Study: Half of small business owners optimistic about 2012

Nearly half of small enterprise owners surveyed by website creation solution Webs believe this year will be good for business.

A total of 49 percent of 582 entrepreneurs - most of whom own micro businesses - reported having a positive outlook for 2012, and 56.7 percent said their primary aim is to attract new customers. Adding or developing new products and services was the main goal of 19 percent of respondents, followed by growth and retention of their current customer base (11 percent), reducing costs with the aim of saving money (8 percent) and expanding operations through investment (5 percent).

A total of 30 percent said they plan to create a Facebook page for their company as part of an effort to further their business marketing efforts in 2012. A similar number (29 percent) expressed an interest in branching out into online advertising through Google Ad Words or Facebook Ads, ahead of email marketing (27.9 percent), use of other social media sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn (23.5 percent), use of content sites such as Flickr and YouTube (22 percent), issuing press releases (16 percent), blogging (10 percent) and partnering with daily deals websites such as Groupon and LivingSocial (8 percent).

In terms of investment, 42 percent of respondents said they plan to put more into their companies this year than in 2011. An additional 44 percent anticipated their investment will be about the same as 2011 levels.

"2012 might be shaping up to be a very good year in terms of economic growth," said Haroon Mokhtarzada, co-founder of Webs. "We've seen a lot of news about strong online sales over the holidays ... and we're expecting that to carry over this year."

Sam Graves, chairman of the House Small Business Committee, recently called upon lawmakers to support entrepreneurs' efforts by passing legislation that would remove obstacles to small business growth.