I have started placing links on the front page of my site in order to get backlinks from other semi-related sites. My worry is that my users might start seeing this change and think that the site is turning into one of those sites that have a thousand useless links that will turn them off my site. Has anyone else had this issue?
Placing links on home page is not recommended method. You can create some other sites and allow them to get some pr so that you can exchange 3 way link for your site.