One of the biggest problems facing small businesses is poor planning. As unlike larger corporations who can afford to waste money testing ideas choosing the wrong idea for a small business can be disastrous and possibly lead to them going out of business. Instead they should focus on ideas which have begin shown time and again to be profitable. Research has shown the 5 most profitable small business ideas to be local marketing, Craigslist, online marketing, optimizing a website for the search engines and keep your customers happy. Some of these things you might have a rough idea about while others will make you go huh but by the time you've finished reading you'll be familiar with them and ready to use them in your business.

1. Get Involved in the Local Community
As a local small business all of your income is going to come from the local area so it's no good if people don't know about your business. Probably the easiest way of getting noticed in your local community is by getting involved with a local school. As there always looking for local business support so no matter what your business is there's bound to be something you can do. For example a computer company could donate a few computers. Not only do you get the benefit of the parents learning about your company but you may also get a mention in the paper which will inform the wider community about your business. Of course you don't want to just limit yourself to schools you also want to get in contact with other related businesses and work out a referral system or even just get them to hand out discount coupons for your business.

2. Craigslist
You probably haven't heard of Craigslist but it's a site where you can advertise your goods or service under where you live. But that's not all as if your competitors are also using it then you can see what they are offering.

3. Join the Online Community
Just as you need to increase your presence offline you need to do the same online. The two biggest sites are Facebook and Twitter. You're probably more familiar with Twitter as that's the favourite of celebrities world wide and you probably heard about how many views the youtube video of Susan Boyd got after Asten Kutcher Twitted about her. Though both work the same with you setting up a profile and keeping potential customers up to date with your latest offer.

4. Optimize Your Website
Of the 5 most profitable business ideas this is probably the one that will have the most impact. As most people search for stuff online now so if you're not found on the first page of Google then as far as their concerned your company doesn't exist. Which of course means one of your competitors will get the sale. This is also very easy to mess up as you may think right I'll get the site ranked for the business name. When in fact you need to get listed for what your potential customers are actual searching for.

5. Keep Your Customers Happy
Probably the hardest thing to do is getting new customers so once you've got them you want to do your best to keep them. An easy way of doing this is setting up a lead capture system that way you can send out discounts along with hints and tips. So when they need whatever it is you offer your companies name will spring to mind first. Basically you want to treat them like a king.

By implementing each of the 5 most profitable business ideas you will see a dramatic increase in your bottom line.