Exchanging links with other site owners is good strategy to promote your site. However, exchanged links don't have the same value as one way back links. But they would help your site to receive quality traffic.
When you want to exchange links with different web sites there are few things you need to keep in mind. First, the site has to be related to your topic so you would get kind of visitors, who are interested with your site's content. The second thing you need to keep in mind is the way you ask for link exchange. Don't just send emails and leave comments to ask link exchange. Explain the person why they should exchange link with you. Show them some facts. These facts could be your site's statistics, content, or PR. Also be ready to prove those facts.
Here you can read more about link exchage strategies.