Better to give away or use for myself

Building traffic

[bghtn]

I write occasional articles related to the theme of my website. Up until now I have been submitting my articles to sites such as ezine articles and letting others use them so I would gain a backlink.
I am starting to question myself...would it be better to write say 25-50 articles per year and use them exclusively on my site or is the article sharing a better way to go? Currently I am building content on my site from other authors through sites such as ezine articles as well as using my own work.
My goal is to build quality traffic...

[Livenomadic]

First, you have to make sure you site had a large pile of content itself.

Second, I would only give away around 5% of my articles, and only to sites that give me a PR 5 backlink.

[ken_b]

How long are the articles?

If they are long enough to also prepare a short, but useful and interesting summary of each article?

If so, you might consider giving away the summary version in exchange for a link back... "Read the whole story at..."

[bghtn]

Thanks for the responses. My site is growing but quite small compared to some I have seen and read about. What do you consider a large pile of content?
My articles are 6-800 words. Do you think that is long enough to have a summary article? I really like that idea!
I wonder how I would only allow users with a pr 5 to use my articles? Maybe put something at the base of the page? Or just wait for someone to approach me asking me to use the article?

[Livenomadic]

I never through of Ken_B's idea, but certainly his is an excellent suggestion, and I think I'll start using it myself.

Thanks Ken