Last year, before all this Google hoopla began taking place, I started a site that allowed agents to post articles for free. No one seemed interested back then. That's probably because it was a new site and everyone was still focused on what was working at that moment and not thinking ahead to the next logical steps that Google was going to take.
Don't read that the wrong way - I don't have a crystal ball or inside information. I moved to this kind of link building simply because of what I saw Google doing in the past. It seemed like the best move for the future.
Devaluing directories and paid advertising was an easy move for Google to make, especially going after paid advertising. This move by Google is not all about devaluing links. It's also about moving more people to put Adsense on their web sites.
BTW, my hunch is that within the next 12-18 months Google will begin devaluing blog links and RSS syndication. There is way too much crap being syndicated nowadays.
Because of all of the income producing projects and development that I needed to work on I never pushed the site. But now might be the time to get it rolling again. Based upon some new skills I have learned I need to update some code and functionality, but it works fine now.
As I said, if you want to sign up its free. All that I ask is that somewhere on the internet (forum post, your blog, someone elses blog, etc.) you add at least two links pointing to the site. I DO NOT want links from your own site (the one referenced in your article). One link will point to the article that you post, and one link will point to the homepage of the site. You can post more than one article, but adding links to additional articles is up to you. All I ask for is those two initial links.
Among the things I need to do is set up the site so article intros rotate on the home page. I may also create banners for everyone that submits articles and rotate those banners on the home page.
Anyway, if you're interested the site is
Welcome! - e-NeighborhoodGuide.com
BTW, the TOS on that site is old - I probably need to update it. I'll try to get to that and updating the site within the next 2 weeks. Right now I'm swamped with projects and can't get to it.