(About those links, I meant most of the directories I submited to were Linksmanager directories not linkmarket; Sorry) I suggest just using this free technique along with phplinkdirectory There are also semi-automated (not automated) programs that speed up the process like IBP and Seo Elite. Seo Elite is the better of the two but's it's buggy compared to the smooth running IBP 8. Sure I'm not where I want to be with my site but I have about 60 or so clean links since Nov. 29, 2005. 4 [PR 4] 6 [PR 3] 12 [PR 2] and the rest PR 1 and below. I didn't realize just how well my linkexchange campaign was doing until I bought Seo Elite and analyzed my backlinks. Even using this technique I still get a lot more link exchanges with my sites with a little bit of green on the bar. Don't bother sending out two or three link exchange requests to high PR sites when you have a PR of zero. You won't get good responses. Do the other technique and wait to get a little bit of Pagerank first. Programs: I had Arelis and IBP (hurting my pockets ) but SEO Elite does the job of both. Arelis and IBP run a lot smoother than Seo Elite but Seo Elite allows you to request links based on PageRank (the most useful feature I have ever used).
YoungSmeagol - I've thought of buying SEO Elite and glad to hear some feedback on it. What do you mean it's "buggy"?