Jason Kendall | Software 4 Marketing

Interactive Courses For CompTIA Network Plus Uncovered

June 30, 2010 By Jason Kendall Leave a Comment

These days, commercial institutions would struggle were it not for support workers mending networks and computers, while making recommendations to users on a regular basis each week. With the increasingly complex nature of technological advances, many more trained staff are required to look after the many areas we’ve become dependent on.

Review the following facts carefully if you think the sales ploy of an ‘Exam Guarantee’ sounds great value:

Thankfully, today we’re a bit more aware of hype – and generally we cotton on to the fact that we are actually being charged for it – it’s not because they’re so generous they want to give something away!

It’s everybody’s ambition to qualify on the first attempt. Taking your exams progressively one by one and paying as you go has a marked effect on pass-rates – you prepare appropriately and are conscious of what you’ve spent.

Do your exams at a local pro-metric testing centre and don’t pay up-front, but seek out the best deal for you when you’re ready.

What’s the point in paying early for exams when you don’t need to? Big margins are secured by training companies getting paid upfront for exams – and hoping either that you won’t take them, or it will be a long time before you do.

Re-takes of previously unsuccessful exams with training course providers with an ‘Exam Guarantee’ are always heavily controlled. You’ll be required to sit pre-tests until you’ve proven that you’re likely to pass.

Shelling out hundreds or thousands of pounds on an ‘Exam Guarantee’ is remiss – when study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is what will really guarantee success.

Qualifications from the commercial sector are now, undoubtedly, already replacing the traditional academic paths into IT – why then is this?

Industry is of the opinion that to learn the appropriate commercial skills, official accreditation from companies such as CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA often is more effective in the commercial field – at a far reduced cost both money and time wise.

Essentially, only that which is required is learned. It’s not quite as straightforward as that, but the principle objective is to focus on the exact skills required (including a degree of required background) – without overdoing the detail in everything else (as academia often does).

As long as an employer understands what areas they need covered, then all they have to do is advertise for the exact skill-set required to meet that need. Commercial syllabuses are set to exacting standards and do not vary between trainers (in the way that degree courses can).

A lot of commercial training providers will only provide support to you inside of office hours (typically 9am-6pm) and sometimes a little earlier or later; not many go late into the evening (after 8-9pm) or cover weekends properly.

Email support is too slow, and phone support is often to a call-centre that will take the information and email an instructor – who will attempt to call you within 24-48 hrs, when it’s convenient to them. This isn’t a lot of good if you’re lost and confused and have a one hour time-slot in which to study.

The most successful trainers utilise several support facilities around the globe in several time-zones. They use an online interactive interface to provide a seamless experience, any time of the day or night, help is at hand, avoiding all the delays and problems.

If you accept anything less than direct-access 24×7 support, you’ll very quickly realise that you’ve made a mistake. You may avoid using the support during the night, but you may need weekends, evenings and early mornings at some point.

Doing your bit in the cutting-edge of new technology really is electrifying. You’re involved with shaping the next few decades.

We’re at the dawn of starting to get a handle on how all this will mould and change our lives. The way we communicate and interact with everyone around us will be profoundly affected by technology and the internet.

Always remember that the average salary in IT across the UK is significantly greater than average salaries nationally, so you will most likely receive much more as a trained IT professional, than you could reasonably hope to achieve elsewhere.

Because the IT market sector is still increasing nationally and internationally, it’s predictable that the search for appropriately qualified IT professionals will continue actively for years to come.

Filed Under: Marketing Software Tagged With: advice, career, computer, education, hardware, hobbies, home, job, Marketing Software, self improvement, software, technology, training, web, Work

Certification For CompTIA Tech Support – Some Insights

June 29, 2010 By Jason Kendall Leave a Comment

There are a total of 4 specialist training sectors in the overall A+ programme, of which you’ll need certification in two subjects for competency in A+. We would advise however that limiting yourself to 2 out of the 4 subjects available could leave gaps in your knowledge. At least learn about all four – you’ll be glad you did when it comes to interview time.

As well as being taught how to build PC’s and fix them, students on A+ courses will have instruction on how to work in antistatic conditions, along with remote access, fault finding and diagnostics.

Should you want to work towards looking after computer networks, you should add CompTIA Network+ to your A+ course. Including Network+ will put you in a position to apply for more interesting jobs. Alternatively, you may prefer the route to networking via Microsoft, in the form of MCP’s, MCSA or the full MCSE.

