If you're doing SEO, DDM, or PPC and they contact you, they're showing some level of motivation. 

Unless you have some serious skills with SEO and internet marketing, having a website is very unlikely to help you at the beginning of your investing career.  

If they have no dp and their credit is already not so good, they might walk away fairly effortlessly if the situation becomes undesirable or difficult for them.

For something on this lower end of the scale, I'd be reluctant to pay more than 50x mthly rents (i.e. the 2% rule), unless you were absolutely convinced that the landlord was extremely naive or uninformed, and the rents can be effortlessly raised $100/mth without major updating.I'd still encourage you to think through all the expenses that you'll likely encounter over the span of time.

The other has a dominant position when it comes to SEO/SEM for local rentals so almost anyone searching for rental properties locally will end up at their site looking at (among others) my rentals. 

Do you have any SEO knowledge?

You can also use bandit signs, door hangers, online advertising, google adwords, SEO etc. 

I have money saved for the MLS and Realtor dues for the year as well as a marketing budget and have launched a website for SEO and am working on a DM campaign. 

This will give you SEO power...Create as many incoming links as you can - Google love links for SEO ranking.

Want to increase your SEO?