Lot's of you already know this, but for you new guys trying to build back links, one of the ways I like to do it is to run a backlink check on my competition with www.backlinkcheck.com It shows you all the URL's that your competition has generated a backlink from, and the URL's are all clickable, so you can go and try to get a backlink from the same sites. If there's websites beating you in the rankings, why not copy their strategies to keep up. Small tip, but some might find useful. Carry on.
I also recommend WL professional links manager to automate the job of inviting owners of these backurls to place a link on your sites, and later on checking all the backlinks for presence and good heatlh.
OK I'll give it a try....till now I only use .... http://www.webuildpages.com/neat-o/ and seo elite 4.0 Thanks christian231 for sharing it with us..
I use a freeware app called "Good Keywords" that is so useful, it does allow me to see how many links a site is building along with tons of other (free) features