@Jarrod1937Jan 21.2011 — #If done right (meaning not a billion links to a bunch of unrelated sites, just a one-to-one exchange) then it doesn't hurt... however, it also is of limited value. The sites that you exchange links with need to be of related topics as google considers that as a factor, and they also should have a bit of page rank. The issue is that in the grand scheme of SEO, link exchanges are quite negligible in impact, but if it doesn't hurt why not do it, just don't put too much effort into it.
I maintain a links page I use for my own sites, friends sites and sites I like myself...I know I can't expect a link back from some of these but they offer extra content and even impress some of my visitors for having them and you can use them to start up a good quality links page.
Sometimes I will accept an offer for a link exchange, but only rarely....I get so many and when I go to the links page I'm being offered a place on I often find dozens of them there, people won't find you there.
But a good thumb nailed links page will also get onto the search engines and if you can get yourself onto one that makes efforts to be a bit exclusive so much the better! Heres mine.....http://www.seawitchartist.com/links.htm