Generally, for a very low SOC keyword (say 0-12 or so), I'll begin with two articles.

If the SOC is 13-20, I'll hit that one with 3 articles, and then generally add 1 article for every 10 "step ups" in SOC (again, this is just a broad generalization at present...a rule of thumb, not something I'd call the gospel!.

Initially, when I drip-fed my articles into MAS, I'd do it at a rate of 100 per day, but more recently, I've just been slamming them through all in a single day and it hasn't seemed to make much difference (I notice that I do a bit more "dancing" for a few days, but that has been the extent of the effects I've seen so far).

I don't currently use any of the subscription based services. Instead, I use a combination of free and paid (one time fee) tools (EZA + Scribd + ASH + MAS + FTS) - and I recently got the list from Big Mike of the directories that his Article Bot submits to, and am comparing it to what I've already got. If there's not too much overlap, I will be buying that one and adding it to my system as well!