A new survey says that small businesses believe in the power of Internet advertising and e-commerce, but worry that lack of budget, time and experience is holding them back from taking full advantage of the medium.

The survey of 1200 small business users was conducted in August by Local Mobile Search and AllBusiness.com.




Among the takeaways: 25 percent of respondents said online advertising would break their budget; 20 percent said Internet marketing is too complex; and 15 percent said they don't think they have the expertise or manpower to manage online advertising

According to the report:

The Internet is now front-and-center for these businesses in terms of it being a serious marketing medium. The principal reasons the respondents said they weren't doing any [Internet advertising or marketing] was lack of budget, lack of time, and personnel and confusion, which indicates a need for education and support.

Interestingly enough, very *few* small businesses felt the Internet or online advertising wasn't for them: only 18 percent said they felt the Internet was irrelevant to their small biz and 10 percent believed Web marketing was not efffective. In total, 55 percent of the respondents said they had a Web site of their own.

Read more findings from the survey.