Sites
Snapshot
I’ve been blogging about travel at Adventurous Kate since 2010! I’m one of the OG travel bloggers – maybe geriatric travel bloggers is a more accurate term these days? – and I teach women how to travel safely and independently all over the world.
I’ve written about travel in 83 countries and all seven continents, and live in the Czech Republic today. But some of my greatest successes have been writing about travel in New England, where I grew up.
In 2021, I started my second site, New Hampshire Way, specializing in New Hampshire travel. This was my first leap into destination niche blogging, and I intentionally chose a small destination I knew very well to see how it would do. It went very well, and gave me confidence to keep going.
I’ve recently started my third site: Yes, Massachusetts! My goal is to publish new content like mad and get the site qualified for Mediavine sometime this summer, the sooner the better.
Challenge: Finding the Right Host for My Blog – My Journey from Cheap Hosts to Reggio Digital
Over the course of a decade I went through five different hosts for Adventurous Kate before landing on Reggio. Like most bloggers, I started with the cheap hosts, tolerated a lot of BS, and progressively upgraded as the site grew.
Then I got to the point where I was paying far too much for a premium host, and not receiving adequate support or benefits. I knew it was time to leap again, and Reggio made me a great offer. I’ve been here ever since!
Solution: How Reggio Digital Improved My Website’s Design, Speed, and Security
First off – I needed a redesign, badly. And I had had designs done before, but they ended up being too design-y, with more emphasis on style than substance. It didn’t have the speed I needed.
Reggio created a new, intuitive design that I can tweak on my own when I want to. It’s simple and it gets my readers where I want them to go.
Next up, I needed my Google Core Vitals improved. Reggio made lots of speed tweaks that massively improved my numbers.
And third, I had been paying for another premium service after my site got attacked by Russian bots a few years ago. Reggio took one look and told me they could do the same thing themselves – no further outside contract needed.
Results
I think the best thing is that my tech works and I don’t have to think about it at all anymore. I know the site is in the hands of people who know what they’re doing.
That means I get to free up more bandwidth for my brain. Which I need as I’m working on a million things at any given time!
Every time I need some tech help – a line of code installed for new software, or an alert from Google saying that the width of my site is too wide – I just forward Reggio the details and let them handle it.
I was even able to get New Hampshire Way on Mediavine within nine months. A lot of wonderful people deserve credit for that, like my assistant and writers, but a huge part of it is Reggio keeping my site fast so it ranks well in Google.
I’m excited for the next steps, and know Reggio will support me in my journey!
