Page Count Estimates

This document gives teams a practical method to estimate website scope. It breaks content into countable units: splash pages, one page per gallery image, product, job posting, and press release. It adds one home page, an index page for each main topic, and a gallery index page for every 6 to 12 thumbnails.

It includes a page for each subtopic, a hook or hallway page that lists all pages to aid spidering, doorway pages for each keyword or phrase, and index pages for sets of subtopics. Building a storyboard of components and sample pages helps convert ideas into an average page count for planning and budgeting.

A standard page follows established templates. Each page typically includes two to four screens of text, up to six unique images with light edits, and up to ten hyperlinks. The scope includes navigation, menu graphics, and typical design tasks such as analysis, research, iterations, implementation, and testing. Fully custom pages may carry higher effort per page.

Teams often complement this approach with simple content math, much like a book designer would. You can approximate text volume using a words per page calculator with assumptions such as single-spaced versus double-spaced, standard spacing, standard margins, lines per page, and words per sentence. Many use quick rules of thumb (for example, 250 words or 500 words per page) to answer how many pages early in planning.

Font choices matter in print (Garamond at 11 pt font size on 5 5 x 8 5 or 6 x 9 trim size), and while websites are not bound by trim size, similar thinking helps size content into partial pages, half-page summaries, or full pages. For sites that mirror a publication, you may map web structure to a title page, copyright page, table of contents, chapter sections, appendix, and index. If the content will later be printed as a catalog, these estimates can also inform printing costs and shipping costs.

Use cases include an e-commerce site estimating pages per product line, a portfolio counting gallery images, an HR microsite planning job postings, and a PR hub projecting press releases and related doorway pages.

Proposal Kit can turn these page estimates into clear deliverables with document assembly, automated line-item quoting, an AI Writer to build supporting documents, and an extensive template library, making it easier to produce accurate, consistent plans.

Beyond counting pages, this framework helps teams forecast budgets, staffing, and schedules with greater confidence. Converting content into measurable units early reduces scope creep, clarifies stakeholder expectations, and aligns SEO plans with information architecture. It also supports operational planning: content inventory, governance rules, and maintenance cycles (for example, how often product, gallery, or press pages refresh). Teams can tie estimates to analytics goals and editorial calendars, ensuring each page type has a defined purpose and outcome.

You can refine estimates by sizing content into full pages, half pages, or quarter-page equivalents when writing outlines or wireframes. This granularity benefits long-form projects that may become downloadable guides or catalogs, where front and back matter (title, copyright, table of contents, index) require their own page counts. If you intend to print, pairing web counts with a words per page calculator and a few sample pages produces credible projections for printing costs and shipping costs later.

Proposal Kit strengthens this process from proposal to delivery. Use document assembly to generate consistent statements of work and schedules tied to counts (pages per product, pages per topic). Automated line-item quoting converts the component list into clear budgets.

The AI Writer can write assumptions, deliverables, and change-control sections that match your scope rules. The extensive template library streamlines communication with clients and internal teams, while its ease of use helps sales, project managers, and book designers collaborate faster and with fewer misunderstandings.

A key insight is to treat the standard page definition as an enforceable service boundary. When copy exceeds two to four screens, images exceed six, or hyperlinks surpass ten, flag it as scope variance and price it in quarter-page or half-page increments. That prevents hidden work and keeps schedules predictable.

The storyboard becomes a control document: convert each component into backlog items, assign average effort per page, and sequence build, QA, and stakeholder review gates. The 15-minute edit per image helps capacity planning; multiply by expected images per page to load-balance design teams.

Content math refines copy plans before writing starts. Use a words per page calculator to set targets by topic, relying on practical assumptions such as single-spaced or double-spaced drafts, standard spacing, standard margins, lines per page, and average words per sentence. Quick checks like 250 words or 500 words per page help answer how many pages for large sections. Create sample pages to validate density and adjust partial pages versus full pages across the site.

For mixed web-and-print projects, map sections to book-like structures: title page, copyright page, table of contents, chapter groupings, appendix, index, and other front and back matter. If you plan a later print run, experiment with trim size (5.5 x 8.5 or 6 x 9), font, and font size choices such as Garamond at 11 pt, and confirm pages per section to anticipate printing costs and shipping costs.

Additional use cases include SaaS knowledge bases estimating pages per feature, nonprofits planning campaign microsites, and franchises standardizing local pages while controlling doorway and index pages.

Proposal Kit helps formalize this rigor by turning page definitions into repeatable scope language, assembling consistent schedules and budgets from counts, generating line-item quotes, and using the AI Writer to produce acceptance criteria, change-control notes, and storyboard summaries from the same inputs, all supported by its template library and ease of use.

Writing the Page Count Estimates document

Page Count Estimates

Recommendations for estimating the number of pages for a site:

1+ splash pages, count extra splash pages separate from page count of standard site pages. 1 page per gallery image. 1 page per product.

1 page per job posting. 1 page per press release. 1 gallery index page per 6 - 12 thumbnails.

1 index page per main topic. 1 home page. 1 page per main subtopic.

1 hook/hallway page per site listing all site pages for search engine spidering support. 1 doorway page per keyword and phrase (single pages designed to rank high on a word or phrase). 1 index page per set of subtopic pages. Create comprehensive storyboard layout to generate page count estimate based on components and pages required.

Page Type

Standard Page Definition (limit content client receives per page for this estimate):

Follows our pre-existing page templates, completely custom sites may incur higher costs per page. Body contains up to 6 unique images (minimal scan/edit/crop/compress 15 minutes each). 2 to 4 screens of text. Up to 10 hyperlinks.

Includes the building of the basic navigation systems built into each page. Creation of the graphical menu bar with image slicing and rollovers is rolled into the base price per page. Time estimates account for setup, analysis, design, implementation, research, information gathering, customer queries, multiple iterations of design/layout, testing, etc. for each component and page.