The micro business is not alone, however. In aggregate terms, total sales volume of micro businesses around country may well exceed the entire next rung of small businesses. Today, more and more micro businesses, most of which are local or regional in terms of sales and distribution, are going online with a website. It’s a logical move – as more and more consumers search locally online, micro business community needs to follow. But once they are online, how can they best promote themselves to their local audience?

The key point to remember is that most micro businesses, individually, are extremely limited in terms of time and money for online marketing. Realistically, a micro business has three options to consider: search engine optimization, paid-inclusion (including pay-per-click, or PPC), or some form of directory-type advertising, commonly called Internet Yellow Pages. (IYP). For most micro businesses, IYP route is only one that makes marketing sense.

The big lie on Internet is that successful search engine optimization (SEO) is affordable. It’s not. It’s very expensive, and getting more so every day. It is obvious why this is so: with dozens, perhaps hundreds of websites in any given category all trying to optimize themselves for top ten spots on Google, prize goes to ones with biggest budgets, who are able to hire search engine optimization firms. And even then, playing SEO game is dicey, as following example shows: try searching on Google for “house painter Atlanta.” Most, if not all of results will do little to make your house envy of suburban Atlanta. For house painters in that city, using SEO as a marketing tool would obviously be an expensive proposition.

“I love fiddling with it every day, it’s like a toy. I get web designer at 2much to make me some flash and change my backgrounds, all to make it a more soothing and stimulating experience for users.”