you that users don't know how to scroll, or that scrolling (versus paging) causes disorientation. Make the right decision for your unique situation. Choose the page length that results in the most effective sales message that you can craft.
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