How to make your website popular? Go to Toms Hardware, take a look at that site and go from there. If you really want to make your site popular, it starts by posting quality content. Stay on top of the current trends, know the popular products, do reviews, make your own videos, take your own pictures,,,,,. In other words, put a lot of time and effort into the project.
You need to have a detailed plan starting from where you are right now and what are you aiming at. Long term popularity takes time to realize.
I would recommend using Site Build It. They take care of most of the tedious stuff that involves SEO. With tons of video tutorials, user forums, and text guides, it really helped me out at least.