Category: Computer Software Training

Information and news about EzyLearns Computer Software Training system

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Microsoft Excel 2007 & 2010 Training – menus and ribbons

If you are receiving this as an email, click on the heading to see the free training video at the EzyLearn blog.

Microsoft Excel is still the worlds most popular spreadsheet program by a long shot. I’ve used Google’s spreadsheet and it is a fantastic tool if you want to access or share a spreadsheet online but it’s still not the same as using Microsoft Excel and with the prices becoming quite competitive and Microsoft offering new ways of sharing Microsoft Office documents in “the Cloud” it is still easier to use what you know, ie. Microsoft Excel.

We are in production of our 2010 Microsoft Office training videos as part of the beefing up of our online training courses and this videos is one of the new batch covering fundamental tools in Microsoft Excel 2007/2010.

If you wish to learn how to use Microsoft Excel at a beginner or intermediate level, Steve who created the training material will be teaching at Maxis Solutions training centre in Chatswood in February.

Are you new to online training courses? Check out our brief tour on how online learning works.

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Navigate your way around MYOBCourse.com.au

I recently started a topic in a finance course I am doing with Kaplan Professional to discover that this tertiary qualification I am studying is done completely online. That means watching powerpoint slides with audio, reading a workbook and having access to an online forum if I have questions. Even the assignment task is submitted online and results received via the online learning portal.

My first thought was how interesting that a well reputed education institution stops having lectures altogether and I was a little disappointed that I wouldn’t have an opportunity to meet my fellow students and share stories and ask questions. After using the learning tools however I have come to the conclusion that the tools themselves are very useful and it re-affirmed our online training goals here at EzyLearn to become the number one source of online training in Australia for employment and productivity for small to medium businesses.

We have received help requests of how to get around our online learning websites so the video in this post is designed to give you a quick demonstration.

The production of the next MYOB course (MYOB Payroll) is underway and you’ll get a change to see these videos for free if you are a subscriber to this blog. This video is a small taste of the many more to come. Please feel free to comment or share this blog post with your friends. To visit the online MYOB course website, click here.

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New (updated) MYOB training course workbook

It’s ready! The workbook for the MYOB 502 (day to day transactions) training course is now ready. This workbook now has a better flow from navigating around the MYOB screen, creating inventory items, purchasing products from suppliers, setting inventory item properties, paying bills, creating quotes, orders and invoices to receiving payments and making bank deposits.

This workbook has larger screen shots, better practice tasks and references to our online training videos. You can even use the workbook by itself to learn how to use MYOB accounting software.

The workbook is now available in the contents section of the MYOB 502 course. If you are enrolled into the course, you can simply click this link to see the workbook: http://myobcourse.com/elearning/mod/resource/view.php?id=303

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Using Google Adwords – Step 1 – choose a budget

The Google Adwords market is constantly changing depending on who is bidding for the keywords you want, how they are bidding and how much they have to spend. Keeping this in mind you will have to make some simple decisions before you can get started.

I sat down with a business owner today and she wanted to bid for every keyword she could think of, everything relating to her field of business, but the problem with that is that you are then competing with everyone else for a whole lot of words. We ended up choosing fewer words and decided to spend more to get people to our website using those keywords. If website visitors who come to your website from a Google Adwords advertisement and stay and explore your site Google will recognise your site as a good result for its searches and this will end up elevating your position in the “relevancy based” search results. That should be a significant goal, but I am now just digressing.

So, the business owner agreed that she was going to spend $1200 per month. The next step is to figure out which services she is going to promote and she gave me a list of 15 different services,which we then categorised into 4 main categories… Phew. We then looked at the relative weighting for each category of her business to decide how much they will receive of the $1200 per month and it came to a relatively simple 25% split each or $300 each category (division) per month. These were good figures because that comes down to $10 per day and that is how you can limit the amount of money you spend on Google Adwords…. by setting a daily limit.

The next step is a little more time consuming and involves choosing the right keywords and keyphrases to use for each category of the business. Once you’ve discovered this you choose how much you are willing to pay per click… hence the term Pay-Per-Click (or PPC) advertising (adwords.google.com). You may not get this part right the first time, but you will soon realise that you can pay for anything from 9c to over $20 per click to be on the first page. The more generic and popular the keyword the higher the price, the more words you combine together (keyphrase) the fewer people will be promoting it so the price will be lower. I’ll cover this in another blog post.

UPDATE:

Learn about alternatives like using relevant keywords in a blog for your business to make your website more valuable and ensure it becomes a trusted resource for customers.

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Fantastic WordPress website template themes

You can download free WordPress templates, you can design them yourself using Artisteer or you can download them for $50-$150 each. I found someone who creates them, offers support and allows you to use any of the theme templates he has created for $19.95 per year. Even if you just use it to purchase one template you like, the offer made by this company is the way that dedicated and committed businesses should be working.

