Main reasons for low page rank?

[palmpal]

Hello,

My site has been online for almost a year. I currently have a pagerank of 3/10. At one time it was 4/10. I am involved in a link campaign but wondered where I can get information about increasing my page rank? Is there a "page rank primer?" After spending most of my time working on content and keywords I can say my site ranks very high - usually within the first five results on Google. I didn't give much thought to page rank thinking that that would come in time. Now that things are going so well except for page rank I'm starting to wonder if there isn't something wrong with my page design, etc.

I also have the problem where The Whitehouse website shows a grey bar. I tried reinstalling the toolbar with no changes. I am not using version 2.0 yet. Should I have uninstalled the toolbar first prior to reinstalling it?

And finally, what are the main reasons for low page rank?

Thanks!

[skipfactor]

If things are going great, why worry about PageRank?

Is there a "page rank primer?"

Get quality, relevant links to your site.

The Whitehouse website shows a grey bar

google.com's been showing a PR1 today ;)

[palmpal]

That's true, except I'm finding that most people don't want to link to you if your page rank is low! Also, what is meant by cross linking? Can inappropriate use of header tags get you in trouble?

Thanks!

[skipfactor]

My definition of crosslinking is linking together sites under one's control to boost their respective PageRanks. My advice is don't do it.

Personally, I pay a little bit to be listed in quality, industry-related directories for my commercial sites. The referrals alone are worth it for my main industry.

Google or ODP directory searches are a good way to find free links. MSG#13 [webmasterworld.com] has some good search ideas to start you on your long journey. :)

[pchristensen]

My site has been up for approximately six weeks and continues to show a zero PR. I have been working like a dog on getting high PR links to the site and in total, have about 150 links to my index page to date. I'm now in DMOZ, all over the place in Yahoo's directory, etc.

Question: How long does it typically take to see PR activity in the Google toolbar after the launch of a new site?