It is common knowledge that young children are exposed to the internet in the current digital era. Even though the internet has revolutionized the way we communicate, learn, and interact, there are risks associated with it, especially for young people. Keeping your children safe online is one of your top responsibilities as a parent. We’ll look at some useful advice for keeping your kids safe online today, so read on and learn more.
Continue reading “How to Keep Your Kids Protected Online”
As you may or may not know, we’re currently homeschooling the girls on a semi-permanent basis. Sausage is now in year 9 and will be home educated through to college age, whereas BB is in year 3 and is planning to go back to school once she’s had her COVID vaccine. This means that we’ve been using as many resources as possible to keep them both engaged by learning and also on par with their peers. Recently, I discovered Night Zookeeper and we were generously offered a 12 month subscription to try it for ourselves.
It’s a subscription-based website which encourages reading and writing in a really creative way. It’s developed by experienced educators and brings together a compelling story, innovative digital technology, and effective curriculum-aligned educational content, to help your child boost their literacy skills.
The website is packed with games which help kids learn spelling, grammar and vocabulary and they’re so fun that the kids barely even realise they’re learning. I gave BB her login details and let her use the site without even telling her that it was a learning resource at first, and she was totally engrossed in minutes.
One of the things I like about Night Zookeeper is the fact that it encourages kids to use their imagination. Sausage and BB have always had a thirst for knowledge and intense curiosity for the world around them and they’ve both channelled that through art and storytelling, so the format of NZK plays right into BB’s wheelhouse.
The site is really well set up in that there’s a separate login for parents so that you can see your child’s progress and see what they’ve been up to on the site. It even gives you a word count of how much they’ve written in each of their mini stories and it’s really interesting to see that the word count has been increasing with each time BB has used it.
It can also be used on tablets, laptops and PCs, making it accessible without the need for expensive new tech. There are lessons, writing challenges and word games which are immersive and exciting, telling fun, modern stories that the kids enjoy. There’s even a blog area where kids can write and share their own blog posts!
Perhaps the MOST useful feature of Night Zookeeper is the fact that real teachers can comment on BB’s work and leave her comments and suggestions to help her to expand her writing. Having that type of feedback is so valuable, I think it’s worth the cost of subscription all by itself.
“By providing thousands of fun and engaging lessons, challenges, and games, Night Zookeeper helps children to learn new words, use them in sentences, and then create amazing pieces of writing that are shared with children from around the world. They receive feedback from our team of tutors as well as other children that highlight where they can improve. In-game awards and competitions keep them motivated to continue to learn and progress. They’ll write about everything, from stories about magical animals to instructions on how to make the perfect hot chocolate. All genres of writing are gradually introduced including newspaper articles, persuasive writing, reports, and poetry.”
“It’s really good! It feels like you’re playing a game and you don’t even really realise that you’re doing school work. My favourite thing about it is creating the animals because I like to get creative. I also really like the mini games because they’re fun and feel like other games that I play on my iPad” – Burrito Baby, aged 7.
For what you actually get, I think the subscriptions offer really good value. There’s content on there which suits kids from ages 6 to 12, so it can be useful even beyond junior level, and I love the idea of the continuity that will offer as BB progresses. All subscriptions come with a 7 day free trial, so you can see if you like it before you buy and if you purchase a 12 month subscription, it works out at just £7.50 per month.
We’re delighted to also be able to share with you an exclusive link for you to use, giving you a massive 50% off of a year’s subscription! By using this link you’ll pay just £46.99 for one child for a year or a truly bargainous £57.99 for up to three children per 12 month subscription! Click on the image below to nab your half price subscription:
ConclusionI’m really excited to see what else BB creates with Night Zookeper! We have a few different subscriptions for the girls to use during our home ed and I honestly think this is going to be the one which provides the best value for BB’s literacy. Thanks so much to the people at Night Zookeeper for giving us the opportunity to try the site.
Online shopping was growing in popularity long before the pandemic hit, but lockdowns have triggered a surge in online sales and a shift towards ordering via websites and apps. If your business is struggling to attract attention, or sales have stalled during the Covid-19 crisis, here are some effective ploys you can utilise to make a splash online.
Social media
Social media was once just a platform for keeping in touch with friends and relatives, but it has developed and evolved into a powerful marketing tool for businesses across many sectors. Social media apps not only enable companies and brands to promote and sell products and services, but they also provide incredible opportunities to connect with followers, to build a client base and to benefit from customer engagement and feedback. If you’re not already using social media, conduct research to establish how your target customer spends their time online and choose channels that are popular among relevant demographics. Create profiles, start building your following and use the content you share to forge relationships, to get to know your customers better and to tell them more about your brand. You can use photos, blogs, video clips, live stories and customer reviews to showcase your products, get your followers involved and enhance your brand image. It’s also a great idea to use social posts to spread the word about new products or promotions. Posts can go viral in an instant and users like to get involved in competitions and giveaways.
Image by https://www.pexels.com/photo/selective-focus-photography-of-person-using-iphone-x-1542252/
Search engine optimisation
Search engines are increasingly popular, with Google alone now processing more than 3 million searches per minute. As a business owner, you can capitalise on the power of search engines by optimising content to improve your search ranking. Over 75% of people won’t move past page 1 when they use a search engine, and this is why it’s so important to try and elevate your links to the top. You want your content to be visible if a web user types phrases or keywords that are linked to the products or services you offer. SEO is complex and if you don’t have expertise or experience in digital marketing, it’s beneficial to enlist professional help. Link building services are designed to enhance content and improve search ranking, driving traffic to your website. It’s also essential to understand the impact of using different types of content, for example, infographics, images and video clips, and to prioritise quality and originality. Content should be useful, informative and engaging. By outsourcing digital marketing or hiring agencies that have specific areas of expertise, you can improve results and create more high-quality leads.
