There are many ways a small business can approach online marketing but generally they fall into two major categories, paid and “free”. Paid advertising are the small ads that you see on the side of a page when you do a google search or yahoo search. They are effective but if not done by a professional, they can get really expensive or even cause a permanent ban from the search engine. That is why a small business should start its online marketing with on the “free” side. This “free” side consists of optimizing the small business website so it can rank higher in the search engines for a search phrase that people would normally look for when searching for that type of business (ex: “New Jersey dentist”, “San Diego plumber”). Depending largely on the market and location the business is in, some small changes to the website can often skyrocket it to a top 3 or even top 1 position in the search engines. In more competitive markets it will take more time and effort but the price, if a professional search engine consultant is hired, is considerably less than any other type of marketing and the results are times better than the best offline marketing campaign out there. In short, search engine optimization, if done properly, is cheaper and more effective than any other marketing that a small business has access to.