Yes, it is better even if your content can catch attention to readers.
Of course, but depends on the search engine because some search engines does not index all backlinks at once, especially Google.
Ahh, ok, hmmm, what is the URL of your articles?
If the site is in dynamic form, better change it to .html
Keywords helps lift up your site to the highest rank. :D
Broken links may be better if you want. :D
It's partial, meaning you can do normal optimization methods like placing alt tags and some content. And off-page optimization of course.
Not another PR thread, I see lots of PR threads...
Isn't it spammy to do that?
Very simple: Check the href of your link or the link to the page where the external links are placed. Check the site's robots.txt
It still depends if the directory accepted your listing or not. :D
Better to find a related website for you to exchange links. But it is still counted as a backlink to your site.
Good quality content makes more links than just submission
Depends on the way they use the javascript, some uses javascript for cloaking and creating doorway pages.
You may either: Do manual methods like typing link:www.sitename.com or link:sitename.com Or, Use backlink checker tools like...
Separate names with a comma.