Many "brick and mortar" businesses are realizing the potential of the internet to bring them new customers. The trick to gaining new customers online is to make sure that you are only paying for exposure to customers in your immediate area.

Find Places To Advertise That Target Residents From Your Area - Make sure before you commit to working with a company that they are able to really isolate your advertising to potential customers. You don't want to waste money paying for ads to show up in front of people that live too far away or don't fit the demographic of a potential customer. Experiment with different companies and see how much targeting you can do.

Give It Some Time - You'll probably need to test out your ads for at least a month before you can really tell if it worked or not. It will take time for the customers who find your information online to contact you and visit your location.

Set a Budget - Its a good idea before you start to establish a budget for yourself to experiment with. That way you can give your ad campaigns the time they need to work, without feeling guilty and if you find ad campaigns that aren't working, you aren't as tempted to keep running campaigns that are a waste of money.

Try 3-4 Different Sites - Its best to try 3 or 4 different sites to advertise on before you decide whether or not online advertising is for you.