Article directories are the easiest source of backlinks and traffic possible through article marketing. All you need to do is sign up for an account and submit your article. Assuming your article meets their guidelines, you'll be up and running within a day to a week.

Here are a few tips for getting the most bang for your buck with article directories.

Find and Use Do-Follow Directories

Many directories put a NoFollow tag on their outbound links. What does that mean?

It means that although Google will see those links coming into your site, they won't give you "credit" for having a backlink. The link will have no positive SEO properties.

Naturally, you're much better off with Do-Follow directories than NoFollow. Look for Do-Follows and focus your energy on those directories.

Use a Range of Different Directories

When Google is counting links, your site will get a lot more credit if you had 100 links from 100 different websites than if you had 100 links from one website.

Of course, it's not quite feasible to submit a different article to a different directory every time. But it does pay to vary it up.

Perhaps every ten articles, switch to a different directory. This will give you a wide base of backlinks, which will increase your rankings.

Use the Big Ones for Traffic

Use well-known, high-PR article directories like EzineArticles, GoArticles, and ArticleAlley for raw traffic.

Because these sites have such a high PR and so much relevance in Google's eyes, your articles are more likely to rank than if you put them on any other website.

Again, get a mix. Don't put all your articles in just one big directory, as the backlinks won't get as much credit. But do put some of your articles on the heavy hitters, as you'll get more traffic that way. 

Try Auto-Submission

There are a lot of article marketing programs out there that can make the submission process much simpler for you. All you need to do is plug in your login information and hit a button and the software will do the rest.

If you're just doing an article here and there, you probably don't need to use the software. But if you're submitting dozens of articles every month, then the three minutes you save from having to submit an article can really add up.

These are a few ways to really get the most out of article directories. Make sure you use Do-Follow directories. Mix things up and get a range of different backlinks. Use well-known directories for raw traffic. And finally, learn to use auto-submission programs if you're submitting articles on a regular basis.