Christmas traditionally means one of two things for small businesses: either it's a boom period of frenzied retail activity or, conversely, it's frustrating period of downtime when nobody's around and little gets done. If it's the latter, here are five ways for you to join the retailers in turning the festive period to your advantage:

Localstars is a marketing technology start-up founded in 2008 by George Dann. With an increasing number businesses and consumers operating online, Dann saw an opportunity to provide professional web video advertising campaigns to match the two together. Since its inception the company has seen substantial growth, and in 2011 moved offices to join the growing tech community at the Silicon Roundabout in East London.

In light of Mary Portas' call for a National Market Day, here's what some Market Stall owners said about their careers for our guide: "How to Start a Business in Market Stalls"

The economic split between the North and South sections of the UK was rumoured to have become a thing of the past, but the divide is still as much a part of this country as tea or cricket.

Thousands of new businesses impressed us this year at Smarta, but here are 11 which really caught our attention. Make sure to leave a comment if your favourite new business of 2011 has been left out.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is urging graduates to boost the UK economy by starting innovative businesses and joining the Entrepreneur First program.

The scheme, launched in March this year by David Cameron, was set-up to help talented graduates launch their own high-growth businesses and has had applications from graduates of 49 universities.

The festive domain name Christmas.co.uk is to be auctioned for more than £50,000.

Blue Dot aims to revolutionise the way people and businesses engage with charities by providing a new social currency of, you guessed it, 'bluedots'. You earn 'bluedots' by sharing non-profit organisations on Facebook, with your friends or by making a donation, then can exchange your dots for rewards.

Simon Duffy, co-founder of Bulldog, has recently been shown both ends of the customer service scale. His experience with The Odd Mattress Company left him recommending them to friends while Made.com gave him a rather different feeling.

As the web continues to evolve, smart businesses look to use its new features in ways that can help them expand, compete and remain profitable - even at a time when the economic outlook seems bleak. This is particularly true when the web gives us opportunities to make money