A Microsoft AdCenter study of 400 small-business owners in the US indicated that a majority invest in developing websites, but do not take steps to enhance their online business presence (throuch paid search marketing). Fifty-nine percent of respondents don’t currently use paid search marketing, and of those, 90% have never even tried!

Despite the low participation among small businesses, they still see the value. In fact, 86% of the small business owners surveyed said that they could be missing out on oppotunities to grow their business, while three in four believed prospective customers could be searching online for the type of service their business offers.

The primary concerns most cited by the surveyed group included cost, time and compexity as major hurdles to conducting search marketing campaigns for their business. Other interesting statistics include:

• Nearly nine in 10 (89 percent) feared keywords may become too expensive.
• Eighty-one percent questioned if paid search marketing is the best use of their marketing budgets.
• One quarter of respondents believe paid search marketing is too complex.
• Twenty-one percent thought it would be too time-consuming.
• Thirty-five percent felt they would need an proven search marketing agency to help set up a search marketing campaign.