The possibilities of marketing on the internet are certainly global, and the potential audiences are unlimited. However, with the increasing amount of resources available online and the increasing amount of time people are spending online, even local businesses are finding that and online marketing presence is absolutely crucial. According to the Internet Advertising Bureau’s recent report, online advertising revenues reached a record quarterly high of $6.3 billion at the end of this past quarter.

While print advertisements and traditional media outlets are still important for local business marketing, businesses need to reach their customers where they are, and they are online. Compared to traditional broadcast and print media, 17% of ad budgets were allocated to the web, which has risen from 8% in 2008. This is a number that has been increasing over the past several years, proving that the Internet is a more significant part of ad budgets and marketing plans than ever before.

One of the most traditional fundamentals of online advertising is search, which garners 47% of the money spent towards ads online. Digital video advertising, however, saw the most growth between 2008 and 2009, climbing by almost 39%.  The report also suggested that local online advertising would grow by 31% and local paid search could increase by 86%. Whether the numbers prove to be that drastic or not, one thing is for sure – any business, whether local or otherwise, will find their customers most easily online.