What the maximum words per page for a website?

I want to keep my home page lean and mean but the supporting pages are a bit wordy at the moment. What rules of thumb apply for words per page?

I would just ask the question: "does it work for my visitors?".

This page has got masses of text and is still usable.

It really depends on your audience. Some people will read, most won't. As gringo said, it's all about your visitors.

I agree. What do your visitors expect?

To paraphrase the Reverend Ronald Knox

Copy should be like a woman's skirt, Long enough to cover the essentials, but short enough to be interesting.