Don't Aid the spammers - part 1

I for one would rather not receive those emails from friends and colleagues warning me of yet another email to beware of. Why? Because most of these are just another hoax! It's another form of spam and the spammers are using YOU to help them pass it on!

Now you wouldn't pass on an email offering you an 'enhancement' would you? So why pass on other forms of spam.

If you are concerned that your fellow man might fall foul of that nasty virus if you don't warn them immediately STOP! Think about it seriously for a moment. 99% of these are just another hoax. If you'd like to check it for yourself then it's really easy!

1. Identify the title of the email or a key word in it, e.g. Olympic Torch (purportedly a very nasty virus which wipes your hard drive!)

2. Copy and paste it into Google and add the word 'hoax' to the search term.

3. Hit 'search' and see what comes back. If it's a hoax then the search results (hundreds probably) will tell you so.

4. Email the person who sent it to you and tell them it's a hoax - they obviously didn't know or they wouldn't have sent it.

5. Educate them - point them in the direction of this post! Then they will know too!

Don't stay in the dark ages, let's put a STOP to Spam! Together!

Please ask all your friends and colleagues to read this now, let's pass something that will benefit the whole Internet community for a change!

Xmas is coming

Well, Christmas is on the way so next month's meeting will be a purely social occasion. We plan to just sit down to a great meal and have plenty of chat!

Those who attended Novembers meeting are probably already aware of the Christmas meal. We hope to see as many faces as possible there, old and new. All we ask is that you let JK know that you want to come so we can let the venue know numbers by the end of November. We don't want the kitchen to suddenly panic thinking they actually have to 'feed' us next month!

Since the November meeting was such a success we hope to capitalise on that and launch 2008 with a bang. So tell all your friends they are invited on January 9th.

If anybody has any special requests for the meetings next year just drop us a line. We'll certainly see what we can arrange!

Advanced SEO

Emerald and I spent yesterday morning at a seminar entitled 'Advanced SEO'.

I got the reassurance that I'm doing the right things along with some more suggestions on how to improve further. Emerald got a good basic knowledge of what it's all about.

The bare bones of it were that firstly it's very important to do your keyword research. Finding the right keywords for each page of your website is vital - get it wrong and it could cost you your business - get it right and quality traffic will come flooding in!.

When you consider that there are now in excess of 2.1 trillion web pages out there you don't want to get lost. A well optimised web page will help you be seen in the natural rankings 'above the fold'! That is to be seen in the first 5 results on Google. And a good Adwords campaign doesn't do any harm either.

We hope to be bringing you some more tips over the next few weeks when we get a quiet spot!

Meantime if anybody has any questions about SEO or Networking then we'd love to hear them!

Summer Sunshine?

Well, a really great meeting. Plenty of new faces and a few old ones too.

And help was at hand when one member needed a particular vehicle for a special event - ask and you'll receive! Actually not quite the car but solid advice on where to look for the specialist vehicle they require.

A presentation by ClarityClarity's Keith Ayres broke the evening up. After discussion with other members it has been proposed that we hold the occasional presentation geared towards helping business.

The first of these will be on 'Better Networking Skills' and will be delivered by Agnes Fitzgerald of Linkage Point. This will be strictly 'no sell' but aimed at providing good solid advice to aid your networking efforts and make them more profitable.

Anybody interested in being there for this should contact WBa to register your interest. When we have finalised a date we'll let you know.

It is sure to be a great evening knowing Agnes and her rather quirky sense of humour. Learning should be fun and Agnes has always made it so for me.

We look forward to seeing you all next month - 10th October!

Summer Garden party

The Chimneys, Hooton Green (South Wirral) will be holding a Summer Garden Party to raise money for the National Trust.

You are all invited to go and enjoy the summer in the pub garden while raising money for a good cause.

Tickets are priced at £10 and include 2 drinks vouchers, an informal food tasting plus a donation to the National Trust.

For more information and to purchase your tickets please call in to The Chimneys, Hooton Green, South Wirral (Just off Junction 5 of the M53 on the way to Chester and North Wales.)

We look forward to meeting you there!

What a summer ..... if you're a duck!

Well the weather this summer has been appalling. I drove to Barnsley and back yesterday in the pouring rain. Good job the competition we were attending was indoors!

We will be organising a local competition to be held towards the end of September this year. It will be held in Liverpool and we are hoping to attract several hundred visitors. There will be a limited amount of advertising space and we will be looking for sponsors for the event. Anybody interested in some local advertising please let me know.

More details will be made available when we have finalised the date/venue.


By the way, the club came home with 1 bronze, 1 silver and 2 gold medals - not a bad haul for only 4 competitors.

Long Time .......

OK, so it's been a few weeks since I last updated the blog - been Sooooo busy.

For those of you who don't remember, the August meeting is Tonight, 8th August. We are hoping to see a few new faces along with some old ones who couldn't make Tuesday nights.

Paul is running his little competition, prize is a meal for 2, for the person who brings the most guests between now and the end 0f November. Remember to let one of us know that a guest is yours so we can keep track!

For the coming months we are going to try to include a weekly networking tip both here and in the newsletter. Anybody not receiving the newsletter should let me know ASAP so we can rectify that.

For those of you interested in contributing to this blog with tips and ideas for better networking then please drop me a line via the WBa website. I'll be happy to share the workload!

Pass the word around to your friends and associates to checkout the blog on a regular basis and we hope to see you all tonight. Remember to bring a guest!

Mad March Hairs?

Another great night! A full room and plenty of great feedback.

I've been requested to open the blog to more people. Some invites have gone out today so look out for other people's posts here in the near future!

Remember you can always comment on any of our posts and add info about any of our events by selecting the 'comments' option at the bottom of a post.

If you'd like to be more of a contributor then please let me know and we'll invite you to join.

Have a great month and we'll see you all again in April!

February is fab!

Well last night went really well. We had plenty of new people turn up and great feedback. Looks like we could be growing quicker than expected.

There were some missing faces due to illness - we hope they all get better soon.

We've been asked if we are going to do any presentations - there are no plans at present but if we get enough requests we'll consider it (they would be kept very short though).

Thanks again to Paul for giving his support (and the venue) and for the bowls of hot chips that appeared on the tables half way through the evening. We do appreciate all the help he and Justine give for free. Without their support we couldn't run these evening on a free basis. So everybody should get down to The Chimneys on other occasions too.

All ready for the next meeting? Good, why not bring a friend!

Brilliant!

Well last night couldn't have gone better. The first meeting of 2007 was well attended and there was a real buzz in the air. Some new faces came, along with some old ones.

It was quite hard to get around everybody for a chat but between my WBa partners and I we managed to speak with all those who attended. Everybody is already looking forward to next months meeting and ALL the newbies said they would be back.

Some great discussions were had. The support side of the meetings really emerged this time with people talking of problems they were having and others offering possible solutions. Anthony Peake sold another 2 books, fresh from his success at his 'Borders Bookstore' book signing last Saturday.

The meeting went on until just before closing time and the last of us didn't get home until just before midnight. It was well worth the effort though.

We are looking forward to seeing everybody again in February.

Happy New Year

Well this year has begun really well - I started with a stinking cold on New Years Day. At least I should be fine by next Tuesday for the first meeting of the year.

Hopefully all the meetings for 2007 will be as good as last year if not better. I've had confirmation from a couple of new people of their attendance. I hope to see all last years businesses too.

Hope you acheive all the success you deserve over the coming year!