Try using 'broken' link building.

There's several guides and posts here on Seomoz.  Just search.

Basically, you scan through the list of links, and you'll probably find a few broken or 404 pages.  Point those out and also recommend the addition of new resources, including your own.  It works extremely well, and you don't come across as the typical emailer that the webmaster probably encounters everyday.

Round off that strategy with a regular guest posts, link bait and other content marketing ...and you're solid.

You don't have to worry about the emanuel update just yet.  It's just one notice.

If you filled the counter form, then no, you don't have to do anything else.  There's no need to file a reconsideration request.

Try this guide. Some templates here:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/broken-link-building-guide-from-noob-to-novice

Customize and tailor each email as much as possible.  Really look at the target site, follow them on twitter, learn about them, etc

For example, I recently started following a target.  I was going to do a broken link email, but soon enough, they were ranting in a blog post about their brand usernames being taken by squatters and inactive accounts on twitter/facebook.  I used that to reach out to them and suggest what to do to claim their usernames since I actually had the same problem.  I didn't even mention or request links, but they are now linking to our homepage and referencing other pages on my site.  All I did was sign my emails with my domain name, so they know who i am, where i'm from.

Essentially I made a friend by offering value, and asking for nothing in exchange.  That target would have been tough to get a link from otherwise.

In case that hadn't worked out, I WOULD have eventually asked directly for the link after having made a great first impression.

If your idea is to slap on your signature with anchor text heavy links on every forum possible, then no they are not a very good thing to be doing post-2012.

There's a place for them though.  If you're participating on a forum that's relevant to your website then I don't see why you can't place a link or two to your website in the signature.  But I would avoid trying to put manipulative anchor text in there.  Just use the plain URL or a branded term like your business or domain name.

Also, google recently updated their webmaster guidelines with a forum signature example of what you should not be doing:

Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature, for example:
_Thanks, that’s great info!

• Paul
  paul’s pizza san diego pizza best pizza san diego_

Some blackhats/greyhats make it a point to block Mozbot, Majestic and other crawlers from their private networks.   That prevents links from appearing in competitive reports.

So try using Bing's Link Explorer given that they usually allow Bingbot and Googlebot to crawl.