Great Foodie Instagram Places in London

Posted on March 26, 2022 by suzie81speaks

I love London. I’m lucky in that I live 90 minutes away on the train and, when booked in advance, tickets are pretty cheap. The Bloke and I used to visit three or four times a year before the pandemic, usually staying overnight. We would take a section of London that we had never visited before and I would map out ideas of things to see and do.

Now that there aren’t any more restrictions, I have very tentatively started to visit again. Our last trip was last September for my not-quite 40th birthday, and I went on a shorter trip with my mum a little while ago.

I have noticed a huge difference in the last decade of how Instagram has become an integral part of the marketing strategy for many cafes and restaurants. Flower walls, neon signs, even highlighted sections on menus advertising ‘Instagram-worthy’ dishes and drinks have appeared.

Suzie Speaks London Foodie Instagram Places

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Instagram Rules: The Essential Guide to Building Brands, Business and Community

Posted on November 14, 2020 by suzie81speaks

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small amount of money if you make a purchase from any of the Amazon links included.

As with most areas of social media, I was seemingly behind the rest of the world in realising the power of Instagram as a marketing tool. I’ve actually had an Instagram account since 2015, back in the days when (at least, from my perspective) the platform was primarily a place to share some nice photos, add a snazzy filter and throw in a few hashtags. I’ve had moments over the years where I have made attempts to do something with my Instagram, but it was easy to become disheartened when I didn’t see immediate results. If I’m honest, after a while I paid it little attention. Continue reading →

Tips for Becoming an Unstoppable Blogger in 2020

Posted on December 28, 2019 by suzie81speaks

I usually love the feeling that accompanies a new year. I start a new Bullet Journal, map out my plans and goals and work out the direction that I want to take the blog over the next twelve months.

2020 marks the seventh (!) year of Suzie Speaks. Those who have followed the blog for a long time will already know the story – I started blogging as an outlet when I was struggling in my teaching job, then quit my job to blog full-time as my numbers grew, and then started my own Social Media Management business to supplement my blog income. It’s been a crazy rollercoaster of amazing experiences, travel, networking and online (and sometimes, in person) friendships with people from all over the world that have become very important to me, with plenty of ups and downs and more than a few lessons learned. Continue reading →

Creating a Social Media Strategy and Checklist for Your Blog

Posted on November 18, 2018 by suzie81speaks

One of my biggest blogging regrets (and I’ve said this many times), is the amount of time that I completely ignored my social in the first few years of publishing my posts. My social media accounts are now responsible for about 75% of my daily traffic, have introduced me to thousands of bloggers all over the world and enabled me to build up my own little business within the blogging community.

Social media is by far the most powerful tool we have as bloggers at our disposal, and developing a strategy that utilises it effectively can potentially take a blog to the next level, often with minimum effort, with the added bonus being that most things are completely free! And once everything is set up, it’s fairly quick and easy to update!

But where to start? Most of us already have a social media account for connecting with family and friends, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat and/or Instagram to name but a few, but even the suggestion of using these as a promotional tool sends many bloggers into a confusing spiral. Continue reading →

Props Under £20 for Creating Beautiful Blog & Instagram Images

Posted on April 2, 2018 by suzie81speaks

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small amount of money if you make a purchase from any of the Amazon links included

I’m certainly not a photographer by any means (that is more of The Bloke’s passion than mine), but one of the things that I enjoy doing in my free time is experimenting with props and different flat lay images that I can use for my blog and social media.

I’ve written about creating beautiful flat lay images before, but this was more about the process of how to set them up. Since then, I’ve received lots of questions asking about prop and budget ideas from others who want to create their own but don’t want to spend a fortune doing so.

There’s a million different advice posts and tutorials on the subject, but what I’ve discovered when trawling through a some of them is that many have splashed out on different lighting rigs and light boxes, backdrops and props and use an expensive SLR camera. Continue reading →

The Online Power of a Squirrel…

Posted on January 23, 2018 by suzie81speaks

The Bloke is an avid photographer. He particularly likes wildlife, architectural and landscape photography and his pictures are utterly fantastic – we can be in the same place at the same time, photographing the same thing and he always manages to create something beautiful and artistic with seemingly very little effort. I’m so proud of him, and extremely jealous of his skills.

However, there’s one particular thing that he has an affinity for…

Squirrels.

Living in Birmingham, UK, we have an abundance of them and very little else. I’m enormously envious whenever I go on Instagram and see images of incredible wildlife in people’s back yards – I saw a racoon in Central Park a few months ago when we were on our honeymoon and that was honestly the first time I’ve ever seen one in real life… Perhaps I shouldn’t have stood there and yelled “oh my god it’s a raccoon!” at the top of my voice while pointing at the poor thing like a maniac, but it was a bigger deal to me than most. Continue reading →

Meet ‘The Bloke’ – Instagram Meet and Greet!

Posted on July 25, 2016 by suzie81speaks

Those of you who follow the blog regularly will know about The Bloke – my partner-in-crime of the last 6 1/2 years. What you probably don’t know is that The Bloke, as well as being my best friend (and now my fiance after he proposed outside a 13th Century Scottish castle earlier in the year – the boy done good!), he is also a fantastic landscape, nature and urban photographer.

Meet Duncan – The Bloke. Duncan has been passionate about photography as long as I’ve known him, and I’m truly gobsmacked at the stunning pictures that he takes. He seems to have an eye for things that I can’t see, and can easily lose himself for hours with his camera whenever we visit somewhere… Continue reading →

A Lucky View

Posted on February 13, 2014 by suzie81speaks

They’re keeping me in until Saturday. However, I have kept my private room with en suite and incredible view and the nursing staff have been amazing. I can’t write much, so I thought I’d share some of the pics I took today… I took them with my iPhone and did a few Instagram experiments.

I’d also like to say a huge thank you for all the messages (which i received in the hundreds) from everybody. i have read every single one and really appreciate it! You guys are amazing! You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog

iPhone Photography

Posted on January 9, 2014 by suzie81speaks

I’ve been experimenting with dark and moody iPhone photography recently to match the dark and miserable weather we have received, so I thought I’d share some from the last few months… I’d love to hear your thoughts on them!

Stockport – edited with Instagram

Dark and moody skies – edited with Instagram

Sky – unedited

Frozen pattens on the car – unedited

Don’t forget to check out the blogs I am advertising on my sidebar at the minute!

You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @Suzie81blog

Layers in London

Posted on November 16, 2013 by suzie81speaks

This week’s Photo Challenge focusses on the concept of layers. I’ve used this photograph before, but I think it fits the challenge. I took this earlier in the year when I visited London.