I started out just using free templates because I didn’t know what I was looking for and I didn’t know how to use WordPress properly, plus, I was using a different sitebuilder for most of my websites anyway. Then I looked at some of the professional WordPress templates available and didn’t like the idea of paying $75 for an excellent theme from Press75 because I figured I may not like it in 6 months, OR I wouldn’t be able to get all the features working properly. Instead I purchased Artisteer because I realised I could take any template and customise it completely! I was in complete control. In reality, I then spent a lot of time using Artisteer and realised that I didn’t want to design many of my own prefessional templates, I simply wanted to find one that was created by a professional and customise it for my own websites.

I had to find a business that creates professional looking WordPress template themes, would allow me to use a variety of themes they had created and all at a price that was impossible to refuse. I found Elegant Themes by Nick Roach and I’m amazed at how easy he has made it to use any of his themes and how little he charges. Visit his website to see the WordPress themes available: http://bit.ly/aCLCsg

Follow this blog to find out how I went to install and start using the features of the eVid theme…

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EzyLearn can help online with employment

Proof of training and evidence of completion of a course are two significant ways to prove that a person has the skills to perform selected tasks when they are in the workplace. How is this achieved with online training?

A certificate in the hand of a potential employee might seem like the answer to everyone’s hopes. Companies are looking for staff with the skills and prospective employees want to be employed. So, what does a certificate mean? The most structured form of vocational training is a Certificate or Diploma course, these courses are operated by RTO’s (Registered Training Organisations) who adhere to strict guidelines in assessing students skills level, running the courses and assessing the students skills at the end of the course. Under these strict guidelines you can be confident that if someone has a certificate that they have reached a certain level of competency.

EzyLearn is a computer training content provider, in other words, we create training videos, workbooks and exercise files that are used by private individuals, companies and training companies (including RTO’s). Some of these companies have qualified assessors who are able to provide a Nationally recognised Certificate, regardless of the training materials used.

At our www.myobcourse.com.au website we provide a Certificate of Completion. Our assessment of a students skills are based on their ability to take an MYOB data file, make changes to it like enter inventory items, create customer cards, create invoices, apply payments to those invoices and perform a bank reconciliation. If they can send the data file to us, there is good evidence that they have the skills required for most every bookkeeping tasks.

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Affiliate marketing – how easy!

I think about the times when I have been to countries like Egypt and Vietnam where there seem to be so many people willing to help travellers who’ve just arrived in the new town. I quickly got to learn that they are doing it for the money. This is why tourism is so important in these countries… It’s how locals can get paid by tourists who need help.

I’ve often pondered how this method of income works in developed countries like Australia. I mean you or I can’t go to a local hotel and say, “If I bring you a customer, will you give me 50 bucks?” Why? It would probably get quite messy, it would encourage a cash economy (and we don’t want that, do we?) and it might even cause some arguments. But it’s making sense to me just how easy it is with affiliate marketing.

EzyLearn has just created an affiliate program for www.myobcourse.com.au to help increase traffic to our site. I’ve gone through the steps of implementing code on the website, checking that it works with a test sale and everything is tracked beautifully!

The great thing about affiliate marketing is that you simply have to tell people about whatever product you like and believe in, this is particularly good if you’ve used the product/service and love it. Everything else is done for you, if no sale is made, you don’t get paid, but if it is, you’ll earn money. Even better than that, you don’t even need a webpage to do it! You can simply setup a Twitter page and paste your unique affiliate link as a tweet!

So, the key thing to know about affiliate marketing is that you end up with a unique URL (basically a website address) and if people click on it, they will be taken to our website and clixgalore make a note that this visitor in their system. If a sale is made it is tracked through the PayPal shopping system and ultimately the commission is credited to you.

Check out our Affiliate link (where you can join and start doing some affiliate marketing): http://www.ezylearn.com.au/affiliate

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MYOB training course – *free trial*, start now, money back guarantee

EzyLearn’s MYOB Training Courses are now being used by JOB Network centres, CRS Australia and other employment agencies because:

  • There is a wide range of content (MYOB Setup, Day to Day transactions and bank reconciliations),
  • Students can start straight away,
  • Students can access the training materials any time, day or night,
  • Students can access the training material from their home or office or anywhere with an internet connection, and
  • The training that everyone receives is consistent.

We have begun production of our MYOB Payroll training videos and when the training materials are completed, they will be made available to all students at no extra charge. EzyLearn’s MYOB course: all myob courses rolled into one.

But best of all, we are so confident that students will like our training course that we are now offering a money back guarantee. If, within 7 days, you are not satisfied, we’ll give you all your money back.

