I am starting to do a little link exchanging with some related sites. Usually I work links into the content so it looks more natural but these companies have set titles/link text. Should I make a link resources page or just add one or two on the small column of my site?

I installed a wordpress blog and was thinking about just using it for backlinks, with the occasional blog post as well, do you think this is a good strategy?

Reciprocal links aren't a good strategy regardless of how "natural" you try to make them look. The concept looks the same to a bot and will be disregarded by Google no matter how "natural" they look. Try to focus more on one way links as they will actual help you in the SERPs.

Yeah I have been submitting to specific/quality directories, and building incoming links lately. I just read recently that having some outbound links similar to your site helps bc it helps search engines specify the topic of your site, have you heard that?

I used to be big on reciprocal links for new sites because, especially when getting started, it really helps you to build lasting partnerships with other webmasters in your industry. However, the world of SEO was entirely different back then.

Alright thanks guys, probably just saved me from ruining my seo lol. I'll just continue slowly building quality incoming links and improving content.