chrisv1963 - 8:06 pm on May 30, 2006 (gmt 0)

"You simply buy them. All top sites in my niche pay for the links one way or the other. Some hire offshore SEO companies that send out email link requests like mad. Others buy placement on online news sites and pay for press releases. Paid directory inclusion is yet another way of getting quality IBLs. Normally if you have the budget to buy links you have the budget to develop good content, hence the illusion that content matters. But it does not."

I don't send out link requests. I don't buy links. I don't pay for press releases and I don't pay for advertising.
The only thing I pay for is the work of my content writers.
I put all my energy in the content of the website and after several months the reward was several page one positions in the SERPS, including for a 4-letter word with +350.000.000 results on Google.
My conclusion: Good content and frequent updates is a key to success. Of course the links to your website will follow automatically and have impact on the rankings.