I think that the best way to get and gain traffic is to never give up and to experiment a lot.
Building traffic takes time, hard work and a lot of determination. Even though Steve´s example of building and monetizing a high traffic website is absolutely remarkable and very impressive you should aim a little lower.
Even Steve set his primary goal to earn $3000/month. Little steps for little feets.
Get the thing rollin'. After you have build momentum you can aim for that extra money.
Good luck!
