I use my kids to post to directories. if you have a child thats of age i would train and let them do it.
Its better not to go for a software submitter. If google finds out you will end up in trouble. So do a manual submission 10 per week and slowly the back links come up.
I've encountered the same problem of select the best submission service more than a year ago. I used the service from greatdirectories.org I'm pleased with my choice and I recommend this service to all my friends. After half a year my website get PR4 that is permanent now. The great advantage of the service is low cost and no need for checking incoming mail. Page of service: http://www.greatdirectories.org/submission.html
I imagine that you mean that the pr has stayed at 4 for a while, theres no such thing as permanent pagerank.
Depends on the quality, age and other factors of the directories, and depends on the competition, if theres too much competition then you cant expect a handful of submissions to directories to suddenly give fantastic results.
I do not recommend the software to add a website. Because the owner of web directory will delete the sites and consider it is spam.
Directory submission still works very well but as Pipes said the quality of the directories is important. People sometimes think different as there use a poor submissions firms or a list of low quality spam filled directories that are littered with directories using the same IPs and in some cases, the same databases. Thanks Brian
You can check out netboostpro.com. They have directory submission software that isn’t bad and doesn’t cost a lot. It allows you to do fully automated submission or semi-automated. I don’t think there is software that can fit every need. However, without some form of software directory submission would be unbearable.