October 1st. The start of the 4th quarter of 2019. And a new beginning for this business. Hello and welcome. My name is Jeff Mackey, and I’ve been running SIX15 Solutions, LLC as a “side business” to my day job since 1999. That all changed on Friday, September 13th (no coincidence there I assure you!) […]
A New Journey Begins Continue Reading »
Pia Silva recently published an excellent article on Forbes regarding company email newsletters, and how most of them simply suck. Despite the harshness of the article, she points out that email marketing STILL beats social media for ROI on customer outreach. Companies make the mistake of bundling up a bunch of links, or about us
Don’t Email Just Another Newsletter Continue Reading »
If you’ve ever researched a product, service, or productized service online you may have been presented with one, two or most likely three options on the pricing page of their website. Those options are typically titled something like ‘basic’, ‘pro’, ‘advanced’, or ‘bronze’, ‘silver’, ‘gold’. Additionally, those options list out what’s included for that option,
Comparing Pricing Models Continue Reading »
It’s 2017, so I’m assuming your business has a website in some form or another. But is that website helping your business or hurting it? Do you know? Well, if your website has images that won’t load, or take a long time to load, you’re frustrating your visitors. It’s been said that close to 40%
Do These Things If You Want Your Visitors To Leave Continue Reading »
I was recently asked by a colleague if buying email addresses from a third party was legal and/or ethical to do when trying to grow an list for email campaigns. She has a client that is targeting a specific market vertical, and rather than trying other avenues for growing their email subscriber list, they found
Is Cold Emailing Legal? Continue Reading »
Websites should work and be frustration-free. SIX15 challenges the typical web design experience by having a proven process. One that results in a website for your business that is easy to use, functional, and effective. Remember the three R’s from your childhood? “Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic”: Well, in my world, here’s what it means for
Let’s Work Together Continue Reading »
Say you love working with WordPress, or love working with Squarespace, or love working with Shopify. Pick a technology platform; it doesn’t really matter. Being an expert in your craft does not make you an entrepreneur. As a kid I loved playing with Lego bricks. The bigger the Lego set, the better. I’d make entire
Here’s the Part of Being an Entrepreneur That No One Tells You About Continue Reading »
A few years ago, when my WordPress-based website firm was ramping up business I found myself recreating the same template files over and over. Starting with the same base and customizing as needed for the specific client need. After a short while, I discovered Foundation by Zurb, a mobile-first HTML framework that is easily modified
Creating and Using My Own Baseline Theme? Not Anymore Continue Reading »
When I first starting making websites for clients, I would take on almost any type of project. And like most web designers, I was under charging and not realizing it. People in our industry tend to be tech focused first and not business focused. We don’t fully understand the proper way to run businesses, to
I Don’t Offer Discount Codes or Promotional Pricing. On Purpose. Continue Reading »
I’d like to think that with each new successful website project, whether it’s for an existing client or a new client, I learned something new. The key of course is to take that new knowledge and merge it into my process, and better yet form new habits for continual improvement. One lesson I am always
A Few Quick Lessons Learned From You, The Customer Continue Reading »
SIX15 aims to make websites that are frustration-free. And by that, I mean not frustrating the visitor with a site that loads slowly or has text too small to read on a mobile device, or has a link to a huge PDF file for a menu. And frustration-free for the website admin — allowing for
Your Website Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful To Be Effective Continue Reading »
Every WordPress developer has their go-to list of favorite plugins they install on each site they develop. Each has a (and should!) have a singular purpose to solve a specific problem or handle functionality specific to the client’s business need. No plugin should be installed “just because other sites are using it and I want
WordPress Plugins I Install on Every Business Website I Create Continue Reading »
Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. If you as my client have to ask me for a status report or an update in the project, then I have failed you. When I start a new client project, I have a list of tasks already defined — based on project type — in a template that I kick off
How I Think About Project Management Continue Reading »
I have been asked if I would ever take on a client that had different political, religious, or ethical views from my own. While that is a loaded question and almost too taboo to talk about, I don’t mind diving into the subject. My answer is in fact I have already done so, in more
Would I ever code something I don’t agree with? Continue Reading »
So if you didn’t already know, I volunteer some time and advice to the local Oxford School District’s Information Technology Advisory Board. It is a collection of local business owners in the IT related industry that meet semi-annually with faculty and students from Oxford High School. The district is looking to us for guidance in
Wix Being Taught in High School Web Design Classes? Dear God, No Continue Reading »
So you just launched your new website. Great! Now what? You may think you’re done. You’d be wrong. There are four things you should regularly focus on (or have someone do it for you) for your website in order to keep it happy and healthy — making sure it accurately and effectively represents you and
The 4 Things to Focus on for Your Website Continue Reading »
If your website is powered by WordPress (and honestly, why wouldn’t it be?), then there are some important security considerations you have to take in order to make sure your website is hack-proof. The first is hosting. You know then cliche, “you get what you pay for”. Well, that especially applies to website hosting companies.
Avoid These WordPress Website Mistakes Continue Reading »
Yes, there are literally thousands of great looking website designs available for purchase and download from places like Themeforest.net. You can have one of these designs up and running for your business, or better yet have one customized for your market, in a few weeks or less. However, the catch is you’re relying on the
Your Website Visitors Need to See These Things On Your Website Continue Reading »
Having a website is not enough these days. You must keep an eye on its performance and regularly check to see if it’s giving you the return on investment you’re expecting. There are four areas to focus on to make sure your site is set up for optimal conversions: Offer Call to Action Form Trust Visual Hierarchy
Does Your Website Pass The Test? Continue Reading »
Full Price or Free. That’s the advice I’ve heard about billing for client work. Working for family, friends, or a non-profit? Full Price or Free, no “discounted billing”. When you discount your full-price invoice, you’re cheating yourself, and cheapening our industry. I have done plenty of work for charity organizations in the past, and given them
Everyone has an opinion on freemium. Here’s mine. Continue Reading »