It seems that quality backlinks are the way to go after Penguin and Panda updates. But something worries me Let's say that you have a list of 10-15 highr pr dofollow 2.0 and article directories sites (squidoo...), How do you exactly use them? I mean, do you use the same content on those sites? That does not seem a good idea, you are leaving clear spam footprints and you could also have a duplicate content penalty. Ok, so you write different original articles for each site...if that's the right answer... - If content is king and duplicate and spun texts are worthless: Are seo becoming professional writers? Is this the way to go? - Wouldn't be better to use those articles on your own blog/s? I mean that's a lot of work to give it away to a site that you don't own
I agree that you need to focus on your publishing that great content on your own site. That way, if someone links to it because it is good, he will link to your site. You could also explore some social promotion, like Twitter.