Driving Traffic To Your Website - Easier Said Than Done

What I've learned so far about Driving Traffic:

For anyone just starting out in the investing game, the pros will tell you, one of the hardest things to learn and implement is lead generation.  If you're starting out on a shoestring budget, it's even harder.  I had the choice, 1 direct mail mailing to 40% equity owners in my farm area, or get a website up and running.  My gut said, long term, the website will generate more leads.  What does that mean in the short term? 

Let's see how I've done so far:

Our We Buy Houses Website has been up around a month.  I have received one lead.  If you look at my forums post on website Search Engine Optimization (SEO), I was excited that we were able to get get ranked quickly for some of our keywords.  What does getting ranked mean?  Absolutely nothing if no one is searching for those keywords, or your ONLY means of driving traffic is rankings.

The one lead I received was from a Craigslist Ad I created to point to our website.  It worked once, that day.  I've since renewed it a few times, and created another one, worded slightly different.  I will continue this, renewing every day or two.  More than that and CL will start ghosting your ads. (They'll exist but not show up in search). 

Since then, nothing.  But I'm not discouraged.  I know it takes time when you're not saturating the market.  I'm taking time every day to learn more, and find at least one little thing I can do that day to drive traffic to my site.

Here's a GREAT FORUM SEARCH PAGE I use regularly to stay motivated and brainstorm.  If you're looking to drive more traffic to your site, use these threads.

Here are some grass-roots things I've already done to help locally:

Ordered Business Cards from VistaPrint.  Designed them myself, with WeBuyHouses + Phone number + website on the back (Always Do this, and place the cards back side facing out.  No one cares who you are or about your company, they want to know what you do). 

I've been putting them anywhere I can, mostly restaurants (at register, under glass table tops, anywhere I see other business cards and some places I don't), and gas stations.  Anywhere I see the "put your card in the bowl" contests, I put one in, with the "we buy houses" side facing outward against the side of the bowl.  This may all just be sillyness, but it's a start, and it's cheap.

I also set up a Company Facebook Page to drive traffic.  This page tells a little about us, links to our website, and lists any properties we have for sale.

Other things I'll do soon when I have more marketing money:

• Put up a large 2-sided We Buy Houses banner on a friend's property - very busy street.
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• Do my first mailing to 40% equity owners
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• Purchase a spot on local radio/cable if costs are reasonable.
  

As you can see (especially if you read through some of the threads on the search page), driving traffic is a process that requires a good bit of work, but will pay off in the long run.  I'll keep everyone updated as things happen.  I hope you're as excited as I am to see how things progress - what works, what doesn't.