[HendryLee]

It depends from one situation to another.

If you try to get many votes on Digg or thumbs up on SU, you should write comprehensive articles. The intention is to impress the visitors so they click on the thumbs up button.

For article marketing, my experience is that short and sweet format is the way to go. It almost has nothing to do with your writing skills at all, just a bit. Use list or how to format, just like Steve recommended above.

Create compelling title, get into the topic of the matter immediately in the opening paragraph, don't start slow. Give at least a reason for the readers to keep reading.

List a few tips or step-by-step information and close. You also want to make the transition smooth so the readers proceed to your resource box.

Concise articles work in this case and unless you write 10,000-word article, you don't have to be a great copywriter to keep the readers on the page.

The other benefit of using list is because the readers can scan through the content and still grasp the points you are trying to get across.

For Squidoo, it is different still, because you can insert your link inside the article. With article marketing, you could, but self promotional article may be disapproved during editorial review.