The right sort of training package will undoubtedly also include wholly authorised exam preparation packages.

Avoid depending on non-official exam papers and questions. The type of questions asked can be completely unlike authorised versions – and this leads to huge confusion once in the actual exam.

Obviously, it is vital to make sure you are completely prepared for your actual certification exam before embarking on it. Going over simulated exams adds to your knowledge bank and will save a lot of money on thwarted exam entries.

A competent and specialised advisor (in direct contrast to a salesman) will ask questions and seek to comprehend your abilities and experience. This is useful for calculating your study start-point.

Sometimes, the training inception point for a trainee with experience is massively dissimilar to the student with no experience.

Where this will be your opening attempt at studying for an IT examination then you should consider whether to begin with some basic PC skills training first.

Finding your first job in the industry sometimes feels easier to handle with the help of a Job Placement Assistance service. With the huge need for more IT skills in Britain even when times are hard, there’s no need to become overly impressed with this service however. It’s not as difficult as you may be led to believe to secure employment once you’re properly qualified.

However, don’t procrastinate and wait until you have completed your exams before polishing up your CV. As soon as you start a course, list what you’re working on and get promoting!

Getting onto the ‘maybe’ pile of CV’s is more than not being known. Often junior support jobs are bagged by trainees in the early stages of their course.

Normally you’ll get quicker results from an independent and specialised local recruitment consultancy than you’ll get from a training company’s recruitment division, because they’ll know the area better.

A big aggravation for various training companies is how much men and women are prepared to study to get qualified, but how un-prepared they are to work on getting the job they have studied for. Don’t falter at the last fence.

Without a doubt: There really is absolutely no personal job security available anymore; there can only be industry or sector security – companies can just let anyone go whenever it fits the business’ trade interests.

It’s possible though to discover market-level security, by searching for high demand areas, tied with a lack of qualified workers.

Using the IT business for instance, a recent e-Skills investigation brought to light major skills shortages in the UK around the 26 percent mark. Accordingly, for every four jobs that are available around computing, businesses are only able to locate certified professionals for 3 of the 4.

Fully skilled and commercially educated new workers are accordingly at a complete premium, and it looks like they will be for many years longer.

Actually, acquiring professional IT skills throughout the next year or two is most likely the greatest choice of careers you could make.

Filed Under: Marketing Software Tagged With: advice, career, computer, education, hardware, home, job, Marketing Software, self improvement, software, technology, training, web, Work

Interactive Certification For IT & PC User Skills – Some Insights

June 28, 2010 By Jason Kendall Leave a Comment

Congratulations! Finding this article proves you must be wondering about where you’re going, and if training for a new career’s in your mind then you’ve already got further than most others. Are you aware that hardly any of us would say we are satisfied and happy at work – but most won’t do a thing about it. Why don’t you be different and take action – think about how you could enjoy Monday mornings.

We suggest that you discuss your ideas first – talk to someone who’s familiar with your chosen field; a guide who can really get to know you and find the best job role for you, and then show you the career tracks you may be suited to:

* Do you enjoy a busy working environment? Is it meeting new people or being part of a team? Maybe you like to deal with tasks that you can complete alone?

* Have you given much thought to which area you choose to work in? (These days, it’s even more crucial to be selective.)

* Is this the final time you plan to retrain, and based on that, will your chosen career path offer that choice?

* Are you happy that your industry training course will offer you employment opportunities, and make it possible to be employed until your pension kicks in?

We would strongly recommend that your number one choice is the IT industry – it’s well known that it is one of the few growth sectors. It’s not full of geeky individuals staring at computers constantly – we know those jobs exist, but most jobs are filled with ordinary people who earn considerably more than most.

Without a doubt: There really is very little evidence of individual job security now; there’s only industry or sector security – any company is likely to drop any single member of staff whenever it meets the business’ business requirements.

Wherever we find rising skills deficits together with increasing demand though, we can locate a newly emerging type of security in the marketplace; driven by conditions of continuous growth, employers are struggling to hire the influx of staff needed.

The Information Technology (IT) skills deficit throughout the country falls in at approx 26 percent, as noted by a recent e-Skills analysis. It follows then that for each 4 job positions in existence throughout computing, companies can only source trained staff for 3 of the 4.

