Once you have written an article, you want it listed in as many article directories as possible, so people can find your info, and visit your website to find out more about your business.
To get your articles listed in the directories, you have 3 options.
1. You can hire someone to do it for you.
When you hire a virtual assistant to do your article submissions you won't have to look at each site to make sure it has a category that meets the requirements of your articles.
Most virtual assistants already work for other article marketers, and have a list of the best article directories, so they know where to go, and what to do.
You also won't have to create directory accounts and make notes of the link address, login and password every time.

You'll find some good freelance virtual assistants who will take care of your article submissions at Elance.
2. You can use an online article submission service.
There are several submission services operating online. Some charge you per directory that your article is submitted to. For example: If you want to list your article in 10 directories, you will pay $10.00. This makes it a good place for beginning article marketers, who like to test things out first.
The downside is that if you plan to submit your article to many directories on a constant base, you may end up paying a lot of money.
Other submission services charge a flat fee. You can choose a Quarterly, Annual or Lifetime membership. If you're going to submit many articles, then this is the way to go.
Online submission services are easy to use, effective, and can get your articles listed quickly in the most important directories.

3. You can also use an automated article submission program that runs from your own computer. This is a less expensive option, as you have total control over the software once you have bought it, and you do not have to pay for every article that you submit.
The advantage is that there are no recurring fees involved and you can use the program whenever you want to kick out a series of articles in a flash. They will be distributed to hundreds of article directories in a fraction of the time it would otherwise take.
Note: some of these automated programs do not update their database on a constant base, and many article directories are no longer working.

Another downside is that some of the article directories require a login and password, so you will need to enter the info manually every time you submit an article. This can take a lot of your time.
Conclusion: to choose which article submission solution will work best for you, you should consider how many articles that you want to see published.

High volume: choose an online submission service. You will save a lot of time. Time that you can spend on writing more articles

Low volume: do it yourself, or use a submission program that runs from your own system.
To find out how to use articles to drive massive traffic to your site, get a free copy of "A Quick-Start Guide to Writing Profitable Articles"