mhansen - 2:46 pm on Nov 6, 2011 (gmt 0)

The OUTBOUND Link in no way has any role in SERP

That right there made me spit coffee! LOL

I have put up 250 word "Coming Soon" type pages, explaining what the future site is going to be all about, and included 4-5 contextually and topically relevant links "to let the engines know what the site is about" and ranked in the top 20 on that alone!

I fully believe outbound links are just as important as inbound links, and we link out just as often as we link within.