In your opinion what is the best way to use articles for seo? Do you post them on your website first and then submit them to article directories? Do you only submit them to article directories? Do you use article syndication services? Do you contact a related website and ask if they need an article written for their site?
The best way to utilize articles for SEO purposes is to submit your article to article sydication services and to also place a modified copy (i.e. a slightly differently worded copy of the article) on your Web site. The reason being because, the search engines can sometimes penalize you for placing an exact copy of a syndicated article on your Web site since they might think you violated the article's copyrights.
www.ezinearticles.com is a popular one that I personally like to use. You can also check out this link for a list of other popular article syndication sites: http://www.wilsonweb.com/linking/wilson-article-marketing-1.htm
I've been using submit your article for article distribution for almost 1 year and I'm very happy with the results.
I am writing articles for my site which are the only one of their kind. I then write completely different articles for ezine and a couple of other sites. It forces me to write more unique content.