Beating my competitors?

Ok I have recently hit this niche, in which my wordpress blog is completely optimized for the keyword i'm targeting. So all the fixed factors for SEO are done, however now i need to concentrate on variables like backlinks, content, etc. I'm ranked 2 for exact match, and 10-15 broad match. I have a couple Page Rank 0 back links from websites similar to my niche.

I have analyzed my competition, and the top 3 sites are have huge amounts of backlinks, however no optimization for my keyword. So they are ahead of me due to their online authority. The top ranking site has 210 Page Backlinks, its in DMZ and yahoo, but no page optimization for my keyword and a page rank of 4.

My question is, what do you have to do to get passed these high authority sites. Is it simply building a army of high page rank backlinks directly related to your niche?

If you have done all your onsite optimization, you should get backlinks and add fresh content on a daily basis

Yeppers. I'd try to get the same backlinks they have PLUS others. Hit up the social bookmarking sites as well.

You don't need high PR links...you need many and good links. How to get them shows HaRRo -> http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/black-hat-seo/6870-all-about-backlinks.html (but I wouldn't recommend referer spamming).

Also try to find some ways to gain links from your competitors... Sites with trust ranks high.

I have just been dropped from position 2 for phrase match to position 58, does this mean i have been sandboxed?

if your blog was a new blog that was created only 0ne month,this is a natural thing.IF you search your domain or some your website characters in google and find them in the first one, this means you website is ok now.

Yep - not sandboxed. I see this kind of "settling" a lot. We will heavily target a keyword phrase with links from content sources and pop to a first / second page result but settle out a little lower within a week of the pop. Sometimes we bounce between two spots (i.e. 5 and 15) before settling at 10 or so.

Check your competitors links - get links from sources similar to where they are getting theirs PLUS other places. PR is nice in links but often hard to get unless you can pay. You will get good results from getting keyword anchor links from a variety of content sources. Simple techniques like forum posts, social bookmarking, and article submissions (done correctly - not in an obviously spammy way) will help.

Ping me if you need some tools - there are easier ways of semi-automating these techniques that are effective.