yes, so if u want to get the link exchange , maybe you only get the link of site pr 0 . besides you can write some original articles including your anchor texts , then submit them to high pr articles sites , if so you will get some high quality backlinks .
I myself is in favor of ezinearticle, as it is fantastic site and provides some quick results. Besides they also demand some quality oriented stuff in your articles as well.
link can be exchange for new website if link does exchange with high page rank website. check your outbound and inbound link, your outbound link should not more than 5% of inbound link.