Check out our website and tell your friends about us: EzyLearn’s MYOB Training Courses

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Advertise on EzyLearn Computer Training websites

Are your customer the kind of people who want to learn about computer software programs like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and MYOB Accounting software? EzyLearn owns a well planned and designed suite of websites which cater to this market. We call it our website real estate, and it gets some fantastic traffic.

EzyLearn is exploring the possibility of working with advertising partners in the recruitment, job seekers market place. PageRank is a Google metric that’s designed to show you the perceived value of a website, it accumulates a range of visitor statistics into one single ranking number. Google PageRank statistics include: number of first time visitors, returning visitors, time spent on the site, number of pages visited and much more, and if you download the Google Toolbar you can see the Google PageRank for every page you visit.

A number of our computer software training websites and website pages have grown to a Google PageRank of 4 and for selected keywords and phrases they appear in the first page of results. Some good examples are www.myobcourse.com.au and www.freecomputertraining.com.au. The FreeComputerTraining website is our most successful website in terms of traffic with over 55,000 unique visitors in the past 12 months. This website is used by many job network agencies across Australia as a free learning resource for those looking for employment across Australia.

If your business offers a service aimed at the needs of those who are seeking employment and are taking the making an effort to learn and improve themselves, this website may be an ideal place to put your display advertisement.

Any interested parties should send an email to online manager Richard Dabba at info@freecomputertraining.com.au.

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Outlook for email, tasks and calendars is free for a limited time

Microsoft Outlook is the foundation for customer contact, database records and appointments for most small businesses (and large ones) in Australia and around the world. The software comes included with many Microsoft Office “suites” when people purchase a computer so it is an automatic choice as preference.

EzyLearn has just revealed its new www.outlookcourse.com.au website, which is specifically targetted to professionals who need to use the popular software to help streamline their office communications or to help jobseekers find work. The entire online course is now available for free for a limited time.

“We normally reveal a small selection of video for prospective students to view in the hope that they like what we have created” says Steve Slisar, director of EzyLearn Pty Ltd, an Australian based creator of computer software training videos, workbooks and exercise files to help office workers, small business owners and job seekers. “This time we thought, let’s give the entire course away for free!” says Steve as the company attempts to establish itself as a leading provider of online training content in Australia.

Feel free to visit www.outlookcourse.com.au, register for a free student account and click on Outlook Course 701 which shows all the videos available in the course. Please feel free to tell your friends about the site if you like what you see.

EzyLearn: Watch. Learn. Earn.

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Learn to create Presentations in powerpoint

Creating a powerpoint presentation is fun because it is creative. There are some small hurdles in using the software, but once you get past them you can create a professional presentation with animations, sounds, videos and more…

Trationally you’d need to wait for the next PowerPoint course at your local community college or TAFE or commercial training centre, but now you can start straight away from the comfort of your own home using EzyLearn’s www.powerpointcourse.com.au

Steve Slisar from EzyLearn noticed back in 2002 that his trainers where going over the same topics for most students and often students would come back again to see the same information being taught. “We used to use projectors when we had training centres” says Steve, “and it seemed strange that we were employing a trainer (and good ones are expensive) to do the same thing over and over again. That’s why we started to record videos to go with our workbooks”.

Steve also found that most people who were attending the PowerPoint course at his centres needed to know how to use the software for a test at the employment agency so that they could get a job. “The problem was” says Steve, is that most of these students then didn’t use the software for several months and had to do a course all over again.

www.PowerPointCourse.com.au is designed as the perfect solution for learning to create professional presentations quickly. You can start straight away from your own home or office, learn at your own pace, go over the training material as often as you want (within 12 months) and practice using the workbooks and exercise files.

This course is currently available online for the ridiculous price of $49, so visit the site and enrol to start learning straight away.

EzyLearn: Watch. Learn. Earn.

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Find a job with MYOB accounting software skills

With the financial crisis firmly upon us the employment landscape has changed significantly. The sad reality that we can plainly see is that large companies are reducing staff numbers at all levels including management significantly due to lack of demand for their products. This is leaving both unskilled as well as management staff without income and in a situation where they need to find employment elsewhere or start their own business. It is important at all levels to retrain and upskill to make themselves competitive.Those ex-managers left looking for work may decide it is long overdue for them to start their own business, work their own hours and potentially make lots more money. They’ll need MYOB to run their own business. Even if they employ someone to run their accounts, it is important that they understand parts of the system to be able to use the valueable accounting data available to them.

Employees who need to find another job, mainly if the new job is in an office or office admin environment, will need to know MYOB accounting software as well as other office applications like Microsoft Excel, Word and Outlook. Why do employees need to know about these software programs these days? Having skills using computer software like Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook and accounting software like MYOB are critical for employees in todays employment market because it sets them apart from their competitors, other job applicants.

