I find article marketing to be very effective at getting quality links quickly. I've put together a 15 minute video that explains the benefits and how to automate manual submissions . When I can add live links to my posts I'll try to edit this one. Failing that, go to Google video and do a search on article marketing lesson.
You get tons of spammy requests, no real detail where your partner placed the link and the links are on the links page. For me, only front page exchange links should be considered.