>The "Top 20 . . . (in your niche)" type posts work great
>since it looks like you have done a lot of research, thus a
>lot of trackbacks are merited.

Thanks Top...You reminded me of a strategy I forgot to post:

Instead of requesting a link exchange, notify (quality) sites they have won your "best <keyword> site" award.

Send them the code they need to put on their page to display the award, including a link back to your site. Becasue of "ego", many webmasters will add the link (I mean award) to their sites.

You can do this to create one way links, or you can link back to them as an award winner, to make link exchanges easier.

Also, put a form on your site to have folks submit their site for your award review.

Awards can also be great protection...For example, once in a while someone will complain about their link being in FatBomb or on your pages. If you have an award graphic and call your links the "best of", you'll greatly reduce any complaints.

Take it a step further and if you're getting creative with your trackbacks, calling a blog post a "top 20", while including an award graphic will go far to eliminating complaints.

Awards can be as simple as adding some stars or simley faces before the link. You can rate them by giving 4 or 5 stars/smileys, etc. But be sure to give them a good rating:

------------------------------

DomBom Choices for Best Pages on the Web!

- Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here

- Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here
--------------------

Again, very few webmasters complain about getting an award. And even if you ad awards "randomly", your pages will look a lot more legit.

Check your clip art collection for qood looking award graphics...Or:

Here's some places to get free award graphics:

http://www.goldclipart.com/24k/shines63.htm
http://www.highpowergraphics.com/templates/page3.html
http://www.liza-kliko.com/art/free_awards.htm
http://www.vsda-web-awards.com/graphics.htm

For $1, you can get a high-quality graphic from I-Stock without having to link back to the graphic site:
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_search.php?action=file&text=trophy