Gaining in-depth commercial Information Technology accreditation is therefore a ‘Fast Track’ to a long-term as well as gratifying line of work.

For sure, now really is the very best time to join the computing industry.

Commercial certification is now, undoubtedly, starting to replace the traditional routes into the IT sector – so why should this be?

With an ever-increasing technical demand on resources, industry has had to move to the specialised training that can only come from the vendors – that is companies like Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA. This usually turns out to involve less time and financial outlay.

Obviously, a certain amount of background detail needs to be learned, but core specialisation in the required areas gives a commercially educated person a massive advantage.

If an employer is aware what areas need to be serviced, then they simply need to advertise for the exact skill-set required to meet that need. The syllabuses are set to meet an exact requirement and don’t change between schools (in the way that degree courses can).

In most cases, a typical student doesn’t know in what direction to head in a computing career, or even what market they should be considering getting trained in.

How can most of us possibly understand the tasks faced daily in an IT career when we haven’t done that before? Most likely we haven’t met someone who does that actual job anyway.

Reflection on these factors is imperative if you want to reveal a solution that suits you:

* Which type of person you reckon you are – what kind of jobs you enjoy, plus of course – what makes you unhappy.

* Is your focus to re-train because of a precise reason – e.g. are you looking at working based at home (maybe self-employment?)?

* Is the money you make further up on your priority-list than other requirements.

* Often, trainees don’t consider the level of commitment expected to gain all the necessary accreditation.

* Our advice is to think deeply about the level of commitment that you will set aside for your training.

To be honest, the only way to research these matters is through a chat with a professional that understands computing (as well as the commercial needs.)

Students often end up having issues because of a single training area usually not even thought about: The way the training is divided into chunks and sent out to you.

Delivery by courier of each element one stage at a time, according to your own speed is how things will normally arrive. Of course, this sounds sensible, but you should consider these factors:

Often, the staged breakdown offered by the provider doesn’t suit. You may find it a stretch to finalise all the elements inside of their particular timetable?

Put simply, the best option is to obtain their recommendation on the best possible order of study, but to receive all the materials up-front. You then have everything in the event you don’t complete everything as fast as they’d like.

Written by Scott Edwards. Try HTML Certification or www.computertrainingcollege.co.uk .

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Simplifying SEO (Off Page)

June 13, 2010 By Jason Kendall Leave a Comment

Basic SEO theory and ‘on page’ factors have been covered in an earlier article. However, what really matters concerns off-page SEO. It’s a sort of selection process. Site A gives a link (vote) to site B. As though it’s suggesting the site has value.

The link has a couple of key features. Firstly it contains the specific URL of the page. Followed by the anchor text (sometimes referred to as the keyword phrase) that’s highlighted on the actual web page. This equals a vote for the specific page with the keyword phrase. i.e. one vote towards this site appearing higher up in the natural listings when we type that phrase in the search box.

It is always so. There is a binding association between the recipient page and the anchor text. Otherwise it doesn’t work! It’s the anchor text that the SE’s use to tell them what that page is about and what it should show up under when searched for. It’s ESSENTIAL to understand this – The anchor text determines the search terms your site will be rated for.

Hence, a link saying “click here for…” isn’t a good idea. The phrase ‘CLICK Here’ is what we’ve voted for! Who thinks of typing in ‘CLICK HERE’ when they’re doing a search? Clearly no-one would!

That’s why it’s so necessary to use the right anchor text. It denotes which terms you’ll be ranked for. (Before we move on – are you aware that if you did search for Click Here, you’d see Adobe Reader Download listed first). Do Adobe think ‘CLICK HERE’ is an important term? Categorically No! It’s simply that ‘click here’ features on so many sites to download Adobe Reader.

So to count a ‘vote’ for a web page, the Search Engines always go to the anchor text. Which is very logical. Google wants to emulate what a real human being is looking for and would like to find. The content of your page isn’t necessarily relevant. You’ll rank for the terms in the anchor text phrases that point to you. That’s irrefutable!

Inevitably there are other things to consider… For example the web page’s ‘title’. Plus a whole bunch of other factors as well. For example; how spread-out and relevant the sites are that are linking to you.

The crux of it all is though that a mass of back links solves all the problems! If these back links come from a variety of sites and have well phrased anchor texts, then so much the better. The ‘authority’ of a site also plays a major part: Receiving a link from a top site like Microsoft is much more valuable than one from a start-up site.

