Let me give you some tips that I've learned over the past few years with link building:

First, use the Google Toolbar. I know the PR values shown in the bar aren't accurate but it does give you a good indication of the quality of the page.

Second, try and find sites and/or pages with content relevant to your site. When engines like google look at links, they also look at what the page is about where they found the link. If the link is related to the topic of the page then the link is worth more.

For example, if you have a gifts website then try and get links from related sites. A link from a software site will do you little good even if it has a high PR.

text links - use them. However, try and mix it up - don't use the same phrase for all your links, and don't use the same URL. For example, link out to deep pages on your site using different phrases. Don't just use "gifts" and link to the homepage.

Remember (and this is going to sound funny) but you need to artificially inflate your link count by making your inbound link growth look natural. That means you need to ensure consistency in the volume of links you request on a monthly basis. Don't get 300 links in one month and only 4 the next month. Doing this will get your site noticed (in the not so good way) by the engines.

Finally, always watch what the pros are doing. I like to go to sites like this link building blog and the link building wiki as they are always being updated with fresh link building info. There are others out there as well just check around.