Firstly, I am no means an expert in SF IV, just an ok player. What I put here is basically a combination of my experience and researches.
To improve your SFIV skill, especially if you are a new challenger, there are a lot of aspects of the game that you need to identify:
1. Basic special move.
This means hadouken, shoryuken as well as ultras. You need to be able to pull this perfectly wherever (1p or 2p side) and whenever you desire. There is the basic ground work of all fighting games.
2. Combo.
A lot of difference between a win or a lose is to be able to utilize every opportunity. Whenever there is a chance, you should be able to punish your opponent by combo them and take out as many damage as you can. Learn to combo step by step. 2 hits, 3 hits first, then if you comfortable enough, increase the combo, though getting 4 to 5 hits will be a lot harder. Ultimately you'll need to learn how to focus cancel ultra.
3. Cheap move.
Have you ever beaten by throws, cheap moves? Well though luck, this is the part of the game and you should be able to utilise cheap moves, because cheap moves is a very important tactics in the game. Learn how to time throws, or forcing opponent into blocking then immediately throw them. If cheap moves give you wins, then by all means, use it. At the other hand, you need to learn how to deal with cheap moves.
4. Zoning.
Zoning/ spacing is all about keeping your opponent from doing what they want. You can maintain your desire distance by poking, anti air, block strings as well as other things. Train your sense of distance, find out what is a safe distance, for example, to throw a fireball. A good SF IV player should have a strong zoning techniques at his disposal.
5. Timing.
Improve your reaction and timing. This means to execute a right move at a right time. Usually it just came naturally after you play that game for a while.
6. Find out other character's characteristic.
Get to know other character moves, combos, zoning techniques. It will increase your knowledge when facing those characters. Find out what is their weaknesses, openings for combo, as well as their advantage in the game.
7. Upgrade to arcade stick.
If you are a serious fighting gamers, you might want to upgrade to arcade stick. Sure, you can play fine on standard controller, but the way the buttons is set, and limitation on the buttons available give you huge handicap. Doesn't matter how well you set up your controller configuration, you always going to trade off. Another reason that I use arcade stick is to improve reaction time. I can execute faster shoryuken, ultras, focus cancel ultra, which timing is essential in game.
8. Get more experiences.
Do a lot of battles. Get more experiences. Most of the time, you will find somebody really good, and beat the crap of you. Instead of leaving the game, try to learn something from them. Try a few things, and see how did they responded. Think of it as a learning curve (it helps!).
9. Researches.
Nowadays, its easy to find a study material on the internet. Learn from the masters of different tournaments. Search out their videos, and take notes.
Google Keyword hint: Daigo aka The Beast. Check out this dude! Possibly the greatest SF player on this planet.
Hopefully it helps. Good luck!
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