Small businesses that put the power of the Internet to work for them are jumping far ahead of the competition. With the supplanting of the Yellow Pages by Google, and with social media giving Google a run for its money, smart businesses have to keep up with the changing times. Internet marketing is at the core of today's successful businesses; it won't be long before it's at the core of every business.

Yet, not all Internet marketing tactics are equal. Some pay off, and some don't. Some pay off, but not big enough to justify the investment. Knowing the difference can save you money, but more importantly, it can save you your valuable time.

Here are some of the most common small business Internet marketing timewasters:

1. Competing for high-value keywords. When it comes to Search Engine Optimization, you need to be realistic. If you're a local hardware store, chances are pretty slim that your efforts to land on Google's first page results for “water heaters” will pay off. In fact, even if it did pay off, you're not likely to see a return on that investment (unless you also run a mail-order business for water heaters). Instead, focus your SEO efforts on local search results, and on long-tail keywords that relate more specifically to your offerings. You're much better off landing on the first page of Google results for “Atlanta water heaters” than you are for “water heaters.”
2. Building social media followers rather than brand advocates. This is a tricky one. For social media marketing to be effective, you need to build a solid base of fans or followers. Yet, the number of fans or followers you have doesn't really tell the tale. You might have 10,000 Facebook fans, of which maybe 1% have ever (or are likely to ever) make a purchase. Focus instead on turning your existing customers – who are your natural word-of-mouth brand advocates offline – into your online brand advocates. One satisfied customer sharing your page with others is worth 100 random followers from a follower campaign blitz.
3. Shotgun-style Internet marketing campaigns. Along those lines, you need to focus your Internet marketing efforts on your target demographics. Too many Internet marketing campaigns are done shotgun-style; you simply send out a barrage of advertising, hoping that at least a few people in your target demographic will be hit. Instead, hone in on those likely customers. Most Internet ad campaigns let you segment your ads based on a number of factors, some of which will relate directly to your target demographic.
4. Spammy email newsletters. Newsletters that provide value to the reader can be a valuable tool, and even something that subscribers look forward to receiving each month. Newsletters that contain nothing but promotional materials will result in deleted emails and subscribers choosing to unsubscribe. You need to add real value to the conversation, whether it's a useful how-to, a link to an interesting video, self-help advice, or something else the reader can really use.  
5. Distractions. If you're doing Internet marketing on your own, you need to watch out for personal time wasters. Getting caught up reading Wil Wheaton's Twitter feed, or playing a bunch of Zynga games on Farmville won't bring customers into your business. Learn to separate your business Internet activities from your personal Internet activities. While blog commenting can be a valuable strategy for promoting your blog, for example, don't spend half the day reading interesting blogs and not commenting. 
6. The paralysis of analysis. Metrics are a good thing. It's important to know where your website traffic is coming from. It's important to understand what your conversion rates look like for a given page. Today's Internet marketing tools provide you with every sort of data you could possibly want. The danger of having all of this data, however, is twofold: first, you can get caught up looking at data that isn't truly relevant to your Internet marketing efforts; it's merely interesting. The other danger is that you'll spend too much time looking at metrics, too frequently. Weekly or even monthly reports should usually be sufficient. 

There is tremendous power in Internet marketing. However, if you spend all of your time engaged in these six activities, you'll find that you're getting little to nothing back from your Internet marketing efforts. For any given Internet marketing strategy you're considering, measure it up against these dangers and see if it that strategy should be dropped.

Scott Desind is a Los Angeles traffic ticket attorney, helping drivers in the Los Angeles area get their driving tickets dismissed. With over 20 years of combined, Scott Desind and his Traffic Attorneys have a 90% success rate in beating tickets.