There are sooo many ways to promote AVS's. Gotta do what works for you.
Right now what works for me is, I have a couple sites that convert better than any other sponsor site out there, so I treat it like a paysite, I buy traffic for it, banner placements, SEO it, build SE doorways, and it makes a fuck load of money for me.
Many make alot by creating 100's of sites and sticking them in a hub and promoting the hub.
There's no 1 right way to do it, there's no 1 way that's better than another, it's whatever you can do that makes money, but the only to find that out is to try a buncha different things.
For people that say AVS is dead, I'd put my AVS profits up against anyones TGP's income or Paysite income. Sure you may run a paysite that has affiliates, but after you cut your checks to them I bet I have more in my account than you
The other thing to keep in mind, don't put all your eggs in one basket, AVS income is only a part of my income, I spread the love around to paysites, sponsor sites, free sites, mainstream stuff, offline stuff. In this industry you can't afford to be 100% vested in one thing.