trying to understand link/resource pages

I am studying link popularity/site promotion. What is the key to link popularity? Is it best to have a seperate link page. Does the link to that page need to be on the home page? Also is there a recommended site promotion firm to work with? Any advice for a beginner? Thanks.

hi, you would be better of going to the SEO forums as you would get constant seo tips from other posts and regulars on the forums.
link: http://forums.seochat.com/
And a link to SEO resources: http://www.seochat.com/

But let me give some advice as well.
The key is different for different search engines. For google it's debatable about whether more inbound links = greater rankings. Some say content is still king, others say inbound links rules and reigns. Both sides have compelling arguments.

As for links pages. No, they don't have to be on the home page. But it's a little more complex. For instance, if you are linking to someone you don't want to neccessarily put their link on your main page, it could hurt your rankings. But, if someone is linking to you getting your link on their home page would be a super boost as it were.
The home page is the most powerful page you have for SEO.

Now, this also depends on your layout and site function. Is your website a portal, is it a business site, is it for personal poems???

Each website must be optimized in a unique way. You can't always take one exact copy of an already optimized website or webpage and try to get the same results on a different website/webpage. It's probably won't happen. There are too many variables.

With that said link exchanges are not the end all for SEO. Not by far.
Links are only one part of SEO. You still need to optimize each webpage on it's own. You have to consider that although you have a homepage, it's not the only entry point to your website. Each webpage is an entry point, as well as an exit point. So you must optimize each web page separately.

My advice for resources:
The links above, um.. there is a place called www.spider-food.net, another called "jims world". DSon't know the url off hand. But a google search for "jims world"+"SEO" should find it. As well look at your competitors code. See what they are doing to get such high rankings.