On that note, here's another tip.

Don't just depend on one method of gaining refs. Try them all. Even ones that may be dated or unpopular. Just be sure to stay brand safe or whatever. Basically, it follows the lines of diversifying your revenue streams.

The signature is a great place to start as it's free advertising. Try many forums. Thebot.net is a bunch of assholes, but you might smoodge some refs from their bunk platform.. lol

Back in the day with my ptp sites, I would get loads of refs promoting autosurfs and manual surfs. My ptp sites accepted all unique traffic, so many newbies on my site signed up under my refs. I then got hundreds of thousands of free hits and banner impressions.