Cisco CCNP / BSCI Tutorial: The Roles Of The OSPF ASBR
November 30, 2008
Cisco CCNP / BSCI Tutorial: The Roles Of The OSPF ASBR
by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933
To pass the BSCI exam and earn your CCNP certification, you’ve got to master the (many) details of OSPF. You might have thought there were quite a few OSPF details in your CCNA studies, but you’ll now build on that foundation on the way to earning your CCNP.
One such detail is the role of the Autonomous System Border Router (ASBR) in OSPF. The name itself raises some eyebrows, since you learned in your CCNA studies that OSPF doesn’t use autonomous systems! Just as an OSPF Area Border Router borders multiple OSPF areas, the ASBR borders the entire OSPF domain and another source of routes. This can be another dynamic routing protocol, or directly connected networks that are not being advertised into OSPF by the network command.
Let’s say we have a router running both OSPF and RIP version 2. By default, the RIP process will not contain any OSPF-discovered routes, and vice versa. The two separate routing processes are just that - separate. If we want the other OSPF routers to know about the RIP routes, route redistribution must be configured. When the RIP routes are redistributed into OSPF, that router is then an ASBR.
Three Steps To Building A 50K Email List In Less Than 90 Days
November 30, 2008
One major asset that every internet or affiliate marketer needs is a big email list. There is a saying in the marketing world that states that "the money is in the list". This is very true because the bigger the list, the greater the potential income. But a common concern amongst many people marketing online is:
"How can I grow a huge guru-type email list and how long will it take?"
What many of us know in the internet marketing world is that it can take a very long time to build a list of 10,000 subscribers. And building a list to this size is a lot more complicated than sending hundreds of visitors to your website. I currently have a website that averages over 500 visitors a day. Out of those 500 visits, I will be lucky to get at least 15 subscribers per day to my list. With these statistics it will take me about 2 years to build an email list to 10,000 subscribers.
So what can you do in order to get 10,000 subscribers very quickly?
Web Measurement: What You Don?t Know Would Make A Great Book
November 29, 2008
"What’s in it for me?" you ask. "Why should I measure how people use my website? How does it help and what does it all mean?" The purpose of this article is to try to give you some insight into effective web measurement and to talk about the most important page of any website, the landing or home page.
Why measure at all?
Fred Flintstone lived in the Stone Age but we live in the Information Age. We deal with a constant flow of information from TV, websites, email, RSS feeds, mobile phones, PDAs, radio, newspapers, flyers, billboards, and magazine covers. Even the sides of buses hit us with information about companies, products and services. So why on earth, in the midst of this information overload, would you want to measure how people use your website, another source of data to barrage you with even more information? The answer is quite simple and is summed up best by the 18th century writer Sydney Smith. "What you don’t know would make a great book."
Consider this.
Optimize your Search Engine Placement Five Easy Ways
November 28, 2008
If you are like me, you created web site metatags with the help of your Web master. Maybe like me, you didn’t spend time or money submitting to search engines because you weren’t techie enough.
Now you can optimize your search engine placement these five easy, non-techie ways. My Web site is now # 1 in Google.com and others. If you are in the top ten listings in your category (mine was book coaching) you are in good shape. This placement has put my web site URL on 4700 other sites with a link back to mine. With targeted viral marketing my sales are 30 times what I started with each month–now over $4500.
Here’s Five Ways to Get Search Engines to Boost your Ratings:
1. Makeover your signature file that goes out with every email you send. Include your fre.e report or ezine offer, your email, URL, and phone numbers plus a line with your product or service name on it. See more on this in my fre.e article “Top Ten Things to Do to Make your Signature File Sell” at www.bookcoaching.com/freearticles/article124.shtml.
Top Ten Tips To Get Started Writing Your Book - Part 2
November 27, 2008
You are far more likely to successfully write and publish your book if you follow these tips before you [start writing] write a single chapter. Part one of this article is available at www.bookcoaching.com/freearticles/article-55.shtml
6. Write down your publishing goals for this book.
Which suits your more– self-publishing or getting a traditional publisher? Think about Print on Demand such as Deharts.com. These printer/publishers can help you at little cost, and can deliver in little time. Know the differences between them so you suit your particular purpose. Did you know you can write your print book and eBook at the same time for different audiences?
Remember that you can delegate to a book coach what you don’t know about self-publishing and your cost and time will be at least half of the traditional path.
7. Organize your book files.
We waste over 150 hours a year looking for mislaid information. To get easy and fast book files retrieval:
The Definitive Link Building Strategy
November 26, 2008
If you’ve gone through all the hard work of a link building campaign, you expect to be rewarded with some impressive links. The reality is that many people are disappointed with the trickle of links and the trickle of traffic that their efforts produce.
