Backlinks - Relative Value

Google uses PageRank to assign relative value to backlinks - the higher the PageRank, the greater weighting the backlinks have. That's SEO 101.

Manually created backlinks are generally on low PR sites. This makes them of much less value than a single backlink from a site with serious authority.

Of course, there are many more factors that go into Google's algorithm, but if you are going to be creating backlinks to your site it is good to know the advantages and disadvantages of each. Given the recent Google algorithm change, every little bit of optimization will help.

Here are my views on a number of the more common backlinking sites:

SheToldMe.com: I still use this site especially to get new work indexed quickly. The residual revenue from shetoldme pays for around half of my monthly expenditure on domains and hosting etc, making it a handy part of the overall picture.

Xomba: I used this a lot initially but basic bookmark-style entries become no-follow after a short period seriously limiting their value. I may consider it again in the future for article length content but it is on the backburner for now.

Best-Reviewer.com: Time is money so I use this site more than most. You get to choose the number of links per entry so it is great if you are focusing your writing in a niche. For example, by doing a "Top 3 Reasons Justin Bieber Kicks Ass" entry you can link to three different Justin Bieber sites.

Snipsly.com: The biggest advantage of this site is that it is Do-follow and lets you choose your own anchor text (unlike all of the above). Wordpress users will recognize the user interface and find it simple to backlink. If you know the link itself has little weight, maximizing the anchor text adds value. Anchor text is going to hold value and likely increase its weight in future google revisions.

Excerptz.com: This site started by a prominent Hubpages user gives you the same wordpress interface and ability to choose your own anchor text making it a better than average use of time for manual backlinking.

For a new site I would backlink from SheToldMe and Xomba to aid indexing as well as using the next three sites to add more links including my anchor text.
For each new post I use Snipsly, Best-Reviewer and Excerptz and also take the opportunity to add links to my other sites in the same niche. If I don't have any, I link to some of my articles that also link to my primary site such as Hubpages or Squidoo.

With a bit of practice each of these sites takes only 5 minutes to create links to two or three locations.

Remember that if you are going to both with manual backlinking, choosing the anchor text is the way to get the most out of your work.