Matt’s Cutts of Google has a great post on moving a website to a new host without losing all that hard SEO work you’ve done. Here’s Matt’s steps:

Step 1. Find a good web host and sign up for an account.

Step 2: Make a back-up of your site at the new webhost.

Step 3: Change DNS to point to your new web host.

Step 4: Wait for the DNS change to propagate through the net.

Step 5: Once you are sure people or Googlebots are fetching from the new webhost/IP address, you’re done. You can shut down the old site.

View his full post with all the details here. http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/moving-to-a-new-web-host/

Karen Mills, the new head of the SBA has been a private equity investor and adviser since 1993. From 1999 to 2007 she was founding partner and managing director of Solera Capital, a New York based venture capital firm. She is also lead director of Scotts Miracle-Gro.

I think that’s better than appointing a Washington bureaucrat. Hopefully she will bring a new level of efficiency and productivity to the SBA.

More from the Washington Post.

President-elect Barack Obama this afternoon nominated venture capital expert Karen Gordon Mills to head the Small Business Administration.

“We must strengthen the small businesses that are the backbone” of the American economy, Obama said at a Chicago press conference. “With Karen Mills as administrator, America’s small businesses will have a partner in Washington” who will help them create jobs and understand the challenges they face.

More from Entrepreneur.com

The Senate confirmed venture capitalist Karen Mills to take over as the Obama administration’s chief administrator of the U.S. Small Business Association last week.

“Small business is the heart of the American economy,” the 55-year-old states. “There are over twenty-six million small businesses in this country and they create 70 percent of the new jobs. This means that to find our way out of the current economic crisis, we have to find ways to help small businesses stay in operation and even expand.

Use the 3 C’s of Communication–Effective Communication–Entrerpeneur.com

There’s a tendency, particularly in a tough economy, to try to be all things to all people. So some businesses that do X advertise that they also do Y and Z. They cast a wider net in hopes of bringing back whatever business they can get.

You actually stand a better chance of getting and keeping customers if you focus on what you do best and how it benefits them. Consumers are pickier than ever about whom they do business with, so you need to communicate your benefits if you want to stand out in the crowd. The way to do that is through the three C’s of effective communication. Take a look at your recent marketing efforts and see whether they pass the test of the 3 C’s:

1) Crisp and Clear
Being crisp is about telling people what you do in as few words as possible–and using that same crisp message in written marketing materials.

2) Customer-Centric
Promote your business in terms not just of your experience and expertise, but how what you do benefits them.  

3) Consistent
Once you’ve nailed down your crisp message, and you’re telling your story from your customer’s perspective, make sure you tell it consistently in your e-mails, on your website, in print materials, via the internet and in any other advertising and marketing media.

Rev up the Search Engines – Entrepreneur.com

SEO is about attracting quality leads and buyers ready to make a purchase. Here are six tips for getting the most out of an SEO initiative, according to SEO expert Steve Wiideman:

1. Start early. It can take up to six months for competitive search terms to see results through Google.
2. Content really is king. Make a list of the top 20 search keywords relevant to your business and create content that’s thematically linked with those terms.
3. Don’t use the same keywords over and over. Search engines have gotten smart enough to weed that out.
4. Focus on Google. The magic formula is relevance and popularity. Having a well-written and well-structured website is a big part of the battle. Mentions and links from bloggers and other websites can be a big boost as well.
5. How do you measure SEO? Create a benchmark. A good SEO expert can actually measure the amount of traffic that results in a lead or in somebody making a purchase.
6. If you choose to work with an SEO consultant, find one that specializes in the needs of startups and growing businesses. If he or she tries to guarantee you an instant No. 1 ranking in Google, run the other way.

For help optimizing your small business website, check out Westchester SEO firm Spring Marketing Strategies.

Can Twitter Really Help Your Small Business? – Entrepreneur.com .

How Do Businesses Use Twitter?

• A restaurant tweets daily specials.
• A ticket agency tweets about-to-expire tickets.
• A real estate agent tweets new homes on the market.
• A chamber of commerce tweets local events and promotions.
• A PR expert tweets publicity opportunities.
• An entrepreneur tweets co-marketing opportunities.

Tina Hilton, owner of virtual assistance company Clerical Advantage, says Twitter can be a valuable use of time and energy. “I have never gotten a client directly from Twitter,” Hilton says. “But have had several referrals from people I’ve connected with on Twitter.”

Using Twitter, or other forms of social networking like Facebook or LinkedIn, takes the long view. Instead of providing instant sales, Twitter is another way to build relationships and develop credibility and trust.

I’m starting up a new online marketing strategy firm. Spring Marketing Strategies, LLC. Coming soon.

I have lot’s to say, but no time to write it down. Twitter and Tumblr combination are a much more managebale combination. This blog will probably stay dormant so please find me at:

http://ebenthurston.tumblr.com/

http://twitter.com/ebenthurston

After several months away from blogging after starting a new job, I’m going to get back to it. Stay tuned.

FT.com / Companies / Media & internet – Online ads to overtake US newspapers

No traditional media sector is more challenged by online than print newspapers. Between craigslist for classifieds, blogs for oped, and the speed of the web for breaking news, newspapers have to fundamentally reinvent themselves to survive. Ironically, no traditional media sector is more conducive to adaptation to the web. Radio, broadcast TV, magazines, and even cable don’t port as seamlessly to the web as the already daily, text and image oriented content of newspapers. The challenge for the newspaper business is less about product, and more about operations. They need to direct their existing staffs to stop spending time creating content optimized for print, and start start creating content for the web. Consumers still want what newspaper have to offer, they just want more choices in how they access it. Killing trees and dirty hands seem unnecessary in a world of screens and mobile devices.

In the 2007 study, published on Tuesday, VSS forecasts that online advertising will grow by more than 21 per cent per year to reach $62bn in 2011, making it bigger than newspaper advertising, which is expected to total $60bn in 2011.

Broadcast television and cable and satellite television combined will continue to take the biggest share of advertising dollars, and are forecast to reach $86bn in 2011. “The path of online advertising and newspaper advertising is a continuation of what we’ve been observing for many years, but it is finally getting to the point where the lines will cross,” said James Rutherfurd, managing director at VSS.

paidContent has a great summary: If WSJ.com Was Set Free: The Numbers At Stake

A summary of their summary:

Some estimates from the report:
– The total online division of DJ, which includes MarketWatch and several other properties, will generate an estimated $115 million in advertising revenue in 2007.
– Of the ad revs, about $75 million (+13% Y/Y) is generated by WSJ.com. In addition, WSJ.com will generate roughly $65 million (+11%) in subscription revenue in 2007, putting advertising/subscription revenues at a 54% / 46% split, or $140 million in total.
– MarketWatch will generate roughly $40 million in advertising revenue in 2007
– An average page view on WSJ.com currently commands almost 4x the ad revenue of a page view on NYTimes.com.

Then the likely impact of making WSJ.com free:
– WSJ.com would have to increase page views by 2x – 3x, which is unlikely in the near-term, even as a free site, but longger term it should be viewed in context of News Corp’s big online reach.
– A potentially free WSJ.com poses the greatest immediate threat to Yahoo! Finance, AOL Finance, and MSN Money.
– If News Corp moves more aggressively toward building out WSJ.com’s national and political news coverage (which has been suggested), we believe the competitive threat would extend further to the general news sections of the portals, including MSNBC and CNN.