SEO, Links & Google?

[SimonC]

I have a personal blog website, the address is http://minibus.wordpress.com

I have purchased a domain name - http://www.minibus-blog.co.uk which I have pointed to the blog site.

My first question is this: if I start building links to http://www.minibus-blog.co.uk will they count toward Google Page Rank and my position in the search engines (bearing in mind this is only a redirected domain name to the wordpress.com address)?

Or do I need to get all the links straight to the wordpress.com address?

My mission is to get this blog on page one for minibus related keyphrases, it is just a sad personal quest (don't ask!) - can anyone give me some tips for doing this, I am familiar with a lot of SEO techniques, but all input is appreciated!