Hey Dear,
Submitting to directories is the simplest way to get incoming links. Manually submitting to top, trusted directories such as Hot frog is extremely beneficial, pages are indexed almost immediately. Also listings with sites such as Yell can generate lots of traffic. Do not expect much from most other free directory inclusions. A site’s inclusion in the many free and paid directories isn’t telling Google much about the value of the site’s content. Getting your site listed in directories, paid or free, is just you voting for yourself. How Google can assess value from that?