I know I am cheap.

I barely spend anything on anything.

I checked into some local SEO services and was stunned by the price quotes I got.  Hundreds of dollars per month for starter packages and thousands.for full service.

I'm sure it is great for some large companies who don't want to hire a full time online marketing person.  For the small business owner, it is a deal breaker and the realization we will have to do most of this work ourselves (or with an intern from the local college).

After getting slapped in the face by the price quotes, I started doing my own social media work.  SEO used to be all about typing a lot of keywords into webpages, but now it is more about being the center of conversation.  Google likes to send people to places where other people are or have recently been.

In the search for relevant content, Google must be looking at social media penetration and levels of conversation.  People talk about things (and websites) they like.  Having a presence in social media is important.

This is basically how I went into the social media world.  I was already there personally, but as a business, I figured I could get some important links and give people an easy way to connect with my content.

The nice surprise has been that there are people on Facebook!  I know, big news right?  However, on Facebook, you can actually see the people who are interested in your business.

My business page on Facebook has had some success, but I am still trying to figure out Twitter.  I just started a personal and a business account so I am getting upo to speed with some fo the best practices.

Google + seems to have great potential, but I don't visit the site very often.  It was very easy to set up a page for each of my websites, but I'm not sure what to do next.