Ideally you should include both directory listings and article placement in your link development work, but if you had a limited budget, would you spend it on directories or articles? My vote would be articles but I'd be interested in others views.
My vote would also be articles as you get a whole page to yourself and can make the link relevant. In a directory you can't do this. You are right in saying both is best though.
If I had a limited budget, I would write and submit the articles myself, and submit to the directories myself. Total cost: $0. From what I have seen, directory submissions appear to have done more for my sites than article submissions. (That's a surprise!) The exception to this is when I manually submit the articles to high-quality web sites which do not normally accept article submissions. Those can turn out very well.
My vote is articles (but directories are important too). If you list in 1000 link directories, you will only ever have 1000 links. If you write a good article and list it in 1000 article directories, you may someday have 1001 links or more as other sites reprint your article.
For Article submissions to 96 quality article sites at just $5, follow the signature link below for details. Thanks, Abhilash.
Nice plug BTW, if you can inspire some confidence in me (and I am sure other DP members), you can get tons of business at that price. What you need to establish confidence is obvious, but let me know if you need any inputs on that Ajeet
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I agree with some of the earlier posts, most of the stuff you can do without spending a penny like what I'm doing... and it works just fine.
Assuming that you have done submissions to directories and article sites for free and you've got limited budget to spare, I'd go for press releases only if it's applicable. Otherwise I'd go for paid inclusion.
You need not choose between directory and article submissions if you have a limited budget -- do both of them yourself and it's free.
I would say hire a good article writer in your limited budget and then submit the articles and to directories yourself for free.