I never thought I could work from home or, at least, have the possibility to do so. However, with the wonders of the internet, anything can be done online, can’t it? It’s simply fantastic that people can work from the comfort of their homes or at least make some extra money during their downtime.
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**This is a collaborative post
As companies became increasingly dependent on electronic communications, we all believed that the age of the paperless workplace was upon us. However, shops, restaurants, hairdressers, legal firms, and small manufacturing businesses still heavily rely on tangible documents. Learning how to be paperless helps minimise office waste, saves time and money, helps safely store sensitive documentation, and can help to save a few trees!
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**This is a collaborative post
Full-time parenting offers many benefits. For example, you can watch over your child as they grow up and be there for all the important moments of their life. The downside, though, is that you don’t have your own income since you don’t have a job.
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I have been blogging here at Toby Goes Bananas for six and a half years now (and I had a different blog for about four years before that). So although I don’t claim to be an expert I’ve been around for a while! If you are just starting out with a blog then it can be a bit daunting so I thought I’d share my top 5 blogging essentials for getting started.
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**This is a collaborative post
Web design is crucial if you want to create a brilliant brand image. Additionally, web design has a direct influence on user experience. If your site isn’t designed as well as it can be, then users are less likely to enjoy it.
I have to admit that Pinterest is still a bit of a mystery to me. I mean, I understand it and I know it is basically a search engine, but I haven’t quite figured out how to make it drive traffic to my blog yet. It’s just another one of those things that seems to need a lot of time put into it, and at the moment that’s time I don’t have! Read more
So I’ve been blogging here at Toby Goes Bananas for getting on for four years now. I started writing in 2013 when Toby was a few months old, and since then I have read a lot of other parenting blogs too. Some of them I’ve been reading since before Toby was born, others I have discovered more recently. Anyway, I thought it would be nice to share some of my favourite parenting and family blogs with you too…
Donna’s blog was one of the very first parenting blogs that I started reading. Read more
I started writing this blog three and a half years ago. It was intended as an online journal of our lives and that’s what it still is to a degree. Although I have been trying to write more in the last few weeks I go through periods when I write very little at all. But there is another place I write, and I write there almost every day. That place is Instagram and I suppose what I do there could be called microblogging.
Instagram is a funny beast. When I first started using it, posts were shown in chronological order, the whole point was that it was ‘instant’ – people posted pictures of what they were doing right at that moment. If you were so bold as to post a picture that hadn’t been taken just then there was even the #latergram hashtag to use.
But over the last six months or so it has changed. And I have changed the way I use it too. As Instagram is owned by Facebook it didn’t take long before a similar algorithm to the one which determines what you see in your Facebook news feed was also introduced on Instagram. Instead of seeing posts in chronological order, the Instagram algorithm now uses a combination of factors such as previous content you’ve liked, engagement on posts and things or people you’ve searched for to decide what it is going to show you.
As a result fewer people are now using Instagram to post pictures of life as it happens. There are more ‘curated’ feeds that have a theme or post to a schedule. And Instagram has also become a place for brands and ‘influencers’ to make money so there are a lot more adverts and paid for posts now too.
So how have these changes affected how I use Instagram? Read more
You may have noticed me mention that I went away at the beginning of May to Blog On, a blogging conference in Manchester. I had a great time, mostly catching up with friends, as well as attending a few of the sessions too.
Well next weekend I’m heading to London for another blogging conference; Britmums Live (or #BML16 as it has been rebranded this year). I went to Britmums in 2014 and I really enjoyed it. At that point I’d only been blogging at Toby Goes Bananas for about 8 months and I was a bit overwhelmed by the whole experience. This time I’m older and wiser (ahem!) and I’m looking forward to meeting up with some old friends, and meeting some in person for the first time too.
This year I have been lucky enough to be sponsored to attend #BML16 by Ardo breastpumps. I reviewed an Ardo double electric pump when Gabe was first born and it was fab. It definitely helped me keep breastfeeding for longer. Although I’m no longer breastfeeding I still believe that Ardo have some great products, and their website also has lots of brilliant information and advice for breastfeeding mums.
Anyway, I thought I should probably join in the #BML16 linky and introduce myself.
If you see me next weekend please do come and say hi. And please accept my apologies in advance if I don’t know your name – I am rubbish at matching bloggers to their blogs!
In just a couple of weeks I will be leaving Toby and Gabe in the capable hands of my lovely husband and heading down to Manchester for the Blog On blogging conference. I went to Britmums Live back in 2014 but I haven’t had chance to go to another blogging conference since so I’m very excited. And I am very grateful to Barry for taking on the unenviable task of looking after both boys on his own for two days!
Before I go I thought I would join in with The Great Big Blog On Ice Breaker Linky and share a bit about myself, and hopefully find out a bit about some of the other bloggers who will be attending. I’m really looking forward to meeting up with some of my blogging pals but it would be great to meet some new people too – so if you see me then please do come and say hi!
So, to the questions…
I’m really looking forward to meeting up with some of my blogging pals at Blog On but it would be great to meet some new people too – so if you see me then please do come and say hi!