Hi Sam
Probably the biggest suggestion I can make to you is to be sure you read the rules where you're submitting. The reason I say this is that I declined both those sites for the following reasons;
Hardcore on the warning page - clearly stated on my submissions page that's a no no.
Page counter - again, stated on my submissions page. This is an instant decline with almost all link sites.
Also, I've never seen someone simply line up the recips down the middle of the page. Looks pretty strange and requires too much scrolling to boot.
As to colors...yes, you'll definitely want to mix things up as you go along. Submitting sites that look the same more than 2 or 3 times will get you blacklisted by many reviewers
