These days it seems a new social media website is popping up daily. This can be overwhelming to the average small business owners as they try to work out which network they should focus their time and efforts on.

While it’s good to have a presence across as many social media sites as possible, maintaining this presence can be time-consuming. The best bang-for-your-buck is going to be from sites that will give you the best returns and ultimately the best result you can have is traffic to your site.

With this in mind, here are my picks of the top 7 social media sites to focus your efforts on.

• Facebook

With 750 million members (as of August 2011) Facebook is a tremendously popular social networking site. Its massive reach provides compelling opportunities to connect with customers, both current and future, through fan pages, news feeds, groups, and throughout the site. Advertising your business on Facebook is going to increase your traffic even more.

• Twitter

Twitter has quickly become a popular platform for consumers and advertisers alike. For brands looking to communicate with customers in real time, the micro-blogging service is a great way to carry on conversations in 140 or fewer characters.

• Linkedin

LinkedIn could be a very effective resource for both you and your company. In addition to setting up a basic profile (with a followed link), you can also utilize groups, events, and answers to connect with a large online network.

• Wikipedia

While not your traditional social media website, Wikipedia has an active community that’s quick to remove self promotional or spammy content, but for those who have relevant, authoritative content, it can be a great place to acquire new visitors to your site.

• Digg

Appearing on the Digg homepage can lead to massive traffic increases to your web site or blog. Digg can be particularly effective for bloggers who write regularly and make their content easy to Digg.

• Reddit

Upload stories and articles on reddit to drive traffic to your site or blog. Submit items often so that you’ll gain a more loyal following and increase your presence on the site.

• Technorati

Given their high traffic volumes, Technorati is a viable option for online marketers looking to expand their RSS syndication.