The reality is, there is no best traffic method! There are thousands of ways to get traffic, but what works really well for others won't necessarily do the same for you, since we all have different skills and personalities. Some people are great at writing, so they get a load of traffic from article writing, but you might hate writing so that method won't be for you. The idea is to find a method that suits your own skill sets and personality and that will be the best traffic method for you!
I only method that I've found that works long term is to have good content and keep adding it - that way google keeps bringing me new visitors. Almost every site I have gets 90% of it's traffic from search engines.
You have reason,i'm agree with you but just writing skills or good content will give you PR?no man,you have todo these things too, like link exchanges and etc.
I am SEO for nearly 8 years, i have seen a website with very low link popularity and PR5 ! My client have never do link building or amending meta data or even didn't knew what is keyword so you are not exactly right!
The best traffic method is perseverance, hard work, and patience..... I did never spend a single dollar in all of my sites when it comes to promotion...
There's a lot... http://www.webtoolkeeper.com - all the tools/software you need to get traffic. But you must know how to use them..
I am not the best at articale writing but my wife has done some for us,but in the lead up to christmas for our Toy and Beauty sites we have been building up our backlinks and linking to higher PR sites that are in the same sector as ourselves and this has been the most productive when it comes to the Google updates although PR means nothing to traffic these days for possibly selling links in the future it does mean something.
doing it right and building a good & unique content is true traffic.. massive i would say. no keyword spamming and if you make a website for your audience, you will have faster traffic than anyone else.
Why it doesn't work for you? How much time do you spend building links for your site? What's the niche of your site? Maybe your niche is quite competitive, that's why even though your doing seo for your site, your competitors might doing better than you.
I also agree that the very best way to get traffic is to do good keyword research and add lots of content for your keywords. When you've built up hundreds of pages all related and relevant to what your potential visitors are looking for your traffic stats will rise and rise.
Finally, a poster who tells the truth, he isn't in the twilight zone, and he doesn't spout off shit. It is perfectly normal. You are seeing the reality of it. Even if you get listed high, and that is a BIG if, because it is about luck, the traffic is awful, so don't worry about it. You ain't missin' a thing.
SEO, takes alot of time and more time but can be done by anyone! Must concentrate on "on page optimization" but most importantly "off page optimization". Also focus on LSI, this will make a difference.
In the end it's a matter of tracking Your traffic sources, see which one is more confortable for You to do and gives You the better results.