Well... I strongly oppose the idea of using link exchange programs or directory submissions. If you're getting backlinks from irrelevant websites or the sites having black hat techniques or with un-respected content, you'll get penalized. Try reading Building one way back links
What you can do is, follow techniques like Article Marketing, Directory Submissions, Social Bookmarking (StumbleUpon sure increases hits) etc.. That should help your real good
You can post your site to online directors to get better rank in Google. if you can post back links yourself you can find some free and paid directory's here http://www.vmoptions.com/directory-list.php Code (markup): and post them yourself. It's easy if you use robot form to fill the details in the form submissions.