Free Directory of UK Business Networking Groups and Clubs

This is the first of our monthly(ish) newsletters to help you get more out of our website.

So what's new at networkingclubs.co.uk?

Well, we've done it! We worked very hard to ensure that the site gets found in the search engines and now we're No1 in google.co.uk and bing.co.uk for 'networking clubs' and No2 on Yahoo (but we're working on that).
This means that your listing(s) on www.networkingclubs.co.uk will be seen by more people than ever.

Since its launch in Spring 2009, networkingclubs.co.uk has really made some ground. Thanks to everyone who has made contributions and added their clubs so far.

The best news thus far is that:

• The site now has a Google pagerank of 1 (a small but significant step)
• The site now generates traffic independently from referring sites and search engines
• The variety of clubs and geographic spread is growing

So, what are we currently working on to improve the site?

• Over the coming months we're looking to improve the look and feel of networkingclubs.co.uk.
• We want to add additional features to the site to help networking club organisers
• we would like to add a forum so networkers can share ideas and get answers to questions related to networking
• An 'articles' section is under consideration
• we're researching the feasibility of a calendar system so event organisers can post events on a graphical calendar to enable a varied approach to finding clubs

We'll keep you posted.

Cheers,
Karl

p.s. If there's anything you'd like to see added to the site then please just let us know through the comments below.

Check out the Networking Clubs list to see the first networking group listing.

Thanks to Mandy Allen for posting info about her networking club in Spalding, Lincs.

Just registered this site with the blog directory bloglisting.net.

If you have a blog then register for free by clicking on the link below.

Blog Listings

After some serious mucking about with Drupal CCK and Views, I've finally reached what could be a finished club profile page. The page should include just about all the information a site visitor should need to make a decision about a club.

I still need to simplify the registration process but I'm pleased that I've done what could be the most complex part of the site before launch.

Currently I'm working on making the registration process as simple as possible.

I'd like members to be able to register as quickly as possible and get a club listing in just a few minutes.

This means that I need to provide help and instruction through the process, I may even need to develop a 'User Guide' page.

I've put out a request for people to help me test the site and give me feedback on the registration process etc.

This means registering as a member and setting up a club profile page.

Just go ahead and get involved if you're interested.

Many thanks to Alfred Armstrong for his pointers in working out filtering the information to be displayed in the clubs page.

It's been quite a nuisance trying to work out how to get just the basic information to display but I think I'm nearly there.

At the moment we're waiting to complete a few technical issues with the club listings section.

As soon as this is done we'll be able to start live testing with real club data.

So if you run a club, get an account and complete the profile. This way you can be one of the first to get your club(s) on the site.

OK, not quite sure what's going wrong. I've worked out how to use CCK, (not too challenging really), and nearly got views working in an acceptable way.

However, when I look at the 'Networking Clubs' page it displays things which shouldn't be there, such as recent blog entries. These should only be displayed on the front page so I'm a little stuck as to what's going on here.

May have to ask for help.

well I've managed to create the content type for clubs but am still struggling with how it's displayed.

The great news is that I've had quite a lot of interest in the site and will be building the list of networking groups up quickly after the techie side of things is done.

Because this website is built using an open source software called Drupal I'm able to get help with elements of development that push the boundaries of my knowledge.

Since I've realised that the profile page isn't going to make a very good club page I'm creating a unique club page type using the Drupal Content Construction Kit or CCK. This means that I should be able to make it so that a single account can create more than one club page.

After some discussion with a friend of mine it looks like I'm going to have to create a different way of posting a club page.

At the moment a user can only have one club. This means that if you have more than one club you'd have to have a login per club, not ideal.

Back to the drawing board, as they say.

Based on some feedback from site users it looks like I'm going to have to improve the registration process for the site.

The aim is to make it easy and quick to register and also to set up a club profile.

OK, so now I seem to have stalled. I've completed most of the actual techie side of things and need people to get accounts and try out the profile creation process.

I'm going to have to find volunteers.

Well I've been working on this site for a good few days and it's finally beginning to take some shape.

It's looking set to be completed by expected launch date.

The key things now are to improve the profile creation process and then find a much more appealing design.