Backlinks are still important and will be for a long time, but only quality backlinks.
Remember, you need to have the same target traffic and niche. There are many ways to get them, but usually it takes a lot of work because, as you probably have experienced by now, there are a gazillion people directing messages to your website or commenting hoping to get a backlink from you, so if you try doing exactly that, you might waste a lot of time with an insignificant outcome.
There are groups for backlinks exchange on Facebook and I bet you can find some others around here somewhere, but make sure you have the first two things I mentioned in common!