It used to be that search engines ignored videos—at least as far as rankings were concerned. But not anymore. According to Forrester Research, pages that contained videos were 53 times more likely than traditional web pages to receive a first-page ranking. If you visit Google and type the phrase “How to ____,” you’ll most likely see the first few results involve a video either on YouTube or eHow. A lot of businesses don’t think their sites are worthy of video. They need to think again. Videos enhance SEO, whether it’s a tutorial that shows an...

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If you're an avid reader, you probably didn’t mind those summer reading assignments back in the day. You may have been one of those few people who had all of your required reading assignments done by the fourth of July. But if you’re like the rest of us slackers, you may have rented the movie, gotten the Cliff Notes or skipped the assignment altogether in favor of a rockin' party. The bottom line is this: Right or wrong, watching a video or reading a synopsis is faster, and in most cases easier, than reading page after page about it. We can f...

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As gas prices go up, we're all feeling the pinch of the pump. But regardless of how angry or frustrated we are, the reality is we need gas to get from point A to point B--except those who invested in electric cars that don’t require fuel, or at least less of it. They aren't as bruised as the rest of us. When electric cars first came out many were skeptical about its reliability. Plus the up-front investment was too much for most of us to bear. However, those who invested in an electric car early on have certainly reaped the benefits over t...

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With the economy crisis hopefully behind us soon, we have all learned the value of money. Businesses, in particular, have seen how fast money can slip away from their hands and how quickly they have to adjust. Many business owners have found that in order to survive and thrive in this economic landscape, you must find a way to stay lean. Cost-effective software options, like SaaS, can reduce IT expenses tremendously. In the last blog we got an overview of what software as a service (SaaS) is and why you should invest. While investing in SaaS is...

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Perhaps you've heard the term software as a service (SaaS). Or perhaps you use it and don't know its formal name. Regardless, over time software as a service has become more popular. And rightfully so. SaaS, aka on-demand software, allows businesses and users Internet access to tools and applications. Think of SaaS as a software distributor. A vendor or service provider hosts the applications, which are then accessed by the end-user (business or customer) through the Net. The use of SaaS has become more and more popular with businesses. Many e...

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Well-written web content laden with rich keywords can boost SEO, but many argue that the use of content targeting can shoot site traffic numbers into the stratosphere. But what is content targeting, exactly? Well for one thing, it’s not free. It's a form of paid inclusion, meaning search engine companies charge fees to add websites to their search indexes. The process involves matching keywords AND content with search queries. It’s one thing to research keywords and see what words or terms are most popular, but conte...

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We know what you're saying: "As if it wasn’t enough to worry about keywords, excellent content and links, now I have to worry about site speed?" And to answer your question: Yes, site speed does affect SEO. As Google is evolving and its algorithms change, the search engine is now taking into account how long it takes for a site to load. Site Speed More Important Than SEO Page Rank Let’s take Google algorithms out of the equation for a minute. (No pun intended) Consider this: You Google a phrase such as “Travel Agents in New Jersey.” On th...

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Running a business involves numbers. You need to know how much revenue is coming in and compare that number against your costs. In order to be profitable you may need to make adjustments accordingly. How you make those adjustments depends on the analysis of your budget, what is coming in and what is going out.Just as you analyze your business budget to stay profitable, you need to analyze your website to ensure its effectiveness. Web analytic software measures how many people visit your site, how long they stay there, how they fi...

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Remember the Yellow Pages, that stone-age search engine? Once upon a time when one needed a product or service, one would refer to a book with yellow pages inside. In that book there would be names of local businesses with contact information and perhaps even an advertisement. With the invention of the Internet, businesses and consumers were not limited by geography, ultimately opening the doors for global commerce. Well, in theory that is true, however when it comes to SEO, geography can still be somewhat limiting...

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Headlines and subheads are perhaps your best weapon in the battle for SEO. They not only help organize your site and make it easier for your readers to digest your content, but may also help search engines bring your readers there to begin with. According to Stephan Spencer, founder and president of the SEO firm Netconcepts, the content you use for headings is very important. “Heading tags are given more weight by search engines than regular body copy,” Spencer writes. Knowing that search engines give more weight to heading tags mean...

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Tiers, like keywords, have an effect on your SEO. But it's not as complicated as you think!

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Tips for updating your SEO marketing plan for 2011.

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SEO: How To Advertise in the 21st Century SEO, aka search engine optimization, is a buzzword that has been thrown around in business circles for a while now. However, some companies still aren't sure what it means and why it is important. Well, marketing experts will tell you it's crucial.. Why is it so important? Consider this: It's 1967. The only computers known to man are called mainframes, and only universities and large companies have them because they cost $5 million. And in 1967 you have a business with a physical address. In orde...

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Picture this, you’re waiting in line at the grocery store, and the person in front of you has about 300 items to be checked out. It’s gonna be a while. You have no other option to pass the time but to look at the tabloids in front of you. The headline you see is identical to one you saw about six months ago. How many times can Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie file for divorce, or Oprah plan her big wedding day? Putting stale information out there not only gets old, but the sources that put that information out there start to lose credibility. The...

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The more information you can provide on your site, the more traffic you will have to your site--and the more products and services you can sell.

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There are some truly heinous websites floating around cyberspace: the overly colorful, overly “flashed” and the overly textual. The sad thing is, the designers who create these god-awful sites not only get away with such bad design (they were uploaded, weren’t they?) but they were paid thousands of dollars to do it. As mentioned in Finding the Right Web Designer for Your Business, there are plenty of designers happy to show off their “expertise” by creating flashy websites that appeal to fellow design geeks, but these result in sites of very l...

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What’s in a (Domain) Name? Frugally Blonde. The Onion. Both are great sites. But one is properly named. The other, not so much. Domain names are big business. The right name can drive traffic—and thus customers—to your site in droves. That’s why domain sites are making so much money buying, selling and trading names. Now that so much commerce is online, your URL is your brand. So how to choose that domain? Most experts agree on the following three guidelines:   Research keywords that are germane to your business to help search...

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Machus' "YOU Inc." is all about a presentation. This social generation, is all about us, YOU. So when you talk, your talking about ME. So why not have a website that says so. We invite creative people such as yourself to send your .ME domain ideas to us. It's new. What better way to get ahead of the curve on a brand new domain extension?! Be the first to own your name. "James.ME". Use it as a call to action, "Message.ME". Or social community, "TheWorldof.ME" Contact us and find out how YOU can get.ME.

I'd like to take this time to say Season Greetings, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to my guys here at Machus Corp. Thanks for all your hard work this year! Without you none of this is possible. I know at times, it's been about the deadlines, but I felt it was important to take this time out and tell ya'll, we appreciate you and look forward to 2010 with growth and opportunity in sight. We will continue to grow in knowledge, maturity, and number. This year we: Completed Phase 1 of a 3 year project (Pinnacle SeamLESS) ...

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