There is a reason why many local newspapers and major national newspapers are struggling in this down turned economy, online marketing. Many businesses have slashed their marketing budgets and/or are choosing to spend what budget they do have as wisely as they can, to reach as many as they can, for as long as they can.

What many small to medium sized businesses are now discovering is that the $5,000 or more they used to spend with a local newspaper for a small one time ad can reach thousands on the internet for an entire year with Search Engine Optimization (also known as SEO), Pay Per Click advertising and targeted banner advertising.

Five years ago few business owners and business managers were even aware of SEO, but now many companies have tried and had successful results from SEO and have spread the word. As well, major business magazines have featured SEO as a viable marketing strategy and many business conferences now include this as part of their marketing content. In 2010 it’s rare to find a business owner or manager who isn’t aware of what SEO is.

Local SEO is predicted to be the top marketing initiative amongst small to medium sized businesses in North America in 2010. And why not when it can be found for as little as $1200 to $1500 for an entire year, ensuring not only top local results in Google, Yahoo and Bing but also the ability to stay and hold that spot year after year for a fraction of the cost of a local newspaper ad or Yellow Pages listing

Google is also helping to support this initiative by its Google Maps Local services. Business owners through a Google Account can login and verify their local business information and even go so far as to advertise coupons and discounts for free, all which will be displayed in the local search results at the top of a search page or in a search from within the Google Maps section.

So if your small or medium sized business is missing out on the local search engine action it’s time to start looking at working this into your marketing strategy as you are surely missing out on a lot of local traffic and exposure and the longer you wait the harder it will be to get top results as other businesses jump on the bandwagon.

Well as more and more of our clients are seeing and hearing about the “new” Bing search engine from Microsoft I’ve had quite a few questions.  The biggest question is of course that we will include it in our SEO work, which of course we do.

However, from everything I’ve witnessed about Bing after trying it out and after viewing the first SEO ranking reports to come out since Bing’s launch as far as I’m seeing it, it’s the same crap, just a new box.  If it were a product in a grocery store sitting on the shelf they couldn’t even legally call it “new and improved” as nothing essentially has changed except the home page.

The rankign results for all our clients were the same in MSN as they were in the release of Bing.  What does that essentially mean?  Nothing changed, it’s not a new algorithm.  Microsoft as usual just doesn’t get it.  People don’t go to Google because of a nice simple home page and they aren’t going to win people over by calling it a “decision” engine or any other flashy glitz.  People go to Google and stay with Google because they give relavent top ten rankings - plain and simple.  By not changing the algorithm they are not addressing the major reason why they have fallen from 12 % market share to 7% - their results are terrible and people waste valuable time trying to find what they are looking for.

Sure the flash and glitz and multimillion dollar advertising campaign will get visitors to their site, but quickly people will realize that the top ten results are still junk and they will ultimately go back to what works - Google.  Why else would they currently hold 80% market share?

Going into January 2009, I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect.  January is always a web design company’s busy season as companies and retailers have Christmas revenues and are ready to go with all those projects they had been putting off the last 3 months. From everything I’ve seen, business is definitely increasing.  Freelance sites are busier than this time last year, as well industry chat boards and forums are filled with questions.

Businesses should be spending more money on Internet Marketing, which could include SEO, pay per click and online advertising.

Why you ask? The simple answer would be online marketing is much cheaper than traditional print and media marketing and yields far greater exposure.  Instead of paying $2000 for a small newspaper ad or $5000 for a city wide mailer, businesses should opt to spend that money on internet marketing and reach people in the search engines and through online advertising.

A good SEO campaign for 1 year with an ethically priced company would cost less than that one newspaper ad.  How much more exposure would 15 to 30 well ranking keywords in Google yield in a year over one ad in a local newspaper, or one mailer?   Yes, the newspaper or mailer would be seen by far more people but how many of those at that exact moment are interested in what you are offering.  SEO on the other hand, puts your website in front of those looking for exactly what you have to offer.  That is by far the most powerful way any small to medium business can spend their marketing budget in tough economic times.

If you don’t have an SEO company or an internet marketing company, than keep reading below as we’ll give you vital tips on what to look for in a good SEO company.