Daniel,

There are various free traffic methods and I can bet that one can't master them all. Take one step at a time. If you are into article writing and submissions, concentrate fully on it. like Curtis and Abhi have mentioned above, one, two or little more doesnt work. You have to do it on a consistent basis. Well you dont need to submit to whole lot of directories, if u just concentrate on the main ones, they are few in numbers, you should be good to go.

So remember my friend, one thing at a time. dont get your brain to concentrate on many different methods or they are chances, according to my experience, you may end up perfecting none.

All the best

Mrugank