Splitting Long Pages- any SEO benefit?

[Fairyglass]

I have a page which currently contains over 60 products, all similar except for colour. The colour is important, so I have to show all 60. They are currently arranged as one long page with extended info pages for more detailed images and text. The customer therefore has to scroll a long way to see all the products.
I can see it's possible to split this page into several, but I'm wondering what the benefits are? Obviously the customer will scroll less- are there other benefits, particularly SEO related, or am I best just leaving well alone?
Thanks in advance,
Ben

[Duncan Rounding]

You didn't mention the URL but I would expect that perhaps a compact grid type layout may help.

There may be no benefit of splitting the pages if they are the same product except the colours. It might be worthwhile creating a brochure page that you can link to showing all the colours with colourful text etc. (pun intended)

[Fairyglass]

Thanks for the quick reply Duncan- I didn't give a url as the site's a bit of a mess! The page is http://www.edible-glitter.co.uk/orde...e_Glitter.html - go easy on the design aspect as there's lots to do!

The grid idea is good- currently I have the product in a single column- certainly it would benefit from 2 columns. I'll play around over the weekend and see what I can come up with.

[Chunkford]

You could use javascript and have a tiny thumbnail of the pictures so when a customer hovers over the image it displays the larger image

[Fairyglass]

You could use javascript and have a tiny thumbnail of the pictures so when a customer hovers over the image it displays the larger image

Ah yes, but that would stretch my tiny brain to breaking point! Good idea though, I can see the benefit. My js skills leave a lot to be desired- perhaps I can treat it as a challenge.

[Chunkford]

Use this as your guide http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamici...thumbnail2.htm

Everyone starts out as a noob
Plus i'm sure there's people out there that can do it for you for a price

[Mike Hughes]

If the only diffrence between the products is the colour then I'm not convinced there will be any seo or customer benefits to creating multiple pages.

You're probably better using something like Normans dynamic image choice add-on. http://www.drillpine.biz/actinicstuff/index.html

Mike

[pinbrook]

as a buyer i think i'd rather have a page per colour ie all the blues on one page, all the reds on another rahter than scroll through 60 products.

For SEO i would n't have info in extended info

if i were laying this out i'd go for SPP thus your product page is the google fodder

ie section - for example balloons
section red balloons
product using normans dynamic colour change and loads of descriptive text
section blue balloons
product using normans dynamic colour change and loads of descriptive text

[fergusw]

Why not try and experiment and get the best out of both worlds. Why not try a page with a single "Edible Glitter" product with a dynamic colour/choice selection (as Mike suggests) and associate the colours to the required hidden products.
i.e. 1 product on the page, multiple colour options.

You can compare how this page performs versus the product list page.
From an SEO point of view you could create a brochure page (as Duncan suggests) to hold all the SEO text and colour descriptions for this product.

As an aside, when I first visited this page I wanted to read about how glitter was "edible" and I had to scroll right to the bottom to find this info.

[malbro]

Ah yes, but that would stretch my tiny brain to breaking point! Good idea though, I can see the benefit. My js skills leave a lot to be desired- perhaps I can treat it as a challenge.

I have used some similar javascripts and incorporated them into Actinic using custom variables in choices, you really don't need much knowledge of javascript, more how to sort the Actinic side out.

[Fairyglass]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions- there's lots of good info. The background to this is a little more complex- we already sell the products on another site, using SPP, and we're right at the top of G for the three main search terms. However the site they're sold on isn't one you'd associate with the product- we started to sell it almost by accident and it went from there. As a result I'm setting up a new niche site for this type of product but expanding the range so that casual customers who want this specifically are more likely to purchase related items. Effectively, I'm trying to compete with myself.

Interestingly, we published the very raw site less than a week ago, on the domain which had never been used before, and I uploaded a feed to Google Base. Within 24 hours we're already ranking on pages two and four for the three keyword phrases, and we're not taking orders yet, plus the site is still a mess (as some of you have pointed out!).

I think Fergus has hit the nail on the head- play around and see what works. SPP is the obvious choice as we've already succeeded with this, but I thought it would be good to learn what effect other layouts can have in comparison.

[leehack]

The images are way too big (you just want tasters at that stage), reduce them and have more on one line I say, something like http://www.atlanticshopping.co.uk/ac...ols_Page1.html

[Duncan Rounding]

...glitter was "edible"...

I wonder if it's crunchy.

[Fairyglass]

I wonder if it's crunchy.

not especially. It's as fine as the glitter you find on paper, and doesn't taste of anything either. I've a (weird) friend who uses it to encourage his kids to eat mashed potato

[Fairyglass]

The images are way too big (you just want tasters at that stage), reduce them and have more on one line I say, something like http://www.atlanticshopping.co.uk/ac...ols_Page1.html

Lee you're right -they're awful. I'm in the middle of taking more and will deal with the size issue when they're ready. I find taking images really boring, and taking 60+ of the same thing in different colour is giving me some inspiration problems!