1. Be funny (useful) or die
Webcomic artists can't delude themselves like we can about our latest tech innovation. Millions of dollars are invested in little more than ideas, whereas finding success as an artist comes down to making a comic people want to read. Simple as that. They're competing with every cute animal photo for attention.
Take Perry Bible Fellowship, by Nicholas Gurewitch, who hardly spends any time hustling his comic, yet it's one of the most popular online. Don't waste time networking or fundraising when you could be building stuff people want.
2. Never forget who pays your bills
Ever seen Randall Munroe or Zach Weiner at a book signing? I have. (We publish their books, which you can buy here!).
Randy & Zach, like many of your favorite webcomic artists, are relentless about making their fans happy. I've seen signings go well past midnight because no attendee was going leave without a personalized drawing, signature, and chat with the artist. You can't take the time to respond to some feedback emails? Try meeting & greeting from a booth for consecutive days at Comic-Con.
3. Know yourself and own it
Describe xkcd as if you were explaining it to someone for the first time. OK, now Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. Chances are, even though they're both geeky webcomics, you had no trouble distinguishing the two brands. Zach's lustrous ginger mane probably didn't hurt, either. What does your brand represent and how would a fan describe it to a stranger? If you haven't nailed this down yourself, how can one of your fans?
Once you've figured it out, make sure it oozes out of everything you do. Whether it's the mouseover text or the big red button, do unique things to define you. I drew hundreds of custom reddit logos because it was 120x40px worth of reasons to check the site -- to this day, people still tell me about them and now there are thousands of user-created logos crowning various subreddits.