Picture credit: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/seo-google-search-engine-browser-411385/
Reviews
Did you know that over 90% of web users read reviews before buying products? Reviews have never carried more weight, and this is why it’s critical for businesses to go all-out to impress customers and attract rave reviews. If your score is lower than you’d like, or you don’t currently have many reviews, there are ways to improve ratings. Encourage customers to leave feedback online after ordering, share reviews you have received via social media or your website and make it easy for previous clients to give you a rating. As well as offering incentives, for example, 10% off your next order or the chance to enter a competition if you leave a review, you could also provide links in delivery confirmation emails or send personalised emails after a customer has received the product.
One of the most beneficial steps business owners can take to enhance their online presence and generate more sales is to utilise feedback. If you’re asking people to leave reviews or write comments, take the time to read and digest them and respond to followers and customers. Feedback can be incredibly useful, even if it’s negative. You can use comments to identify potential weaknesses and make changes that could prevent negative feedback in the future and increase your score. You might find that people are complaining about delivery charges, for example, or saying that they would like more information or images on product description pages. Consumers often add ideas and suggestions to their reviews, which can be helpful for business owners hoping to provide a better customer experience. You might consider adding a live chat feature, an FAQ section or an annual delivery pass for a set fee after reading comments, for example.
Image source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/feedback-group-communication-2044700/
There has never been a better time for businesses to be proactive in attracting attention online. Screen time is increasing, people are more inclined to look for services and products and shop online and social media provides amazing opportunities to build connections and relationships. Take these tips on board to drive traffic, create and convert more leads and showcase your brand.
One of the easiest ways to take your business to the next level is to find a brand new market that you can start to grow it in. You might be able to find that market domestically by appealing to new demographics, for instance, but the most common way of doing it is to expand your business overseas. However, if you want to make sure you acclimate as best as possible, you want to try and grow it naturally, rather than simply exporting what you’re already doing.
Set it up separately
There are undeniably organizational benefits to running an existing business overseas. However, ensuring that your business follows two sets of regulations, handles tax duties appropriately, and otherwise operates smoothly in two different countries can be difficult. It might instead be easier to start your business abroad from scratch, adapting what you need to without needing to change how you run your existing business. It might take a little more time to raise the capital but it allows you to be more flexible on both fronts.
Separate your finances
Just as you should make sure you have separate business and personal bank accounts, you should separate your finances between the countries that you do business in, as well. There are plenty of services that can help you set up an international bank account and make it easier for you to transfer money from one to the other. Just be sure to keep records of every transaction between your different accounts as, when it comes to overseas transfers, the taxman can be particularly skeptical and you want to make sure you have all the evidence of good behavior you need.
Get to know the country
Simply put, there may be barriers that you have yet to consider when it comes to running a business in one country compared to the other. They could be two different markets, with different competitors and norms for how the industry works. You also need to be wary of differences in business etiquette, marketing message, and even political climate and property rights. Some countries could be risky to start a business in depending on what party gets in charge, as has happened many times.
Are you ready to handle it all?
If it’s a relatively small business, then running two at the same time, or at least running one in two countries, might not be all that difficult compared to what you usually do. However, if you have your hands full with just one, then you might need to consider how hands-on you can actually be. It might benefit you to develop good working relationships with a managerial team that is native to the country that you’re expanding to. Not only can it help you delegate, but it can also give you an advantage in avoiding some international relations snafus.
Taking your business overseas isn’t always easy. For that reason, finding the organic approach to grow it in a new market can help you find your feet and, more importantly, avoid some red tape.
There are a lot of things that play a massive part in helping you to make more money online these days. It is so important to make sure you come up with some excellent ideas that will help you to make more money online. There are a lot of things you can do these days, and you are going to need to focus on helping you to make as much money as you can these days.
You have to think about some of the best ways of allowing you to bring in additional revenue, which is essential in this coronavirus era when people are losing jobs and not being able to work. Focus on some of the most effective ways of being able to make more money, and these are some of the best ways of being able to do this right now.
One of the great ways of being able to make money online is by selling antiques. Now, of course, you need to buy them first so that you can sell them on for a profit. You have a lot of things you need to work on when it comes to making a profit this way. Now there are plenty of tips to buying antiques online, but this is something that you need to be careful with so you are not losing a lot of money buying fake antiques.
Dropshipping is one of the most effective ways of making additional money, and this is something that you don’t need any qualifications to be able to achieve. Try to make sure you work on the best and most effective ways of dropshipping – this is similar to ecommerce, except that you don’t take delivery of the items, instead having them shipped directly to the customer. You can make good money from dropshipping, but it is certainly time-consuming, and this is something you need to keep in mind.
Blogging is a great way of being able to earn additional money and revenue, and this is a great way of generating additional money. Now, there are a lot of things that you can do when it comes to creating and managing a blog and monetizing the blog is one of the best ways of being able to do this. Make sure you look for some of the best ways of being able to make money as a blogger, and this is an effective way of being able to make the most of this.
If you are looking for some excellent side hustles that you can use to make money from home, and one of the key ways of being able to achieve this is writing ebooks. Amazon Kindle has made the ebook world explode, and you can enjoy self-publishing your own ebooks very easily. Trying to get a few ebooks published at the same time is a good way of being able to generate a bit of additional income.
These are some of the best ways of being able to make more money and raise additional funds online right now. You have to make sure you do as much as possible to work on bringing in more money, and this is one of the key things that you are going to need to work on right now. These are going to help you make more money, and this is essential for you to work on as much as you possibly can.
