Starting Your Computer Career: More Questions To Ask A Tech School Before Writing The Check
May 23, 2007
Starting Your Computer Career: More Questions To Ask A Tech School Before Writing The Check
by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933
If the school offers a placement service, ask to talk to the people working in that department and ask them how they go about placing graduates. Most schools offer a list of companies that they’ve placed students with. Get this list and start calling some of these companies. Ask to speak to their HR department, and ask them for their opinion of the school. Even if they don’t say a lot, their tone of voice can speak volumes.
Ask to meet some of their teachers, and don’t be afraid to ask them how long they’ve taught at that particular school. If the average teacher has been there a while, that’s a good sign. If there seems to be quite a bit of turnover at the school, that’s not as good a sign.
Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Static VLANs
May 22, 2007
Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Static VLANs
by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933
BCMSN exam success and earning your CCNP certification requires you to add to your knowledge of VLAN configuration. When you studied for your CCNA exam, you learned how to place ports into a VLAN and what the purpose of VLANs was, but you may not be aware that there are two types of VLAN membership. To pass the BCMSN exam, you must know the details of both types.
In this tutorial, we’ll take a look at the VLAN type you are most familiar with, the “static VLAN”. As you know, VLANs are a great way to create smaller broadcast domains in your network. Host devices connected to a port belonging to one VLAN will receive broadcasts and multicasts only if they were originated by another host in that same VLAN. The drawback is that without the help of a Layer 3 switch or a router, inter-VLAN communication cannot occur.
The actual configuration of a static VLAN is simple enough. In this example, by placing switch ports 0/1 and 0/2 into VLAN 12, the only broadcasts and multicasts hosts connected to those ports will receive are the ones transmitted by ports in VLAN 12.
A Powerful Selling Tool on the Net - 3 Factors To Apply
May 21, 2007
The Internet is a powerful selling tool. Never before has it been easier to start a business, be able to reach out to literally millions of potential customers and make your business succeed.
The Internet also offers us new tools to succeed. Email makes communications instant whether across the street or across the globe. Websites act as virtual storefronts, allowing us to stay open 24/7. Newsletters like this one inform, educate and even give us an occasional smile.
Yet time has taught us that there is much more to success than simply having a web site or using these tools. Time has taught us that the fundamentals of selling haven’t changed, even if the tools are state of the art.
While these new tools may change the WAY people buy, it hasn’t really changed WHY people buy. Here are three factors that will help you approach people in a way that persuades them to buy from YOU.
1. People aren’t ON the Internet. They ARE the Internet. The same rules that apply at a Gap store should apply to your store. Is your site courteous and inviting? Does your site say in clear terms that you know your stuff and that people will get smart answers? Give yourself a checkup today.
What is The Google Toolbar?
May 20, 2007
No matter what browser you may want to use, you should consider using Google’s toolbar. Google.com, the innovative, stripped-down, add-free search engine that has taken the web by storm has provided an innovative interface through most web browsers; mainly Internet Explorer. This toolbar has many great features for searching around the Internet as well as blocking those annoying Pop-up ads that scream "BUY ME!" every twenty seconds.
Anyone can go to toolbar.google.com and download this great plug-in for your browser. There are various features that come with using it that you may or may not wish to employ. Taking a few minutes before you install it will definitely save you time later on.
Google Search WebIn this interface you can type in keywords, terms, phrases as well as URL’s (Universal Resource Locators) and away you go. By harnessing the Google engine you magically fly through their portal to your destination. You will render a Google search or a direct shot to your URL.
3 Reasons Your Website Might Fail To Attract Enough Customers
May 20, 2007
Virtually all website owners concentrate their efforts and energy into getting more visitors. With business owners this effort is spent on getting more and more new customers. What many people forget - with both their website and their business - is that getting new customers (or visitors) is only a small part of the equation for success.
Reason For Failure No. 1 - The ‘I am God’-Syndrome
God got his name from being able to do anything and everything and be everywhere at once. Despite what we are taught from an early age many people still insist on believing they themselves are God. Ever found yourself answering the phone, making a sale, running a sales meeting, welcoming customers and doing your company’s accounts all in one day? Sure you have. You’re trying to be God and do everything and be in more than one place at one time. You will fail. People do this with their website too.
Your Website Title Could Be Costing You Money
May 19, 2007
Nothing could be simpler than the title you give to your web pages right? Unfortunately, the vast majority of the websites I visit these days have absolutely terrible titles that hurt their online business. The title of your website is a very important part of getting good rankings on most of the major search engines. A good title also goes a long way towards getting your prospects to click on your listings.
