If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I am sorry, I have had to remove the comments facility from this site until I can work out a way to protect it from automated registrations. These are carried out by hackers, who then proceed to upload spam links or, even worse, malicious software, on to the site. I only discovered this today and since then I have been through a fast learning curve to fnd out what ‘Badware’ means. As I was browsing through my site stats this morning I noticed several searches for specific pages and categories within my site. For example, one search showed
“http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Abrilliant4biz.com%20pr”
That search brought up a post from last October, plus a warning from Google that “visiting this web site may harm your computer”! I was horrified, to say the least. I was a victim of spam links a few months ago when spammers managed to load up reams of porn links on to some html pages, but I thought my Wordpress posts and pages were reasonably secure. Only one blog post was hacked, but the category and monthly archive containing that post are also carrying a Google Health warning at the moment. Now I will have to search around for a suitable plugin to allow legitimate comments to be posted without giving the spammers and hackers a way in.
That was not the case - strange new users were registering them on the site and although I deleted them as soon as I saw them, they still had time to do their worst. The reason for this dilemma is that Wordpress only allows two options in its settings - either “anyone can register themselves” or “users must be registered and logged in to comment”

These are the actions I have taken to restore my website to its former good standing:

1. I visited Google Webmaster Tools, where the site is registered, and followed their guide to checking for malware on my site. The good news is that Google had NOT found any harmful software on its last two visits. I then put in a request for the site to be reconsidered.

2. I checked out the guides at the stop badware site - which really was not very helpful for the average webmaster - prbably very easy for hackers to understand, but the content did not tell me how to identify Trojans or malicious software on my site

3. I visited badneighborhood.com, which has a very useful free tool to scan the links on your website, and on the pages that your website is linking to, and flag possible problem areas. All you do is type in the URL of the home page and the results appear within 90 seconds. These will flag up any sites that could possibly be involved in search engine spamming. You may not be aware of these sites: for example, you could link to a respectable site but they may have links with a site involved in the adult or pharmaceutical fields, and thus harm your website’s position. I am pleased to say my site got a clean bill of health at Bad Neighborhood to day.
In the meantime if you are one of the regular commenters please email me (comments@brilliant4biz.com) and I will send you a user name and password.

I have to admit that,when I am not blogging, I do like a flutter. I have always liked watching the horses - and maybe trying to predict the winner, but recently I have found a new game of chance. When you have not got time to go there in person, you can play bingo online and have a lot of laughs at 888ladies. Their website, www.888ladies.com, has been offering some great bet-related prizes that really make the winners feel special. Imagine getting a free trip to Ladies’ Day at Ascot in a chauffeur driven limo with spending money thrown in. try it today and check all the freebies on offer.

If you enjoy a game of chance then you must be familiar with the Casino-on-Net website, at www.888.com. This award winning site is a popular place for sophisticated online gambling and with their latest addition, Extra Games, they have maintained their cutting edge and top position. Not only will you enjoy playing, you couls also be in line for serious winnings with their Progressive Jackpots. These are edging up to the $2m mark as I write. If you want a chance to win go across to the site and see what the fuss is about.

My posts about XL Results Foundation Life Membership have sparked some debate here recently. Things really hotted up after a recent comment from a woman who was about to join XL after attending Roger Hamilton’s Business Breakfast Presentation in Melbourne. On returning home she decided to do some research on Roger Hamilton and his XL Results Foundation. When the search results served up my blog post, she was alarmed and left a long comment explaining her concerns about the sum - $12,000 - that she had almost paid over. Since that comment there have been contributions from other former XL members and those who had almost joined, expressing scepticism over the value of the offer. Some of these members asked me not to pub lish their comments as they were nervous of going public, and I have used their material as sources for this article. These comments brought several long and involved comments from the XL Results Regional Manager in Melbourne, Jeanette Jifkins, who was clearly very upset that others were not enthralled with her company. There have been other contributions from Paul Dunn, whose Ecademy profile says he ‘runs XL in Australia and he’ll soon be taking XL to America’, in staunch defence of XL’s charitable achievements.

Let me make it quite clear why I have written reports about this business opportunity. The offer to the potential member is membership of a network of entrepreneurs, and extensive training opportunities, whose quality is not independently verified or accredited. New prospects do not get a chance to study the contract terms before signing up, they are swept up in the moment by a persuasive presentation. They are often left to reflect on the implications of this decision only after they have parted with a substantial sum in hard cash. Paul Dunn has asserted in one of his comments that there is a cooling off period for new recruits. I would like to see evidence of that.

I do not view XL as a classic pyramid scheme, but I think others are labelling it that way because they do not see the Life Membership package offering a value to justify its high price - why is there not an annual membership option? This company has been in existence for less than a decade, it is privately owned so what guarantee do members get on the prospects of it existing in another ten years? If I decide to join any Chamber of Commerce or similar organisation in Britain there is a set annual membership fee, and at the end of a year’s membership I decide to renew if the organisation has given me value for money.

When I attended the XL Results presentation the big selling point was the scope for getting freelance work from other life members. Most freelance consultants spend their lives chasing more contracts, and I heard a lot of sad stories at the last Ecademy members’ event. So if a carrot is dangled in front of a hungry consultant, they are very likely to go for it. None of us know if our next contract will be our last and a carefully designed pitch can prey on those anxieties, making us think that life membership of XL Results Foundation is a possible answer to our problems. But of course there is no guarantee of any work and none of the comments in support of XL have given any proof of income generated through membership of the foundation. Charitable work is all well and good but this is meant to be a business networking organisation. The proof of a business organisation should be just that - real, tangible business results for its members.

The XL organisation business model seems weighted towards getting money from new members, instead of improving the value of the membership package. If the company wants transparency (as they have requested from me) then I would like to see them publish full detailed accounts of its revenue sources. They should also be able to show independently verified examples of members who have obtained worthwhile contracts and expanded their business as a direct result of their membership of the foundation.