Google places citations - do they only count when made in local directories?

I really have 3 questions about this because I want to build citations the right way.

1) If I put citations on my blogs/social media/web 2.0 do these citations count towards my google place listing? Or do they only count when you build them in local directories?

2) Does anyone a long list of directories I could use? (if not I can make one myself, but figured I'd ask)


Finally, I want to ask something about one of my top competitors in local search. I wanted to figure out how many citations he made, so I typed in his business name and address, and was able to count 214 citations in google.

His website has good onpage SEO.
He barely has any backlinks to his actual site.
And he has only 1 review on his listing.

So to beat him, is this a good plan?

1) Build more than 214 citations.
2) Have better on page SEO.
3) Slowly build a bunch of backlinks to my site (not sure if this would help my listing rank)
4) Slowly get a bunch of reviews.

It seems pretty simple. Obviously it will take some time, but am I missing anything?

This is his listing for anyone who has the time:
https://plus.google.com/102163747593...55/about?hl=en

Any advice you guys have I'd really appreciate. I just want to rank better than him in google places.

Thanks - Red