Do you have any idea on how many article directories should I join to improve my ranking and generate blog/website traffic as well. How may times do you usually post articles on article directories?
Depends on the site age, I would build a 1 every few days if its a fairly new site. But yeah use a high pr list I always use this: http://www.strongestlinks.com/directories.php
Its been long said that submitting in quantity over quality yields less than favorable results. In other words, listing in 2-3 high quality directories usually carries more weight than submitting to 1000 crummy ones.
I thinks the better way for ranking is keywords. Mostly non competitive keywords. Posting or submitting many articles at a time can affect your ranking. Hope this help?
None. Article directories don't carry as much weight as it used to. Google is looking for quality content on your own site. In doing this if your content is engaging to the reader then its more than likely going to get shared with fb likes tweets ect. thus giving your site somewhat of a viral effect and giving you traffic to your site. Hope this helps.
It's generally better to focus on keyword phrases, specifically those that localize that search to a specific geographic and segment specific/niche'. Searching for "widgets" is going to yield a lot more results than "special widgets from tempe az".
Me, I don't do mass submission of content on different article directory sites. I only go for the best/reputable directory sites, then I submit my article. I'd rather do creative content marketing than just focusing on submitting the same content on different article directories.
You should only use top 30-40 article directories which provide quality backlinks. While doing article submission you have to make sure that you are not posting the exact same content on multiple sites as it can backfire and have a negative impact on your rankings. You should always use a unique content for each submission to get the desires results with your article submission work.
Top article directories don't accept duplicate content. Those who allow it don't worth your attention and time. Unique, high quality articles submitted to some of the best article directories like Ehow, HubPages, Ezinearticles value much more than a bunch of backlinks from content farms.
I wouldn't spend alot of time worrying about article directories, unless there is a high amount of relevancy and authority within the page and root domain. Even then, your probably better focussing or getting more natural links from a relevant, authoritative site that actually adds content that is used along with a link to your website.