I agree with everything thats been said. I will add my $.01 to it too
I went with free sites instead of tgp galleries because:
1.) Link lists rules are pretty standard. Not so much with tgp's.
2.) Most (all for all I know) link lists are free to submit to. Alot of tgp's want paid submitters.
3.) Link lists get alot of search engine traffic and mostly trade links with only other link lists (sort of keeping it in the family).
4.) Link lists seem to be partnering with their submitters and will usually tell you what youre doing wrong if youre not getting listed.