Founded in 2003 by Jeff Mackey, SIX15 Solutions has helped over 120 businesses in Metro Detroit and beyond thrive online. With 25+ years of experience as a front-end architect and IT consultant, Jeff believes websites should be fast, functional, and profitable. His focus is on creating reliable, user-friendly sites that convert visitors into customers.
“Most firms focus on the technical, or the latest design trends. I realize that the technology being used is just a means to an end, and I make sure that the work we produce is chiefly aimed at making clients more profitable.”
As SIX15 grew, so did the challenges of managing websites across multiple hosting providers. Slow load times, frequent downtime, and clunky dashboards frustrated both the team and their clients. Jeff knew they needed a better solution.
That’s when he turned to Kinsta.
With its reliable, scalable hosting and intuitive dashboard, Kinsta helped SIX15 streamline operations and enhance their service, unlocking new opportunities for their clients.
Learn more about how Kinsta supported SIX15’s growth in our full case study.
Company overview
- Sector: Website Strategy, Development, Management & Marketing
- Company size: Jeff with a team of on-demand subcontractors
The problem
Outgrowing Media Temple’s capabilities
Initially, Media Temple served SIX15 well, supporting development environments and a manageable list of client sites. However, as their client needs evolved and started requiring faster, more secure, and feature-rich hosting, the hosting’s limitations became more apparent.
Media Temple’s reliance on clustered servers (“Grid”) made scaling difficult and confusing for many users, including SIX15. This infrastructure struggled to accommodate high-traffic sites, let alone the performance demands of ecommerce or complex applications.
“I was a long-time customer of MediaTemple (prior to their acquisition by GoDaddy). At the time, they served me well – I was able to have development environments and host a small list of client sites. But my business and client needs quickly outrun what they were able to offer.”
Limited site management options
Media Temple didn’t have the advanced management tools SIX15 needed as its business grew. Instead, it relied on control panels like cPanel and Plesk which are both functional but far from ideal for WordPress-specific hosting. These made managing SIX15’s expanding portfolio of client sites frustrating and inefficient.
Key features that could have streamlined their workflow—like staging environments, detailed performance analytics, and flexible backups—were either missing or overly simplistic. For example, testing changes required a manual, time-consuming process because there were no one-click staging environments.
The backup system was another pain point. Media Temple only offered daily backups with a 1GB size limit on its managed WordPress plans.
“Media Temple did not have the same level of website management options as Kinsta.”
Even routine tasks like switching PHP versions, optimizing databases, or setting up redirects required manual work or external tools. As Jeff put it, Media Temple’s tools simply weren’t built to keep pace with his team’s needs or the expectations of their clients.
The turning point: Media Temple’s shift in management and service focus
SIX15’s challenges with Media Temple were compounded by its acquisition by GoDaddy. This shift in ownership resulted in a service that no longer prioritized advanced hosting solutions.
“When Media Temple was sold to GoDaddy, I knew it was time to move on.”
As GoDaddy shifted to a mass-market focus, Media Temple became less valuable for small-to-medium businesses with growing needs. Features like uptime monitoring, DDoS protection, and Content Delivery Network (CDN) access came with high costs as add-ons, making it more expensive to operate.
It became clear for SIX15 team that it was time for a change.
The solution
“I was attracted to Kinsta’s straightforward marketing, no upsell pressure, and clean account interface.”
Intuitive and feature-rich all-in-one dashboard
One of the key reasons SIX15 chose Kinsta was its user-friendly dashboard. Unlike Media Temple that uses cPanel and Plesk, the MyKinsta dashboard is an all-in-one WordPress-specific dashboard that makes website management far simpler.
“Kinsta’s account dashboard has always been intuitive, making it easy to manage client site operations such as PHP version control, caching, CDN, and now DNS. Prior to Kinsta, my previous hosting vendor did not have the same level of website management options.”
The MyKinsta Dashboard offers an intuitive, centralized control panel with features like:
- PHP version control: Seamlessly switch between PHP versions to optimize site performance without manual intervention.
- Caching and CDN: Out-of-the-box caching tools and integrated CDN improve load times without requiring external configurations.
- DNS management: Simplified domain management directly within the dashboard ensures quicker updates and eliminates the need for third-party DNS services.
- Staging environment: Test changes in a safe environment before pushing them live, reducing the risk of errors affecting live sites.
“We take advantage of Kinsta’s CDN caching, domain DNS management, and my remote team has developer access into any client site configuration without the need for my involvement.”
