There are many things you can do to try to raise your site's rank and a lot of them are free.
Copyblogger.com: Copywriting tips for online marketin success
Link Baiting Ebook - Viral Copy by Loren Baker: Excellent tips from a great marketer
Generating Buzz With Link Baiting and Viral Campaigns (from Search Engine Watch)
The Art of Linkbaiting (from Performancing)
Link Bait (from Wikipedia)
Link Baiting & Effective Link Building (from Search Engine Journal)
2007 Guide to Linkbaiting: The Year of Widgetbaiting? (from Search Engine Land)
Leveraging Linkbait (from Yahoo Publisher Network blog)
The Link Baiting Playbook: Hooks Revisited (from Stuntdubl)
Best of the Web (Paid and Free)
Blog Universe (Paid and Free)
Open Directory Project (Free)
Yahoo Directory (Paid)