here i moved it up above the welcome message as its problem the easiest solution
HTML Code:
$stylevar[htmldoctype]
<html dir="$stylevar[textdirection]" lang="$stylevar[languagecode]">
<head>
<!-- no cache headers -->
<meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache" />
<meta http-equiv="Expires" content="-1" />
<meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="no-cache" />
<!-- end no cache headers -->
<title><phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[x_powered_by_vbulletin]</phrase></title>
$headinclude
</head>
<body>
$header
$navbar
<!-- ############## NEVER POSTED MESSAGE ############## -->
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tr>
<td class="alt1" align="left"><p style="color: red;">
Hello $bbuserinfo[username],<br>Why not make your first post today by saying hello to the crew in our <a href="http://www.zookpower.ca/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1">Welcome to Zookpower</a> forum!
</p></td>
</tr>
</table>
<!-- ############## END NEVER POSTED MESSAGE ############## -->
<br />
<!-- main -->
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<thead>
<if condition="$show['guest']">
<!-- guest welcome message -->
<tr>
<td class="tcat" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">6<else />5</if>"><phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[welcome_to_the_x]</phrase></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1" colspan="<if condition="$vboptions['showmoderatorcolumn']">6<else />5</if>">
<phrase 1="faq.php?$session[sessionurl]" 2="register.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[first_visit_message]</phrase>
</td>
</tr>
<!-- / guest welcome message -->
</if>