Higher PR ranking does not get you more hits if the “votes” for -your site and theme – are on non relevant sites. Online casinos often ask webmasters to do a three way linking to rank higher in SERPS because there is little content on their sites. I do not think they are that stupid. But on the other hand if you have a very informative website for returning visitors you might get traffic because they tell others, post your link in forums etc. That is the best strategy and you do not have to have that much SE traffic because you will get direct hits. But you need quality content, good designs, $$, experience, help etc. Not everybody can do that, just MO.
Rick