"This week’s Web Faceoff between Skype and Google Voice came down to the wire.

Last week, Google stepped onto Skype’s turf with the launch of Google Voice integration in Gmail. Since its launch, Gmail users have made over 10 million calls through the new Google Voice integration.

Is Google Voice a threat to Skype’s longstanding dominance? On Monday we asked you, the readers, to choose which voice service you preferred. After the closest vote in the history of the Web Faceoff…

…Google Voice is the winner by just 20 votes. With 1,438 votes (42.87%), Google’s voice service beat Skype’s 1,418 tallies (42.28%). That’s barely more than a half-percent difference. 498 of you (14.85%) voted that it was a tie.

One of the big issues with Google Voice many commenters pointed out was that it’s only available in the U.S., while Skype is worldwide. Perhaps this is a debate we’ll have to revisit when Google’s offering is in the hands of the rest of the world. Let us know what you think of this week’s poll results in the comments."

Take Google Voice for a test drive, I think you'll like it!!!

Normally, we assume you’ve missed a few posts here and there because you’ve been outside enjoying the last days of summer. But given the impending Hurricane and crippling heatwave, we sincerely hope you’ve been inside this past week. So what’s your excuse?

If you still have catching up to do, we’re back with another list of resources from the past week or so.

Our Social Media section can help you gear up for Fantasy Football season, Watch the US Open, or break down the news with some insightful infographics. Tech and Mobile offers a guide on making your own ringtones, using Gmail’s () priority inbox, and a slew of iPhone () tips and tricks. Business comes packed with SEO tips, response plans to social media attacks, and advice on incorporating your startup.

Looking for even more social media resources? This guide appears every weekend, and you can check out all the lists-gone-by here any time.

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In addition to writing for their human readers, web writers and bloggers have to consider the digital web crawlers employed by search engines like Google (). Your business can’t skip the task.

Since most would-be readers use search engines to find blog posts, you need to make sure that Google ranks your site highly when those readers search for terms related to your business and the content you’re writing.

You could spend thousands of dollars to have a search marketing firm optimize your business’s blog for search engines, but chances are that you can learn a lot of the fundamentals yourself, saving yourself a lot of money as long as you have the interest and the time. Here’s a basic primer on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your company’s blog.

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This is really a fantastic tool, I implemented it today and it rocks!

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People ask all the time, “How to you come up with something interesting and fresh to write on your blog?” my answer often contains a long list of methods, one of which is to open up Google Reader and see what others are writing about and if something there inspires me. It very often does the trick.

The only problem with that is, sometimes I am not necessarily in writing mode but am in topic research mode so I tend to feed all this into Evernote and go back to write them later. I know some of you would much rather save those interesting posts directly into your WordPress blog so you will be less distracted with more new and interesting posts when you are finally ready to sit and write.

Using The ‘Send To’ feature in Google Reader, you can do that. Here’s a quick tutorial.

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August 2010 will go down as “checklist month” as I found a lot of great checklist style posts in my feed reader, check ‘em out:

• The 5 Minute Conversion Health Scorecard by @unbounce

• The SEO Audit Checklist via @lunametrics

• What to look for in your web analytics by @richpage

• Another SEO Audit Checklist via @smartinsights

• Qualitative Web Analytics: Expert Heuristic Evaluations by @avinash

Click on 'via' link above to read these great, informative posts.

With a growing number of people seeking entrepreneurship as an alternative path in this rough economy, there is increasing competition for the key resources that can make or break the startup venture.

New entrepreneurs are competing for essential resources, such as the funding, the customers and the staff they need to build a successful business. Attracting these resources often relies on how well the entrepreneur can deliver "the pitch" for his new business.

An effective pitch starts with a hook -- something that grabs the attention of the person one is talking to about a business. The most effective hook lays the groundwork to show the underlying need in the market for what the new business aims to offer.

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