Hi .hawaii, I actually just published an article about this topic today, at http://yasha.harari.org/info-value/web-marketing-lesson-3-seo-dos-and-donts/ It includes a list of Dos and Don'ts for high quality, white hat SEO that lasts, long term, in any search engine worth its salt.
Having good quality links will give your site higher authority and PR, but it doesn't always get you to the top of the rankings. I started a website a few months ago, which is now PR0, but within a few weeks it was on the first position in Google for my chosen keyword. The only marketing I did was a couple of blog comments and social shares. The trick is to find the right keywords, don't over optimise and make sure your content is up to scratch.
More proof that Google toolbar PR is useless. Also you stated the site was new. Ranking new sites well at first is common Google behavior, then ranking drops for a few months. This is what created the term "Google sandbox". A phenomenon directed toward new sites. A mere theory perhaps, yet the ranking behavior for new sites in the SERPs cannot be disputed. Also, "link building" is not what it used to be, and has been more devastating to sites, than helpful these days (hence Google Penguin).
The site was new. It is still on the first page. The keyword is quite low competition, and I built the site with lots of great content. It doesn't make much money, but is sort of a hobby where I cane test new ideas. I haven't done any SEO, other than sharing on social media when I publish an article. If you are targetting low competition keywords SEO is not necessary.
The "Google sandbox" or "Honeymoon period" is still as random as ever... lol.. I used to try and figure it out, but all i learned is that new sites seem to overachieve until week 9-18, by which point they settle into more expected positions in the SERPS. Agreed: PR is a crock of shit... It has been for ages! A metric for link vendors mainly.