Note: If you can read the posts on our new site on your smartphone, but not on your computer, laptop, or tablet, please empty your cache, and you’ll be able to see us on those devices. If you don’t know how to do this, please email me with the operating system you use (Windows, Chrome, Safari, etc.), and I will send you easy step-by-step instructions. Voila! The problem will be solved!
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| The staff at the reception desk are helpful and friendly, maintaining their cool when disgruntled guests complain about the WiFi charges. |
Today’s photos are from this post on August 26, 2014, while we were in South Kensington, London, England staying in the lovely Regency Hotel. To maintain the continuity of the dates of the past photos we’re sharing, today’s hotel images may not be as attractive as those in the past and those upcoming in the future.
But, today’s post is not so much about England and more about the process of working with our fantastic web developers over the past few months, ironically located here in India. Here is some information about the company below:
“We are a digital marketing agency that specializes in optimizing websites to increase their visibility by improving their keyword rankings on search engines and promoting businesses on the social media platform to generate popularity and help establish them as a Brand. Our services include SEO, Social Media Marketing, PPC Marketing, Website Design and Development, Social Media Management, Hosting, Content and Maintenance, iPhone and Android Mobile Application, and many more.”
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| Although our room is more significant than a ship cabin, it’s small, as shown in this photo. |
Almost a year ago, Kate, our dedicated representative and web developer, contacted me by email. Each year I get dozens of inquiries from such companies, asking us to work with them. With Blogger instituting many changes and the editing issues we’ve been experiencing for years, we knew we had to make a change.
Also, our prior web developer had long since gone out of business, and we had no one to ask when we were presented with issues. Also, our advertisers needed a new look as well as updated links. Long ago, when our former company suggested we switch to WordPress, a popular blog posting platform used by millions of businesses worldwide, I refused to do so when I feared long delays in making the transition and in losing the stats and readers we’d accumulated over the past eight years.
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| The lobby lounges are pleasant and comfortable. WiFi wasn’t available in the room. |
When Blogger sent a message stating their platform was making changes in July 2020, we decided it was an excellent year to make the difficult transition. Also, we noticed Blogger was incompatible with many smartphones, making our site and our archives challenging to read and manipulate. This resulted in the necessity of posting a procedure for viewing our site on the phone at the top of every post, which is now no longer necessary. Our new phone platform is seamless and easy to view and manipulate.
Although Kate and I only communicated by email, there was something special about her responses to my endless questions. Ironically, when we first communicated almost a year ago, I had no idea their company who’d revised our site was located in India, one of many sister locations of the worldwide company, The SEO Company USA.
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| The hotel’s exit to the street. |
It was only when we finally started working together in May, while already in lockdown in Mumbai for two months, that I put two and two together and realized that Kate and her company were located in Mumbai, not too far from our location. Small world. We couldn’t have made a better choice.
I would admit that the process would have been more straightforward if we had started a new site from scratch. Add the fact that I wasn’t the easiest person to work with under these circumstances: demanding, bossy, impatient, and persistent, making this process all the more challenging by my impatience, and constantly worrying about being able to continue to post to ensure our worldwide readers could continue to see new posts daily. This added to the stress of getting this accomplished.
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| An additional lounge area in the lobby. |
However, Kate and her support developers remained calm, communicative, and patient with me throughout the detailed process. At times, I felt I was “yelling” in email messages. And yet, Kate and her staff remained steady and reassuring. Of course, the most challenging part has been in the past ten days when my dear sister Susan passed away in the middle of the night when only hours before we were going “live.”
A lack of sleep and the profound grief attributed to my persistence and impatience over this past week and a half, the most challenging time in this process. Had these dates not coincided, I am confident I could have stayed calm and patient, my usual demeanor. At that point, my only worry would have been getting the new posts uploaded daily to reassure our readers.
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| The lower-level dining room in the hotel where we had the included breakfast. |
The concept of moving over almost 3,000 posts, and thousands of photos, was an outrageously complicated and time-consuming process, unheard of in the majority of most blogs and website development. We are in awe of our chosen company’s expert knowledge and determination in accomplishing this monumental task. All of our archives are organized and easily found and viewed in the links on the right side of the home page.
As of now, we’ve worked through most of the “kinks” and edits, and both Tom and I are confident we made the right choice. Kate and her company will continue to provide service over the first year at no additional fees if we request any changes or corrections.
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| The bar and lounge area adjacent to the dining room appears comfortable and inviting. The bar and restaurant staff have been kind and helpful in providing us with ice as we requested. |
I won’t post the cost we’ve paid for this service. Each blogger/company’s needs are different, and the service is priced accordingly. But, I must add, we can’t imagine we would have been provided better pricing by any company in the world. The endless hours they worked, days, nights, and weekends, were beyond my comprehension. The prompt response to my endless inquiries made me wonder if Kate ever slept. She was always right there beside me through this process.
Should you have any website design, development, and optimization needs, this is the person and the company to contact:
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| Luckily, guests can enter through the front of the building as the work is being done. |
Photo from one year ago today, August 26, 2019:
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| Arriving across the bay in Falmouth, England, we captured this view looking back to our holiday house. For more photos, please click here. |