Goodbye traditional Yellow Pages, newspapers, direct mail and radio. For Local Businesses, Online Advertising is definitely the new black. In 2008, approximately $120B was spent on local advertising. Of that number, $12.6 B was spent online. According to a recent Nielsen Online survey, 50% of consumers surveyed said they turn to search engines to find a local business, followed by yellow pages directories at 24%, Internet-based yellow pages directories at 10%, local newspapers at 4%, and white pages directories at 3%. The survey found that consumers use search engines 72% more than they did two years ago, when a similar survey was conducted. (Source: Nielsen Online/WebVisible survey, Feb. 2009)

In the midst of all of this excitement, it occurred to us at Adneuron that while there are so many companies trying to sell online advertising to local businesses, much less has been done to educate them. As a company that works very closely with local small businesses, we know that understanding and investing in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM) can be a daunting task for a local business owner. Many have been burnt, or don’t really know what their ad budget is getting them. As such, we decided to start the first blog on local online marketing and advertising, from a local business owner’s perspective. We welcome an open dialogue.