I think the best thing a beginner should do is stick to a proven plan and avoid all other distractions and 'shiny objects'. The biggest hurdle a lot of people face when starting out is feeling overwhelmed by all the possibilities and hyped up products that distract you from building a real online business. A lot of people spend years online without even having a decent website built to show for themselves because they keep getting distracted from jumping from one thing to the next.
Instead just focus on the basic marketing model that's worked for so many people. Find a niche and identify a desperate need, build a website with unique, valuable content that people are looking for that helps them, get them to opt in to your list by giving away something of value, promote offers to them via email marketing (and also on your website). Eventually create your own products that you can promote on your own website and put on affiliate platforms like Clickbank so you can get affiliate to promote for you.
For traffic, I'd just focus on one method at a time, don't try doing a lot all at once because you'll get overwhelmed at might give up at the first obstacle. I'd focus on SEO and building up your Social Media followings to get some free traffic an momentum going, then focus on buying banner ads on popular blogs and forums in your niche, then try solo ads or ppc or whatever else you want to try....just focus on getting good at one thing at a time.