Many online article writers do not know how long their articles should be. This is an important question to be answered for both online article writers and the websites that host their articles. One interesting thing I am finding, as an avid online reader of the news is that most of the online newspapers are dummying down.

Most articles on news sites are now under 200 words, as sometimes Internet surfers like short articles. Other online reader maybe more serious readers who are looking for thicker content, perhaps doing research.

If folks are reading less these days and remember it's a click happy world, then you actually alienate a good number of readers. Not the dedicated readers but the Internet surfers and there are far more of them, than those who are really looking for meaty content.

One online article submission site ponders the question, should all articles be required to be at least 300 words or more? If not and the articles are left at 250 words, then should the online article submission site advice various authors with too many complaints that their content is too thin? If such a site goes by complaints, then competitors in various categories will attack those they want to be removed from the system and cause more time in editing and checking.

One thing that I have noticed is that really long articles do not get many click thrus, I guess because no one ever reads them all the way through to get to the bottom to bother to click on the links. Therefore, it does not make much sense to write really long articles. So, how long should the article be?

It is my contention and belief that humor articles should be 150-200 words, Poetry 150-200 words and an online article submission site could very well raise the word count on the other categories to 300 no problem. Personally, I could care less what the word count is, but I do know that many folks who might use the articles I write for newsletters, blogs or content do not necessarily want longer articles, they want shorter articles; 250-400 words or so.

And the point that anyone can ramble through 300 words is true enough, I've read plenty of those here and elsewhere. Right now when I get to 250 words, well I start wrapping it up and discussing the main point in review, because 250 is the end. Generally, I get half way to 300 words or sometimes to 350, but try not to, realizing that 250-300 is where most Internet Surfers begin to bug out, click and they are gone.

One issue that is also important is that perhaps search engines have more to bite on when the articles are longer, the reason I believe this to be the case is that the automated ADS on the various articles sometimes do not have anything to do with the article that is being displayed on the shortest of articles.

Another comment is that generally if your article is about one thing (the topic, title) then you should write about that, and a one-point title, well does it really take more than 250-300 words to explain something? Now if you are giving a larger overview then sure, the articles could be much longer.

So, what does the reader wish to have? And you only get complaints when someone is unhappy or has an axe to grind (competitor). What about all the people who liked the article read it, and then left with a smile or a new thought for the day. They did not complain, check 4 or 5-stars, but they were satisfied. See that point? If you are considering what size your online articles should be or what policy your online article submission site should take, then please think on these issues when making your choices.