At Denver Internet Marketing Pros, we talk to businesses every day who don't seem to realize the tremendous exposure that awaits them by getting plugged in to social media sites on the web.

Traditionally, local businesses have relied upon advertising that I would call, "send and hope" advertising. A business might pay a company to send out 5,000 mailer fliers and then hope that someone interested would see the flier.

Fast forward to 2010. Today, most consumers are very tech savvy and they are less and less open to the kind of "interruption advertising" that existed before.

Consumers today are going online to find information about local businesses. They want to interact with others and read reviews and find out what other people are saying about a product or service in which they have interest. Consumers are search at Google (local) and going to sites like Yelp and even Facebook to find this information.

Ironically, many local business owners use these very same properties to find information about what they are interested in, yet for many business owners, there seems to be a disconnect when they think about their own business.

Why is this? I'm not sure, but i think it is the same challenge for all of us; namely, we are resistant to change. The Internet is a big and scarry place and there are too many business owners who have paid good money to website designer types that have over promised and way under delivered.

A bit of advice to local business owners. Don't be afraid to try. Try to think of your business as a consumer, just like you think of other businesses and then position yourself to be where your prospects are going.

Tony Jackson is the President of AJ Group Direct, LLC
Tony specializes mainly in helping local Denver busiensses promote their business on the internet.
You may reach Tony at 888-319-4611
http://denverinternetmarketingpros.com