Believe me, the intent of this article is not to dissuade anyone from marketing over the web. Rather, it is to point out where not to put efforts, unless you like feeling frustrated when observing your site's counter. I think that better efforts could be placed on setting up relationships that drive traffic. Instead of trading banners through an exchange program, find another site and work out a deal. That way, you get full return on your own banner advertising.
Search engines provide a much more unique challenge.
A lot of the ability to draw traffic is out of an individual's control. For example, HotBot has recently started placing more emphasis on a site's popularity when ranking. It's a catch-22, a new site has little traffic and wants to use HotBot for bringing in visitors but won't be ranked well until it is popular. Take a look at another article, Search Engine Optimization , for details. My final thought - consider that a lot of the Internet is a sales pitch.