Whereas many companies used to train staff up, it is expected these days to have the skills before you even start working with the company. Sometimes when job applicants apply for jobs they are asked about their Excel and MYOB skills only to find that after they receive the job that they didn’t need the software or only started to need it after 3-6 months of work. If they completed a course just to have the skills, it is often the case where they need to do another course as a refresher. This is where EzyLearn is different. 

EzyLearn is flexible training at your own pace and in your own place. MYOBcourse.com is an online training site that uses EzyLearn content to provide flexible MYOB courses to those who want to know how to set up an MYOB accounting file from scratch or those who need to use it on a day to day basis. It’s completed online and at your own pace, but best of all you receive a certificate after completing the assessment task and have 12 months access to the training material if you forget things or need to focus on new skills during the year.

Check out the website at http://www.myobcourse.com and trial the free videos to see if you can learn this way. 

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Use social bookmarking and email referrals to make yourself popular

Do you have a website? Want visitors to tell their friends about it? Social Bookmarking is the new way of spreading the word about your website (ie. business). I wrote an article in July 2008 (click here to see) about how quickly word can spread, especially when website visitors can let all their friends know about your website using websites like Facebook, MySpace and other not so well known but still important websites like dig.com, reddit.com etc.  Continue reading Use social bookmarking and email referrals to make yourself popular

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How the Apple iPhone converted me to Macs

I thought it was time to write some general interest news. Having used Windows computers for the last 20 years, it was with reluctance that I accepted an iPod to have a play with. I know, computer trainer for 15 years and just received (not bought) an iPod to play with. Loved it so much that I decided to buy an iPhone as my next mobile phone/camera/calendar/music storage etc….One of the best things that Apple have done is link their iPods and iPhones to their iTunes music player. iTunes not only organises and plays music, but acts as the syncing software to ensure that you have what you want on your iPhone, this includes images, videos, music, calendar entries, emails etc. Another great features of iTunes is the massive library of songs which you can purchase individually for a couple dollars, but the most amazing thing I found was that you can also buy software for the price of songs.I downloaded a program called SpeakEasy for $2.49 and am now able to make audio recordings on my iPhone. Now, OK, I had that same functionality with the last phone I had, an iPaq, running Windows mobile software because all the functionality was built-in.  In other words, it was FREE, but the amazing thing about the iPhone software is that it’s only $2.49, no minimum transaction size and no extra charges. How else could you actually buy software that cheap? This is the beginning of the next software explosion.Why will there be a software explosion? Well, if software can be sold easily for as little as the price of a song, there will be more incentive for entrepreneurial software developers to write software programs with the home of selling much more software through sites like iTunes. This will be encouraged by the fact that devices, like the iPhone, won’t come equipped with everything on them but you’ll have to download software to use the features you want, like video for example… you can’t take videos using your iPhone as it comes in the box, but there are several softare programs out there which will allow you to. All the hardware is there, it’s just the software that’s needed.Finally with the ease of using the iPhone and it’s delicate touching interface, the logical navigation to get things done and the ease of connecting to your computer, I can see a huge rush towards consumers buying Macintosh computers. Think I’ll go along and check out my nears Apple SuperStore today 😉  

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How word spreads like wildfire on the net

These days if there is a good product on the internet the news spreads like wildfire, but why? How is it that word spreads to millions of people in such a short time? With Social media, social bookmarking (we have that on our sites using the AddThis service… so make sure you use it and tell your friends about us), blogs, Vlogs, Wikis and RSS you can tell someone and they can tell someone else and before you know it, your word of mouth recommendations get to thousands of people.

I found a great site that teaches you in plain english how these website work. Please send me an email or reply to this post with your comments. Here’s the link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/leelefever 

Enjoy,
Steve Slisar

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Who wants to create their own movies?

Movies are something that you may not have thought about creating for yourself. I mean, why would you? Who’s going to see them anyway?

I helped a client create a movie from their last ski trip only last week and it tooks us less than 4 hours from the client not knowing anything about Microsoft Movie Maker. Not only did we create the movie, but we shortened selected video clips, created transitions between clips, muted the audio from the video clips and even put two sound tracks going in the background to add a real ‘feel’ to the movie.

When I say video clips, these are snippets of video that we get from a video camera (and let’s face it, a normal digital camera is also a video camera these days) and combine in an order that we choose and re-arrange if needed.

Finally we converted the video into a movie file format (just a  couple clicks) and before you know it, the movie is ready not only to burn to a CD, but also to easily publish to YouTube for the whole world to see your creation (if you want them to). Thought I’d just throw in a small comment here … more and more businesses are creating their own video/movie style ads and placing them on YouTube to build awareness and it’s easier to do than you think..

Let me know if creating a movie is something that you’d like to learn more about?