Selecting the right keywords to build ratings for is quite technical. Always perform keyword research, and check out what the competition are using. The key really though is – What does an enquirer search for when they’re looking for your products and services? The answers to this question supply your anchor text and keyword phrases.

But these keywords can’t be just randomly chosen without thought, investigation and testing. The best results are sometimes quite unexpected. People have such diverse thoughts about how to express what they want. One person looking for a good night’s sleep might type in “Orthopaedic beds” or “New Mattress”. While someone else might automatically think to say ‘I need more sleep’.

It’s simply not worth relying on supposition. The importance of the investigation, testing and measuring of these phrases cannot be underestimated. They are fundamental to generating your leads on the internet. A comparison could be made with a Business Yellow Pages entry. If you’ve been entered as a Florist, but you’re actually an electrician, you’re not going to get anywhere. Successful SEO is the result of meticulous analysis of keyword research.

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Examining SEM

June 1, 2010 By Jason Kendall Leave a Comment

Search Engine Marketing is vital today. So we now need to look carefully at where the commercial market-place is going. Without a doubt, an on-line presence is now absolutely essential to every business that retails any kind of product or service. It’s not enough just to be online though. If nobody can find you, you might just as well not be there!

Imagine a company opens a brand new shop: It’s cost a packet to get to launch time. It’s opening time, and they’re looking for clients… And only then realise they’re out in the sticks in a no-through road. So no-one will have a clue how to find them. Who’s going to find that store? And so it is for most websites.

Marketing has undergone a huge change because of the internet. There was an idea that everyone should have a website around ten years ago. Complex graphical websites costing thousands (or tens of thousands) were regularly launched. Naturally, web designers were very happy. But these new sites weren’t receiving any visitors. They’d thought that simply having a site on the web meant customers could see them. Sadly, this wasn’t true…

A traditional approach to marketing breaks down on the web. A traditional marketing guru would tell you that your website is your online catalogue or advert of services. As a result, they’ll try to get you to promote the site on radio, TV or in the press. In other words, doing what they know. They produce the pretty brochure and then market every possible avenue to generate enquiries to send that brochure to. This view is completely and utterly flawed in the internet economy.

This process only utilises the web as viewing gallery, which is quite wrong. It allows us to search and research – to discuss ideas and interact with others. It’s completely interactive, bringing massive choice to billions of people. Enormous website indexes have been developed by the major Search Engines. These make it easy for people to find their way around. Off-line Business Pages would be useless if they weren’t properly structured: You’d never find what you were looking for.

This quandary has been resolved by the SE’s. Which means businesses can no longer use traditional marketing. If you want customers to find you on the internet, indexation by Google etc. is paramount. But indexing alone isn’t the answer – as it’s a waste of time if you’re several pages down. We know that almost all traffic on Search Engines stops looking half-way down the first page.

Of course, the Search Engines weren’t blind to this, so they developed an unusual paid advertising scheme so any site could get to the top. You Pay Per Click, so you’re only charged for your ad when someone clicks on it. This caused quite a storm when it happened. Fundamentally, you were now only charged when an interested party looked at what you had to offer. Advertising in this way requires well informed judgement, but if handled properly it can be very worthwhile.

Alas, the market is bombarded with this form of advertising these days. Predominantly because of a wealth of new bidders who lack experience, the cost per click has been driven upwards. We’re now experiencing some costs per click that make profits unattainable. This happens mostly where lots of clicks are essential to get one buyer. This has brought Search Engine Optimisation to the fore, where driving a site to page one is the goal.

Try the following: Get onto one of the Search Engines now and look for some keywords that you think apply to you. Can you see your website on the 1st three pages? Chances are – the answer’s no. Consequently, like the situation we described earlier, you’ve got no visibility! If it is there, would clients really use those keywords?

It could be that you are currently doing some Pay-Per-Click marketing, and getting a degree of success. But are you professionally managing your campaign? Is your ROI satisfactory? Are you accurately tracking and measuring your campaigns? All truly successful Pay Per Click campaigns must be fully monitored and split-tested. You’ll never get the best results without correct figures.

It’s very evident today that both global and local commerce are moving swiftly onto the internet. Make the most of this trend. Unless you embrace the internet and utilize all of its advantages, your business will become a dinosaur.