Self Improvement | 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

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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