Marketing in 2008 became decidedly social — and 2009 will see the social elements of marketing accelerate. Social media went from being on the cutting edge, to approaching the mainstream. When I say “social” I mean marketing driven by word-of-mouth relationships.

99% of Webmasters don’t need costly website optimization and submission services. Interestingly, 99% of “Search Engine Professionals” don’t mention this — they’re too interested in charging you for their services.

Get a BIG TIME business education for FREE. The following courses range in complexity and length, and should offer a good primer for those of you just starting your own business or who want more specialized knowledge in an area of interest.

For marketers, research is not only used for the purpose of learning, it is also a critical component needed to make good decisions. Market research does this by giving marketers a picture of what is occurring (or likely to occur) and, when done well, offers alternative choices that can be made.

It might seem like everyone has a Web presence—a blog or a Facebook page—but that certainly isn’t true for small-business owners. Only about 41 percent have their own interactive websites, according to a 2008 survey by small-business advisory service Warrillow & Co. So, if folks can’t even manage the E-commerce basics, a blog is probably low on their priority list.