Here is way to make friends and get inbound links:  Create flattering profiles and articles on your site about people in your industry or related fields. Hire a professional writer if you are not skilled or comfortable doing this yourself. You can find plenty of freelance writers on sites such as elance willing to write your article for a reasonable amount.  

Post a job on elance for a 400 word article and provide the winning bidder with basic information and the website of the person they will write about. Keep these pages to less than 400 words (but more than 250 words). 

When you post the article and brief profile send the person a link to the page. There is a good chance they will link to the page. You can go one step further and create an article or articles about the profile with a link to it.  Post these articles on a few site like EzineArticles.   

You can do the same thing with products. Create a page about a single product review or multiple products and brief comparisons. You can also write a testimonial and endorse or recommend the product. Send a link to the owner or producer of the product. With a convincing and well written article there is a good chance they will link to the page. While you might be tempted to become an affiliate for the product if the owner has an affiliate program, you can wait a month or two to see if they link to you first.