multiple excerpt length and styles

Are you aware of the uses of the More Tag? Customizing the Read More shows many uses of variable length teasers with variable link phrases to read more.

For example, this markup entered in the Post editor will provide a link with Read the rest of this story in the anchor text.

<!--more Read the rest of this story -->

You can also use the Excerpt box in the Post Editor to create custom sections of text that summarize a story or article and then provides a link to the main article. That custom excerpt doesn’t have to be part of the text of the post. It can be a teaser or long headline to entice the reader to click through to the post.