Hi, All,
Okay, my wife took away my plastic detective badge for assuming I discovered the correct URL for UKSharon. My bad. Thanks for the rep votes, though.
Let's answer your general question. Backlinks (# 8 on my list) are like "votes" for your site, and so each one that Google finds adds value to your ranking. I've always considered my site PR irrelevant because I'm very busy from customer referrals for ongoing work doing web design and matching artwork for print. PR is overrated as a measure of the success of your site, yet backlinks can drive new traffic (and business) to your site.
Less than a year ago I changed my mind about backlinks and decided to study SEO basics and run some experiments because my clients wanted advice on promoting their sites. Besides web directories which can be time consuming, last May I began writing advice articles for small business owners for publication in article directories. The results were amazing.
In May 2006 there were perhaps 150 backlinks to my site which was okay by me. After writing an article a week, the number grew in geometric proportions so that if you do a search on "jim degerstrom" (no quote marks) there are over 10,000 links to my site.
Visit this link
http://www.buildyourownbusiness.biz/...les-Faster.php to read an article I wrote about writing articles that may help you get started. Writing advice from a neutral point of view might be just the push you need for your website. You may not feel comfortable writing at first, but the key is to write in everyday conversational style, not like you're writing a technical manual.
Finally, I arrived in this forum after purchasing the iWebtool SEO Checklist which provides valuable advice, some of which I have yet to apply. I highly recommend this investment and then continue asking questions in forums like this to get a variety of opinions.
Cheers,
Jim