Look for directories (like mine) which are $19.99 for permanent one-way links on Cached pages with few links. Spend the half the money on directory submissions and the rest on sponsoring blogs.
Buy my signature link from your total fund to spend. Send me PM if you want to buy my signature link.
dipal76 the thread is from 2006, its also in the directories forum, you cant try and sell your sig link like that. BST section of dp is for that.
Who really gives a shit about rep, I come here to learn and turn that knowledge into money. If I had rep my life would in no way be better.
If enough people red rep someone though to the point that they end up showing a red blob, as harmless as it may seem, with the member above trying to rent out his sig to people he may find it slightly more difficult when it shows red, if people think his/her sig link will bring less return its not good for him/her. Hence a good idea to have a good/positive rep anywhere you go, both online and offline. I saw a guy here at dp totally ruin his business reputation, i mean he exterminated every last ounce, never to be trusted again. I personally feel rep is important in life, having the right kind at least.
You have to look at your competitors and determine which 5 or 6 keywords are they using to get traffic. Find how many backlinks they have. Then you will be able to know how much links do you need. Signatures are cheap links (lets say you pay 20 per a good signature, of a user with 5k posts), but are a monthly payment, don't forget that. But is a cheap way to get many links fast. Also you need many links from authority sites, that will cost to you once (or yearly), but are a good inversion. Blog comments, social bookmarks, etc. complete the scenario. The main thing is having good links for authority sites. Sites in the Alexa's 1k ranking. But not only temporal links like signatures. Purchase a link from phpbb.com main page, per example.
Ok, I am sorry insulting the reputation, I forgot about the business that goes on these forums. To be honest I forgot which website I was on, may sound stupid and yes it is, I do however surf mostly forums which do not have monetary transactions on and they also have rep which I don't understand for those sites.
I tried promoting www.CannyLink.com on Alexa's rotating 125x125 ads. It cost me $1k USD for 330,000 impressions. I did not expect to have an immediate positive return on investment. My goal is to introduce my site to SEO's that will consider my directory over the long-term. I think it did help to some extent.