Article Length: Does Size Matter?
When it comes to writing articles, too long can be as big a killer as too short. There is an optimal length to articles, but it largely depends on what the purpose of your article is.
If you want to publish your articles your article directories for mass distribution then I wouldn’t go less than 400 words. Probably 400-600 words is best, though you can get away with up to 700 words. I wouldn’t go beyond that. The reason is because you are targeting those articles toward e-zine and newsletter publishers. Those publishers are generally looking for well-written articles that are short and optimized around a specific keyword. Anything less than 400 words is probably too short to provide any real SEO value. Anything longer than 600-700 words is too long to maintain reader interest and will likely be rejected by the publishers who can help you the most due to space considerations.
If you are targeting website publishers - third-party news sources, content publishers, and other such sources where your articles will likely be converted into HTML and enhanced by graphics then you might get away with a bit longer. But the 400-600 word length is still a good rule of thumb unless a specific publisher has their own guidelines. If you are targeting your articles toward specific publishers then you should follow their guidelines if they are different than the norm. If all else fails, contact the publisher directly and ask them what they prefer. You should always tailor your article content to the publisher you are seeking to publish your content if you can.
I agree with that. Effective articles are those articles that are not written too long for the readers to read. Oftentimes, people get bored too easily especially when at first view they’ve seen your article very lengthy - probably they’ll ignore your article and look for informative yet shorter ones. Another thing is, most article directories require character limits. So if your article exceeds their required characters, you will have to edit it again before you could submit it.