Any owner of an online business has probably wondered whether there was an affordable way to have their business rank highly in the search engine results when prospective customers perform a search in a major search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. While pay-per-click advertising can be a practical way to acquire customers from the search engines, there is simply no better long-term plan than equipping a Web site with good SEO organic techniques so that it can benefit from free traffic from potential customers for months or years into the future. However, many online business owners are shocked when they see the prices that are charged by SEO companies. On one hand, search engine optimization is an extremely valuable service, and often the price that is paid is worth every penny. On the other hand, it is possible to save quite a bit of money and still get all of the benefits of SEO if some affordable SEO services are found. Let's take a closer look at how to find high quality, affordable SEO services for local search engine marketing campaigns.

The first method that might be used to find a good company for a local search marketing campaign is to contact other non-competitive businesses who have a good online presence. It is possible that they used a service that is in the same area or specializes in local affordable services. These services are often helpful because their rates can be very competitive, and they can be worked with on a one-on-one basis. It might be practical to contact a local business in the area that is not a competitor. A competitor may be reluctant to tell which affordable SEO service he used. If a competitor has not yet implemented an SEO service for his business, then he might inadvertently get some ideas. He also could ramp up an existing campaign.

Another helpful method for locating an affordable service is to contact the Better Business Bureau and Chamber of Commerce to see which ones have a reputation for delivering on their promises. Search engine optimization is in high demand amongst small businesses, and a large number of companies have sprung up in a very short period of time. Many of these do not have the proper skills and training, and others are outright fly-by-night scams. Even review sites can be quite unreliable, since they are often created by the companies themselves in order to promote their products and services. That's why government agencies are a reliable method to find an affordable service that actually delivers.