There is an excellent WebmasterWorld on the topic of getting a “second tier link,” as opposed to the link you really want. Wheel, the moderator of the forum, posted that it is not always easy or possible to get the .gov, .edu or aged link that all link builders dream about. When you efforts fail, why not go after those that have links from those “golden link” pages?

Wheel explained:

They are not the cream of the crop links, but they are still very valuable. The process is pretty simple:

(1) Discover golden link pages
(2) Request links from those pages
(3) Move on
(4) Click on links from the golden link pages
(5) Request links from those new pages
(6) Rinse and Repeat

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.