The American Express small business site occasionally has good content.

Not today.

5 New Online Services Perfect for Small Businesses

The headline is a red herring.

The article (really, it's just a list) is a grab bag of very very new social media services, each of which will produce a vanishingly small benefit for 98% of actual small businesses.

Social media is the trendy topic in 2010, which is why you are exhorted to begin tweeting and checking in and sharing.

Own a business? These things may make sense, but, please, walk before you run.

First take care of basic online marketing: create relevant web content for your target audience; grow your email newsletter subscriber list; test your emails and most popular web pages, and measure everything so you can optimize.

Social media? Claim your names on Twitter and Facebook, and stream your content through some social channels.

If all that's done, then you can go play with the shiny toys.