Businesses use digital marketing because it can actually be cheaper than print advertising and can be much more effective if used properly. Effectiveness in your campaign is why small business owners should look into hiring a professional online marketing firm to make their business more popular on the web and to bring in more customers. A competent digital marketing firm will use all the latest strategies of the trade to make sure your company is near the top of the Google search page.

Digital marketing gets you results in 2 areas of search; organic or paid. Getting into one or the other determines what method you will use; Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

It is important to know what type of strategies your chosen marketing firm will use. Are they going to work to get you organic search results or are they going to set up a Pay-Per-Click campaign?

SEO is the main problem to solve if you want your company listed near the top of search pages. Even if you use paid search, it is important to make sure your website is still optimized for search engines.

In general, SEO uses key words and phrases strategically placed on your website and also built into content syndicated on the Internet in a way that increases your business' appearance in search results when your customer begins looking.

The more relevant the key words and the content of your pages are to what a person searches for, the more likely it appears in search engines. While many small businesses will not have to spend huge amounts of money on this, they do need to invest a significant amount of time.

The biggest benefit is that results stick around for awhile as opposed to Paid Advertising which disappears when the money runs out.

Another area well spent with SEO is in your Google My Business listing. Google My Business is a great local online marketing tool. Many people use Google to find local businesses and services, which is why your business needs to be listed in Google Local Maps. A lot of the time, potential customers type in the kind of business they are looking for and take the first few from where it says "Local business results for [search term]... ". One of the most inexpensive and effective ways to get more customers is to be listed very high in Google Local Maps.

Pay-Per-Click, or PPC, means that the businesses inside that pink "Sponsored Links" box pay Google every time someone clicks on their link. This can be a waste of money if you do not go into it armed with the latest knowledge. Pay-Per-Click will get you business. The biggest benefit is it can drive business quickly if done right and save you some time. The major drawback is that if your advertising funds run low you're your new business stream will dwindle as well.

If Pay-Per-Click is not something you are interested in then it is a better idea to use the skills of a local online marketing firm that specializes in getting you top organic search results.