Networking in Surrey News – week beginning 7 February 2011

t’s Good News Week (again!) – and I’m sure there are some Members like me who are old enough to remember the 1965 hit single with that title by Hedgehoppers Anonymous – a daft name thought up for them by Jonathan King. Listen to it again on YouTube here if you really must!

There are loads of up and coming Events on the site in February, with the usual plethora of free and low-cost, non-member type events to keep down the cost of your networking. For example, last Friday alone we featured three FREE First Friday events (two in pubs and an unrelated eponymous one on a badminton court!) spread right across the breadth of Surrey, from Lightwater in the west, through Guildford, to Croydon in the east.

We’re seeing more activity on the site from out there in East Surrey thanks to David Thackray and Stuart Ritchie's efforts, Huw WIlliams now posting Croydon Ecademy meetings, and of course Lyn French's FREE Surrey Jelly in Caterham – keep ‘em coming, folks... And the Regular Group Meetings are all going great guns too. I see Nigel Hall's Esher BNI chapter has relocated to The NY Bar and Grill in Cobham – how very ‘Friends’, Nige! And Richard Guillaume tells me Surrey Chambers is officially launching its re-branded Business Women in Surrey network in early March.

More good news is that we are still growing like Topsy - NiS now has 376 Members (meet the latest to join us here), Networking in Berkshire has 483, and even little Networking in Bucks has passed the 30 mark. 1,000 Members, here we come!

Now TRY THIS just for fun! Google your own name and see how many results you get. For most Members, I’m willing to bet that at least one of the page one results will be a page on Networking in Surrey. And remember, you have at least one link to your own website from NiS if you put your website in your My Page profile - and more if you advertise or post to the site and include a link. That’s Google bait, folks!

Thanks all you NiS Members who are posting blogs on the site – either giving tips or information and advice for the rest of us to use in our lives and businesses, or requesting help to find a supplier or service. This raises your profile and keeps you in view on the Home Page, which in turn means your face is being seen by other Members and Visitors. And of course, always include that link!

Which leads me nicely to even more fantastic news - our ‘unique visitor’ numbers are skyrocketing too. I sold this month’s ad spots on the basis that we expected over 800 visitors and 8,000 page views per month.  Well, the actual figures are in now, and Networking in Surrey had 913 unique visitors and 11,682 page views in January – so that’s how many times the ads of our smart sponsors will be seen. Here they are:

 Sarah Martin's  Ladies at Eleven - networking for women who are serious about their business

 Mike Rutherford's Ignite at Danson Digital- the first system born to run online businesses

 Tessa Hood's My Video Talk - branded video emails & video broadcasting  for smaller businesses

   Howard Nichols  at Surrey Copywriters - for all your online and offline copywriting needs 

 Shân Hughes at Plug That Gap - business eapertise and interim project management in support of busy business people just like you

 John Edward and the Team at 4Networking Walton and Weybridge- a super-friendly group within the fastest-growing 'in-person' networking organisation in the UK

'Thank you' guys for keeping NiS free for all!

Diary of a Networker...
Well I’ve been indulging in the sound of my own voice again by presenting at Weybridge Ecademy on how to write for the web - although a lot of the discussion centred around the use of well-scripted video, which we will no doubt see much more of on NiS and all over the web this year.  I hope to be at the All Bar One launch in Guildford with some of my Surrey Business Club chums on Thursday, 4Networking in Walton on Friday, and enjoying a fine dinner with the Trafford Enterprises posse the following Monday...
Happy networking!