General ranking question

[absentx]

Okay, so I have made quite a few new sites lately and I have a question about handling the following situation:

Your site is indexed and you find some organic traffic beginning to trickle in. Now, let's say you find that for a keyword you are really stoked about you find that you are the fifteenth or sixteenth result. So halfway down page two.

Lets assume a keyword that is conquerable, not something like "party poker bonus" or anything, a good keyword that isn't dominated by authority sites.

So what are the best techniques and strategies to get to page one for that keyword? Is linking the best thing you could immediately do or are there on page strategies that could yield an immediate impact?

I have a few situations like this right now and I need some helping taking my seo to the next level so I can get some real traffic from these keywords.

[MJ]

Lately I try not to rush rankings - let the site mature and try to claim even more hovering rankings. Seems like "not trying" is the key lately.

[absentx]

and with "hovering rankings" do you mean these kind of in between second and third page type rankings?

[MJ]

Yes because often it seems that page 2 ranks show some health, trust, and relevancy, but really don't get any traffic.

We all want to move fast but I truly believe that Google rewards slow natural growth.

[leporello]

Building fast to a new site is a quick way to say hello to the sandbox effect, certainly in my recent experience.