From an SEO perspective is important to have external links on your site? We always talk about getting links to our site but should we have links on our site pointing to other sites?
External linking is important, because it puts you into a specific "neighborhood" of sites and associate your site with the subject those neighbors are about...A large number of external sites to a lot of different sites in the same neighborhood make you to a hub, which isn’t too bad to be and an authority for that subject if you are being trusted. That means that you will probably start ranking higher and higher for the generic keywords that describe the subject, especially if the anchor text of inbound links will reinforce that notion..
More inbound links minimize external linking. Also, you should take care with who you link out to.. But if your external links are relevant to your site don't worry it helps users giving clear and concise information. Read more articles about linking out (external links): Matt Cutts Acknowledges SEO 2.0 Tactic of Linking Out as Ranking Factor Using Outbound Links to Improve Your Blog How Bad Outbounds Can Impact Websites
Hi, Right, having some outbound links to the niche relative authority sites would be helpful for ranking purpose, IMO. Also, you could use nofollow attribute for your outbound links if you want to keep your current PR, especially when exchanging links. all the best,