From your post, it's hard to know what you've tried and not tried yet, so just to make sure you've got the basics down, have you read these posts and forums yet? Some of the posts are a bit old now, but their basic messages are as good as ever...

Page and Site Building
Successful Site in 12 Months [webmasterworld.com]
Themes [webmasterworld.com]
Building the Perfect Page [webmasterworld.com]

Web Marketing & Traffic Building
Beginners Guide to Web Promotion [webmasterworld.com]
Link Development Versus Traffic Development [webmasterworld.com]

Related Forums - Search Engines & Link Building
Google Search NewsForum [webmasterworld.com]
Yahoo Search Forum [webmasterworld.com]
Microsoft Search Live Forum [webmasterworld.com]
Link Development Forum [webmasterworld.com]

Pay Per Click Forums
Google Adwords Forum [webmasterworld.com]
Yahoo Search Marketing (PPC) Forum [webmasterworld.com]
MSN/Microsoft AdCenter Forum [webmasterworld.com]
Pay Per Click Engines [webmasterworld.com]