Hi,
I was curious to see what ppl think works better for article marketing:
1) Making your own site for the article (costs $)
or
2) Using Squidoo/Hub Pages etc.... (free but share revenue)
Which is more effective and profitable??

I think first one.....go for it. it might be best for you otherwise you can use blogger.com or wordpress.com. but if you make your own site you get ranked well coz that is your personal site and youw will can earn much.

The first one is better choice. You can use jumla, wordpress, phpbb or other free scripts to create your website.

I also need (if anyone one could be kind enough to)help giving us a list of the best article payment sites
Thanks in advance

To me first one is way better. Good luck to you :)

Perhaps the firs option is a better choice...

Making your own page would be a much better idea, especially if its something you will be doing more over time. I would tackle it with Wordpress. I love it, and there is very little you can't get done with it. I'm sure you could even find help with what you need done if you needed, just ask.
As far as the cost, you just need it hosted somewhere. That should be easy to find here.