There are many small businesses that have difficulties in marketing, specifically attracting local customers. There are many market challenges for small business. Many mom and pop shops don’t have large enough budgets for marketing. For most small businesses, print advertising becomes their medium of choice whether they post an ad in local Newspaper or pass out flyers made on a home PC. TV advertising isn’t even an option for small businesses. Another challenge is that many small business owners do not have the experience in advertising. Very few small businesses are going to know how to calculate brand equity, opportunities-to-see, and day-parting. These are all terms only marketers understand. Another challenge to small businesses is time. Many mom and pop shops are working double the hours in this economy which leaves little time for implementation and tracking of marketing initiatives with various techniques such as pay per click marketing. Most Small business owners spend their time at the business, not sweating over statistics.

Google and Yahoo both have local search services but many businesses are unaware of this and their potential benefits. Many people do not know that they are free to register and can have huge positive results for their businesses. Once you get your business listed in local services, you will start showing up on their map features like Google Maps and Yahoo Maps.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is not reserved and exclusive for big business. In fact, it is the brightest light for small businesses to effectively compete in their respective markets. It is a mistake to believe that the “big boys” know what they are doing on the internet, at least not yet.