The Yankee Group has just published a study that finds SMBs are accelerating their adoption of ecommerce and online marketing solutions [Shifting Web-Hosting and Services Market Dynamics, Part 2: SMBs Accelerate Adoption of E-Commerce and Online Marketing].

In recent years many companies have established a web presence, and promoting this presence is a natural next step. However, a senior Yankee Group analyst, Sanjeev Aggarwal, suggests that "online and search marketing has become too complicated for SMBs to tackle on their own."

I believe this statement is only partially true. I've actually found that most SMBs are capable of taking some highly effective initial steps in promoting their Web presence. At relatively small budgets, an outside marketing specialist would cost too much to justify the expense. In a SmartBiz.com article titled Creative Discipline: Starting Your Startup, I outline a relatively easy process for establishing initial online marketing traction.

Once some traction has been established and you are ready to scale your budget, it may be appropriate to invest in a marketing specialist. However, I would not recommend contracting an outside specialist if your entire online marketing budget is less than $10,000/month. At higher budget levels, I completely agree with Yankee Group that the right move is to hire an outside marketing specialist. At this spending level, good specialists can combine effective tools and analysis to easily justify their costs.

Sean Ellis is the Vice President of Marketing for LogMeIn.