If that sounds familiar to you, then you need to step back a bit and re-access your linking strategy. Are you really giving enough thought to your strategy? One of the most popular topics from the customer survey last issue was “The definitive linking strategy”. So here goes.
First of all, link building is not about search engine optimization, it’s not about boosting your Google PageRank, it’s not about publishing a link directory and it’s not about swapping links with as many other websites as possible.
So what is link building about and where should you put your efforts for maximum return?
Strategic link building is about establishing your competitive position in the online marketplace that already exists, albeit informally around your industry sector.
How do you define the online marketplace?
When potential customers look for an answer to their problem, they’ll do a search on Google, they’ll scan directories, read articles and product reviews, lurk on discussion groups and evaluate competitors.
Overcoming The Fear Factor In Online Sales
November 25, 2008
No I am not talking about the classic board game, that Aunt Hester bought you the past two years for your birthday! Risk is what first time visitors to your website views your product as. Before they spend their hard earned money they want to know that your product is worth it. Shoppers today see so many offers, so many sales pitches that they are trained to be skeptical about many products.
This is even more the case when selling over the internet because many of your potential customers do not know you. In the offline word they could walk into your store and talk to you, online you are just another person fighting to take their money.
It is proven that if you alleviate the fear associated with making a first time purchase your initial sales will increase by 10% and these customers are more likely to purchase from you in the future. Why? Because you stand behind your product and they know if they are unhappy you will give them a full refund!
Cisco CCNP / BSCI Tutorial: Route Summarization With RIP And EIGRP
November 25, 2008
Cisco CCNP / BSCI Tutorial: Route Summarization With RIP And EIGRP
by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933
To pass your BSCI exam and earn your CCNP certification, you’ve got to master route summarization. When you get to the BSCI level, actually breaking the routes down into binary strings and performing summarization is second nature to you. (If it isn’t, get some more practice!) What makes CCNP / BSCI route summarization more difficult is just keeping the different protocol summarization commands straight!
RIP and EIGRP both perform route summarization at the interface level with the ip summary-address command. In the following example, R2 is running RIP and was sending four routes to R3, R3’s table looked like this before summarization:
R3#show ip route rip
172.16.0.0/24 is subnetted, 4 subnets
R 172.16.8.0 [120/1] via 172.23.23.2, 00:00:02, Ethernet0
R 172.16.9.0 [120/1] via 172.23.23.2, 00:00:02, Ethernet0
R 172.16.10.0 [120/1] via 172.23.23.2, 00:00:02, Ethernet0
R 172.16.11.0 [120/1] via 172.23.23.2, 00:00:02, Ethernet0
By summarizing the routes and using the ip summary-address command, RIP advertises only the summary route to the downstream neighbor.
R2(config)#int ethernet0
R2(config-if)#ip summary-address rip 172.16.8.0 255.255.252.0
R3#clear ip route *
Finding a Reliable Host
November 24, 2008
Finding reliable hosting for your business opportunity is no small task. Actually, it can be a full-time undertaking!
This is because most hosting companies focus on the higher end corporate market and overlook the fast-growing small office/home office (SOHO) sector. It is possible, however, if you clarify needs, gather recommendations, create a list of potential hosts and ask questions….lots of them.
Clarify your needs: how much disk space and bandwidth is necessary? Will you need CGI or database capacities? What operating system will you require? Will your site change dramatically down the pike, and are you searching only for yourself or for customers?
Be wary of web hosting directories since many are owned by web hosts. You should obtain feedback from those with sites and glean webmaster newsgroup postings.
In creating a list, include those recommended the most and complained about the least, and determine which hosts offer specific services best suited to your need(s) and which fits your price range.
Always ask questions, i.e.: technical questions to gauge their knowledge and accuracy; find out whether they are committed to their customers or their bank account and subject them to an honesty test…offer them the opportunity to upsell you needlessly.
Non-Profits: Successful Online Strategies
November 23, 2008
More and more non-profit organizations are developing websites to help share information about their mission and programs. This involves strategic planning about the best way to present your image and message online. Once your site is up, your organization also has to be ready to keep information current and to maintain consistent outreach activities. If your group is planning a Web site, consider:
1. How does your organization plan to use your site? Is it for marketing your organization, raising funds, providing information, announcing events, attracting volunteers, starting a discussion group, or something else? Answering this question will help you to develop a site that best suits your group’s needs.
2. Who is your group trying to reach? Think strategically about the audience you are trying to target. Are they current or potential clients? Are they donors? Volunteers? A particular group in the community? Tailor your website to speak to that audience.
3. What information do you want to include? Some of the components you can incorporate on your site include: your mission, a list of programs and goals, contact information (staff list, e-mail addresses, mailing address, phone and fax numbers, and directions to your organization), list of special events and dates, organizational history, links to other websites, volunteer opportunities, and press releases.
