WebVisible, an online marketing software provider, has released their Fourth Quarter report on the State of Small Business Online Advertising, and if there’s an overall conclusion from the findings, it’s that small businesses are having better success with online marketing than ever before. There are positive signs in the areas of search advertising, but the best news is how widely video is being embraced by the small business community.

Search Advertising Works For Small Businesses

The average small business spent $2,126 on search ads in Q4 of 2010. They’re getting savvier too, because their keyword lists are growing–the average list was 87 words, up 30% from the 4th quarter of 2009.

The average cost per click is still slowly climbing, which is a direct reflection of the added competition that comes from more businesses placing ads. Most promising? That clicks resulting in phone calls rose 50% over the previous year–that means the ads are working… better and better… driving crucial leads.

There’s a lot of great information in the report that I won’t go into here, including the small business categories that are advertising (attorneys) or the fastest growing categories (sewer contractors, believe it or not). I’d encourage you to check out the whole thing. Read more at www.reelseo.com