OK, first of all well done for asking one of the hardest marketing questions on the internet, Ill try to explain it but this is just a sprinkling compared to the real guide book. Here are some proven methods:
Link Building
Quickest way to get a higher update is by linking with other sites, link exchanges work great, try emailingg webmasters asking for link swaps. But dont be realistic, Mr Yahoo doesnt want your link back..
The higher the PR of the linking site the quicker yours will go up, for example I work by this:
1 PR4 link - no change
2/3 PR4 links - PR3/4
6+ PR links - PR4
2/3 PR5 links - PR4/5 if lucky.
goes up like that...
Article Submission
Already touched on earlier on this topic, but submit articles to places like
ArticleCake - Free Article Index - Traffic and Content for you Website for free and get traffic and PR increases!
Content
The most important, you need fresh exciting content, without it google will hate you and youll be one of those loners with MSN. You need to create a nice site with some new articles each week, try and get as many links to those articles as possible so that someone will find them (ie googlebot).
Just a quick note at the end, google updates its PR machines every 2 months or so so dont expect an instant update!
Alex