Everyone loves to get some free advertising for their website. The trouble is that it's not always easy to tell what's worth doing and what isn't.

Article directories are one of the best ways to get streams of free traffic - targeted traffic at that - heading to your website. But if you've ever done a search for article directories in Google, you'll know there are more of them out there in the ether than you could shake a stick at.

That's why you need to know you're shaking your stick at the right ones! For you to get the best from your article marketing efforts, I have made this lens (page).

So with that in mind, here are the top five article directories you should be submitting your articles to, before you even think about looking anywhere else.

Enjoy!

1. Ezine Articles 

This is one of the most popular directories as far as Google is concerned, which is good news for you if you want your articles to get loads of traffic. You can test this by looking up virtually any subject on Google. Ezine Articles tends to rank very highly if they have something on that subject.

The stats on this site are great - you can see at a glance how many times your articles have been viewed, how many times your links have been clicked on, and whether or not any ezine publishers have published an article elsewhere.

You'd be mad not to use this one - it's arguably the most powerful directory of the lot.

2. Go Articles 

This site makes easy work of getting your articles into the hands of people who will publish them to a wider audience. If someone searches for a topic and sees an article they like, they select it and get it emailed to them immediately.

This is good news for you, as is the fact that this is an extremely popular and highly trafficked site. It's also easy to amend your articles if necessary once you've published them, and every article page invites readers to bookmark your articles at various bookmarking sites.

This is the biggest article directory currently in existence, which makes it an essential addition to your list.

3. Article Alley 

This directory leads you to a network of others - seven others in fact. And you could get your submission to Article Alley included automatically on any of these other sites if it fits the bill, giving you the maximum exposure from just one submission.

While Article Alley covers many different subjects, it's a great directory to use if you have plenty of articles on internet related subjects. These do especially well here as it's particularly well known for these subjects.

One tip here - click on the 'most read articles' section to see the most popular articles in any given section. They will help you write better articles for future submission.

4. Amazines 

If you have plenty of articles to submit, Amazines is the place to go. Its 'bulk submit' feature makes light work of it.

Once you've signed in you can check on the status of any articles you've already submitted before you send any new ones. You'll be able to see how many times each one has been viewed, and whether or not anyone has rated it. Amazines has a five star rating system that can really help highlight your articles and get them more traffic.

There is also the opportunity for readers to give you feedback on your articles if they wish. It can help to steer you in the right direction and more accurately target what kind of information people are looking for. This site comes highly recommended.

5. Idea Marketers 

It's last on the list, but no less impressive for that. This site is packed with features and benefits for online marketers to take advantage of - you can even promote an e-book free of charge if you have one.

But the real power of this site comes from the article directory part of it. You'll get access to comprehensive stats for each article you submit, and you can easily get hits climbing into three figures here. Your articles are also syndicated elsewhere, which provides another stream of traffic to take advantage of.

They also have a widget which allows you to promote your articles elsewhere. Along with countless other tools and benefits, this feature makes the site a must see.