Many have surmised that un-natural link building is reponsible for ranking issues. This may very well be true, as much of the evidence I've been able to review on the issue of sites in Google's sandbox have displayed similiar features. Links have typically come in fast and furious at the beginning of an SEO campaign as dozens of directories, reciprocal link pages, and purchased links dominate the early strategy.

My recommendation therefore is to be a snail at the beginning of an SEO campaign and eventually build to faster pace. I have now seen two sites (including this one) use this slow, natural technique to get links over the course of several weeks, and rank quite well for a variety of searches. This strategy can be effective because despite the fact that the site doesn't rank for any competitive terms, it will still be able to rank for the obscure searches that generally make up 35-40% of a site's traffic.

Being outside the sandbox lets the site rank well for these more obscure, less competitive phrases and searches. The traffic numbers may not be spectacular, and these may not be exactly the searchers you want to target, but they can help to make up the loss while you slowly gain links naturally and eventually build up to purchased link campaigns, directory submissions, and targeted anchor text. The key to this is popularity first and targeting second.