Most people talk about blogs like they are the "Silver Bullets of SEO". However, their content is nearly worthless unless you can do one of two things: 1) write fantastic content that lots of other people want to link, like and tweet, or 2) content that is genuinely valuable to your visitors. If your content doesn't measure up then you will not get a good return on your time.

Google doesn't reveal exactly how this works.  However there are more than one benefit from a link.

First you have anchor text value.  That would be noted and credited to the page.

Next you have PageRank.  That would flow into a page but most of that PageRank (about 85% according to the original pagerank theory) would flow out through links in that page.  Those receiving pages would pass PageRank on to the pages that they link to... and this process would continue over and over and over.  Some of those pages downstream would link back to the original page that received the link and strength of that page would build by small amounts as the calculation for each linkage step is done.  It is very unlikely that all of these calculations are done immediately.

Other variables might also count.  Such as a "trust" value for the linking domain or a value for topical relevance.

Most of us have seen a page that received a nice link move up in the SERPs a few days later.  But I highly doubt that all of the benefit is immediately received.  There are too many calculations involved and Google might do some of them quickly but others might be done in batch jobs at some future time.

Most competitors don't have 100% overlap of merchandise or services.  They also don't have 100% overlap of geographic areas.  Competitors working together identify the areas where they really don't compete.  Then they cross promote competitor good/services on related pages of their website.

This gives them advertising on a competitor's site but in a way that will not directly steal clients.

A music store near me has a fantastic selection of guitars but does not sell violins... the best place to get a violin is more into orchestra instruments and could easily partner with the guitar specialist.

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If Steven decides to build the huge Maui wedding resource on his site he could ask the florist who is the strongest content generator to produce some great articles for the various types of wedding flowers and have a photographer who specializes in product photography create the photos.   The product photographer would get some attribution links and the florist would get some links too, some great visibility for his work and top billing on the florist resource page.

Remember that acquiring great content is much more valuable than giving it away  (it also takes a lot less time)... so create a content acquisition plan that has strong benefits for your partner.

I never post great articles on a blog.... post them on a dedicated webpage where you have absolute control over formatting, optimization and appearance.  I envision these articles each having a ton of photos with detailed captions.

Post them as pages on your website, announce them on your blog and promote them on your homepage and all across the rest of your site.

I would unite with the strongest content producers.  This is a content play and you don't want a team of weenies.

I am not talking about a new site.  All of that goes on your existing site.

Think about becoming the Maui Wedding Man!

Instead of three to five blog posts per week consider three to five kickass articles per month.

Great advice from Ryan... just tossing one more idea out because he mentioned the "beggar asking for handout" concept....

Something that can be very effective is for a small group of competitors entering into a cooperative effort to help one another.  Three or four working together will have an enormous advantage over everyone else.

Maybe you can get a group of people to work on this site with you.?

Since you have this site you must be the expert on planning a wedding in Maui?  Is that correct?

If it is then you should be able to prepare the very best guide to planning a wedding there.  It would be a big list of all of the churches, where to get a marriage license, how to hire clergy, where to get gowns, where to get a tux, who are teh photographers, where to get flowers... you get the idea.... this will be the single best one-stop site for anyone who is having a wedding in Maui.

This will be much more than a directory... it will be a guide for how to get things done and an idea source for having a great Maui wedding.  Where to have it outdoors articles, where to have the small ceremony, busy times of year, sunset/sunrise.. .. each of these is an article or a series of articles.   Lots of photos of chapels, outdoor locations, maps, flowers, etc... venues and photographers should cut deals with you for this type of featuring.

That big resource alone should get some links but you can probably figure out a way to get the feature photographers, flower shops, bridal shops, etc. linking to this incredible guide.  You can probably also get some interviews with the media to announce your great website.

This will be a huge amount of work... are you up for it?