1) Generating traffic
2) Converting visitors into buyers

Getting traffic is easy, but getting targeted traffic should be the goal. Not just anybody. You can get any old visitor from traffic exchange and autosurfs. You'll soon realize, however, that those visitors don't become buyers, so your efforts to get traffic through those means is wasted.

Pay-per-click is a great way to get very targeted visitors, but then the problem become converting those visitors into buyers. A lot of newcomers to IM hop onto adwords and love the traffic they get but the website doesn't convert well and they lose lots of money.

So how should you go about it?

Test your website's responsiveness with the free methods that work before you give your traffic a shot in the arm with PPC. What are free targeted traffic methods that work?

Blogging, social bookmarking, ezine advertising (there is such thing as free ezine ads, if you don't believe me just search on it), classified ads (in good ones like USfreeads and Craigslist), Squidoo, article marketing, and link exchanges are all great.

All of these methods require the visitor to see an ad BEFORE they come to your site, thereby qualifying themselves as interested. As long as your ad accurately portrays the message of your site, you can consider these visitors targeted.

Test different headlines and use what converts. Once you know what works, then go to PPC to get lots of targeted visitors fast, confident that your site converts well.

In order to guarantee longer term visits from each buyer, be sure to build a list of opt-in subscribers to build a community or receive a newsletter. You don't want to ever spam since that can get your website banned, but you do want to stay in contact as frequently as possible. Get a GetResponse autoresponder or an Aweber account to do this. Provide articles at regular intervals like every other day that give good information to your subscribers. You want them to like you.

Monetize you list with joint venture promotions, selling advertising, and promoting niche-related affiliate products and services to your readers.

To improve the conversion ratio of your site, it is advisable to include privacy policy, disclaimers, terms of service, contant info, and a blog to make it more personable. The features also tend to assist your position on Google Adwords and other search engines. You want to display any awards or certifications you have as well, as this will lead to better believability by your visitors that you're for real.

Begin the path, follow it without straying and avoid the tempation of speed until you are ready.