If you go to Google right now, and type any search phrase you want, you get back a listing of web sites that match the keywords you entered in. If you look closely, you’ll notice that each search listing’ hyperlink is also the title of that website. The title you choose needs to describe to your prospects what your website is all about. It needs to be able to entice your prospects to click on your listing over any other listing. If your title is simply your company name, you are most likely loosing lots of traffic. You will also find it difficult to rank highly on relevant keywords to your site.
Here are some things to consider:
1. Make sure you use relevant keywords
Graphic Design Using Color
May 18, 2007
Color is everywhere and conveys a message even if we don’t realize it. While this message can vary by culture it pays to know what colors "say" in your own corner of the universe, and even what color means to your target market.
If you don’t think that color speaks just complete this sentence, "red means —- and green means ?" even a child will know what red means stop and green means go. If such simple ideas work for all of a given culture or market what could it mean to the graphic design of your website, brochure, or product if you know some of this information.
First let’s start with the basics. The color wheel. We’ve all seen it. The color wheel shows the basic colors, each wheel is different in how many shades of each color is shown, but they are essentially the same.
Color harmony, colors that go together well. These will be colors that are next door to each other on the color wheel. Such as blue and green. In reference to clothes these colors match each other. Instinctively most of us know which colors go together when we dress ourselves every morning.
Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: Prefix Notation
May 17, 2007
Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: Prefix Notation
by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933
When you’re preparing to pass the CCNA exam and earn this coveted Cisco certification, you’ve got to be totally prepared for the many kinds of binary and subnetting questions Cisco may throw at you. You also have to be familiar with the different manners in which a subnet mask can be expressed, as in the following:
255.255.255.0
/24
Believe it or not, those two values are exactly the same. The first mask is written out in the more familiar dotted decimal format, and you know by looking at those first three octets that every bit is set to “1″, since the maximum value of such an octet is 255.
The second value represents the exact same mask, only this value is expressed in prefix notation. This particular value would be pronounced “slash twenty-four”, and the 24 represents the number of consecutive ones that are set in the subnet mask.
Those of us who hate to type numbers are particularly appreciative of this, since it means you’ll have to type a lot less numbers to represent a subnet mask. In addition, it’s a lot easier to discuss masks in prefix notation than dotted decimal. (”I thought about using a two-fifty-five two-fifty-five two-fifty-five zero mask ,but then decided to use a two-fifty-five two-fifty-five two-fifty-five one-twenty-eight mask…”)
The Benefits of Interactive Online Characters
May 16, 2007
This Stanford University study surveyed the leading research on virtual agents and suggests that “social intelligence in automated interactions is good business.
Research about interactive characters suggests substantial opportunities for them toenhance online experiences.
The Major Points:(1) Human-Media Interactions Are Fundamentally Social(2) Character Interfaces Bring Social Intelligence to Online Interactions
Ten Benefits of Character Interfaces1. Characters make explicit the social responses that are inevitable.2. Interactive characters are perceived as real social actors3. Interactivity increases the perceived realism and effectiveness of characters4. Interactive characters increase trust in information sources5. Characters have personalities that can represent brands6. Characters can communicate social roles7. Characters can effectively express and regulate emotions8. Characters can effectively display important social manners9. Characters can make interfaces easier to us easier to use10. Characters are well liked
More detail about the research by Byron ReevesCenter for the Study of Language and InformationStanford University at http://64.152.122.45/eAgent/CSLI_Stanford_Study.pdf
To experience yourself the best example interactive characters online click on DEMO at: http://futurebiz.productdriven.com
Syed Akram, Independent AffiliateWEB: http://futurebiz.marketdepo.comVOICE:+60-1993135977
The research by Byron ReevesCenter for the Study of Language and InformationStanford University
When Internet Marketing Gurus Sell Their Souls
May 15, 2007
If you’re just getting started in Internet Marketing, you may be awed by the amount of “Internet Gurus” out there, each one making millions of dollars (or so they claim) and for some reason seem more than willing, for a fee, to teach you their biggest, most intimate secrets.
Well, I believe in one thing - “If it sounds too good to be true, it most probably is!”
While I have no doubt about the specialized skills and techniques used by these gurus, it can get a little too frustrating simply getting tangled and lost in all their hype, and find almost no value at the end of the day. Hype - that’s one thing I agree these guru’s are really good at. For some of them, unfortunately, hype is the only thing they’re good at.
So the question, for those who are trying to master Internet Marketing, might be:
1) Can I learn anything from these gurus without paying money?2) Who’s real and who’s not?3) Whose Internet marketing methods should I follow?
Question 1: Can I Learn Something for Free?
