Sites
Snapshot
Hi, I’m Lillie Marshall, a 6-foot-tall writer, artist, and teacher. I started AroundTheWorldL.com Travel and Life Blog in 2009 when I took a leave of absence from my teaching job to travel solo around the world. Next, I launched TeachingTraveling.com Global Education Community in 2010 to feature the stories of others who combine world exploration and learning.
Little did I realize that these casual sites I started over a decade ago would grow to receive millions of readers – and continue expanding! For example, my first site has now evolved far beyond travel, as it’s one of the top-ranked sources in the world for online workout reviews.
In 2020 when everything shut down, I finally realized my dream of launching a site dedicated to using my artwork to teach concepts about language and life: DrawingsOf.com Educational Cartoons. The free English lessons on the site are now used by teachers around the country.
Meanwhile, in 2021, I fulfilled my other dream of becoming a Reiki practitioner, and thus launched HealingTouchL.com Boston Reiki to provide information and bookings for my brick-and-mortar studio in Massachusetts.
Challenge: Bad Hosting Undermined My Love of Writing
In the 14 years since I started blogging, I’ve faced two main technical challenges – the first and foremost being unreliable or unresponsive web hosts. I’ve had my sites with FIVE different web hosts, and have seen it all: from my blog going down right before being featured on the Teaching Channel, to creepy hacking that wasn’t solved for months, to hosts suddenly going out of business and disappearing. No amount of cute drawings can save a site if the host isn’t solid!
The second challenge is that I LOVE to write, as is evident from the fact that I’ve written and published over 1,200 articles, but the technical part of blogging is a whole separate thing that is… not my favorite. As a result, I’ve been dependent on ineffective or uncommunicative technical support at lesser web hosts – which caused problems with site speed and user experience, thus stagnating my traffic growth and potential earnings.
Solution: Reggio Digital Takes Care of the Details So I Can Focus On Creating
Reggio Digital has been the answer to all my hopes and dreams as a blogger in search of a host. When I started with them, I was just launching DrawingsOf.com, and had my other sites with another host. Not only did Reggio Digital implement the most current technology to provide a fast and beautiful foundation for the site – all with quick response time and a smile – but Michael also took the time to teach me numerous new tech tips that my old-school blogging self had missed. He even showed me how to set up an online store! Every interaction with Reggio Digital made me feel empowered, enlightened, and supported.
That first site I hosted with Reggio Digital launched so well, that I moved my other three sites over there, too. Through all these years I’ve hosted my four sites with Reggio Digital, now, the company has cheerfully and rapidly fixed every issue that has come up, and has also assisted with implementing major upgrades in themes, speed, security and user experience – so that I can just focus on drawing ideas, writing, and Reiki. I have never before been so satisfied with a web host… and the results speak for themselves.
Results
What has been the result of hosting my four sites with Reggio Digital? In June of 2022, I was able to quit my teaching job of 18 years in order to focus full-time on my blogs! Two sites are now monetized and earning well, the fourth is happily bringing in bookings to my brick-and-mortar studio, and the third is growing robustly in traffic and headed for monetization, with a viral article on types of irony leading the way.
Being able to live off of my blogs, thanks to the solid foundation of Reggio Digital, has been life-changing. I can make my own schedule at last, and focus on the aspects of life that bring the most joy… like octopus drawing!
