So you have a website. It's lean, clean, and well optimized. You are using proper markup, and your page is easy to navigate and read. Google indexes your pages; however, your still no were to be found on SERP's. You start linking with sites that are similar to yours. Each site you link with is PR5+. Next PR update your site is PR6. Does this mean you will be on the first 5 pages of the SERP's? What else matters in SERPs? PR + # of backlinks?
Google works like this: You say 'Hey.. take a look at this site of mine I think it would help your customers' along with millions of other webmasters and if you're lucky one day Google will go 'Oh.. you have?' and then remember for a while. During that time you get traffic and when they forget your site exists or go off it for some unknown reason you feel used and violated, and rightly so. Then you have burning desire to get traffic from other places instead of relying on search engines and that's when the real money arrives, if your site or idea is good enough. Pete