A great number of searches on Google are local. For a small price, compared to other media, you can get traffic and customers by using local ppc advertising for your business. It costs less than mailings and fliers; is more trackable than billboards and will at times contact more people than an ad in the Yellow Pages.

According to the Kelsey group, 60 percent of all internet searches are local. Some estimates run as high as 75 percent. But even if it were only 20 percent, that's still a lot of searches. Tens of millions a day, at least.

Whatever the number is, local search is undoubtedly the most untapped opportunity in PPC management.

You want to sell weight loss plans, MP3 downloads, high definition TVs, or mortgages nationwide on Google? You can do it, but you'd better strap on your gladiator helmet and prepare for a fight.

However if you happen to be accounting firm, electrician, handyman, or foot doctor, the battle is easily won. The competitors in your market most likely have no idea what they are doing.

Consulting in this area is a great idea. You can put together campaigns for businesses around you. The need is under filled. Consider this:

Hundreds of local businesses in your city spend upwards of $1,000 a month just on Yellow Pages ads, so these people are already spending money!

Yellow Pages sales persons help make people more aware of the online opportunities when they sell Internet Yellow Page listings. But that is Google or Yahoo ads.

Companies like Google are so busy dealing with existing opportunities, putting reps on the street to sell PPC to local businesses is a long way off at best. (There are rumors of partnerships with Yellow Pages companies though.)

If you are dealing with a category where mail-order in not possible and the items must be gotten locally, then the clicks are cheap. Check this out. If you search for 'brake shop' in Chicago only 6 ads will come up, and one is for E-bay. Do I hear a bid for nickel clicks?

Local advertisers who are "knowing" about internet marketing are not thick on the ground. That is not likely to be changing soon. The difference between online commerce, and retail sales, is a great gulf. You have hear "In the land of the blind, the man with one eye gets to be king", that surely applies here.

If you can embrace the certainty that a good portion of your keyword will only get a few local clicks per month, then the ROI (return on investment) on the clicks you do get is exceptional.