Dallas PUA

I believe at the old site, there were link exchange programs where we linked to related sites in exchange for a link back.

Should we pursue a similar strategy? Does anyone have experience with that sort of thing?

Yes links of similar kind are very important.

You should try to exchange links with any pua site you can find.

it's best to get them to link to you 1 way if at all possible... most people now are doing 3-way links. But a link exchange is better than no link at all.