Building Links the Old Fashioned Way -- Ask for them

The August 25, 2009 article posted to Search Engine Land "My Favorite Link Building Lie" provides a reiteration of the obvious but often overlooked truth of the web.  Websites are made stronger by linking to other related and high value content.  Web site publishers often want this content and if your site is a good fit, asking for a link should be highly successful.

If content is truly worthy, your goal does not have to be to make a site rank first anyway. That’s up to the content and the engines. The goal is to help the site seek out the exact links their content deserves and can earn. ... High rank is a side effect of meritorious content that becomes well linked.