In terms of SEO? Not sure. Some say that two-way link exchanges are discounted and don't provide any benefit in terms of search engines. In regards to visitors, yes. Members on my site find the affiliate's site and vice versa. It's an easy way to bridge users between communities or websites. Moved to Monetization & Traffic.
I agree with affiliating with sites. I do feel that many people visit the bottom of a forum's index and notice the buttons. If the button looks appealing and the domain name gives the site's genre away, they will click. However, as you said, two-way links exchanges are not beneficial.
Valid point indeed, Michelle. Who do you do link exchanges with and about how many visitors have they sent you? I'd be interested in knowing the average amount of visitors a site can get through link exchanging.