Round-the-clock expert support
At Kinsta, we prioritize our clients above all else, no matter your plan or the time of day. Our expert support team is available 24/7, treating every issue as a mission-critical priority. For SIX15, Kinsta’s 24/7 support team has been a dependable safety net.
Kinsta support isn’t just convenient, it’s also incredibly quick. In fact, our average initial ticket response time is under three minutes!
In contrast, Media Temple falls short in delivering the same level of support without additional costs. Their support is tiered, with Advanced Support subscription services priced at $199 per month.
“The number one thing that impresses me the most about Kinsta is their top-notch Support staff. More times than I care to admit they have helped me out of a bind – fixing client site configurations, assisting with site migrations or restores, at all hours of the day.”
This kind of support not only saves time but also gives SIX15 the confidence to tackle bigger projects without fearing technical roadblocks.
Proactive monitoring with 480 daily uptime checks
Kinsta’s infrastructure features real-time uptime monitoring, with checks performed every three minutes, for a total of 480 times per day. This frequent monitoring allows the Kinsta team to quickly identify issues such as resource spikes or downtime, and often resolve them before they impact customers.
“I am currently hosting over 30 client websites on my Agency plan, from small marketing sites to full-blown membership sites with thousands of users, with zero issues or downtime.”
In addition, Media Temple provides uptime monitoring only as an additional advanced support add-on for $199 per month.
Fast and secure Managed WordPress hosting
Unlike shared hosting, Kinsta assigns dedicated resources to each site. This ensures consistent performance even during traffic spikes, which is crucial for large membership sites or e-commerce platforms with thousands of users.
“The main benefits of having client sites hosted with Kinsta are speed and security. Before moving to Kinsta, we would often be brought in to restore a hacked website, or work on projects with an outdated control panel, resulting in delayed timelines.”
Kinsta’s daily automated backups, along with advanced malware scanning and DDoS protection, have completely transformed how SIX15 manages websites.
With these tools in place, SIX15 no longer spends time recovering hacked sites or dealing with unexpected data loss. Instead, their team can focus on delivering results for clients.
Results
Building a thriving client base
When SIX15 joined Kinsta’s Agency Hosting Plan, they started with zero clients on the platform. Today they manage over 30 client sites, all benefiting from faster and more reliable hosting.
“All of them enjoy fast and reliable service and hosting, and several have expressed their gratitude for getting them off their previous provider.”
Clients are thrilled with the results. Kinsta eliminated late-night calls about hacked sites, constant downtime, and slow-loading pages. More importantly, Kinsta has helped SIX15 evolve from managing websites to becoming a true growth partner for their clients. This shift has transformed their business and allowed them to expand services, take on more clients, and simplify daily operations. As a result, SIX15 has strengthened its reputation as a trusted and reliable partner for all their clients’ website needs.
On the other hand, their clients get a hosting solution that fits their web hosting needs. Plus, their websites are faster, more secure, and easier to manage.
Creating a new service to drive growth
SIX15 is expanding beyond basic website management with the launch of its new ‘Website Growth Plans’. Building on the success of their existing ‘Website Care Plans’, this new service leverages the robust support of Kinsta to offer existing clients an enhanced package designed to further accelerate their online growth.
The ‘Website Growth Plans’ aims to help clients turn their websites into powerful tools for attracting customers and driving sales. It focuses on:
- Optimizing client websites to drive specific business outcomes (clicks, calls, or checkouts).
- Analyzing and optimizing the sales funnel to help clients turn website visitors into leads and, ultimately, customers.
A key feature of the new plan is Kinsta’s premium migrations. With technical migrations handled by Kinsta, SIX15 can focus on the bigger picture:
“The quick win for new clients will be the premium migrations offered by Kinsta so that I can focus on the client’s sales funnel and how an optimized website is part of that drive to more clicks, calls, or checkouts.”
The immediate benefit for clients is a website that performs better and supports their business goals. For SIX15, the ‘Growth Plans’ represent a new revenue stream and a way to deepen their relationships with clients by offering more value.
Offering a flexible approach to hosting
When SIX15 first joined Kinsta’s Affiliate Program in 2018, their main strategy was to refer clients to Kinsta for hosting. Clients managed everything themselves, and SIX15 earned affiliate commissions. This way, SIX15 could focus on design or development projects without getting involved in hosting. But as their client base grew, things got complicated.
That’s when they thought, why not just recommend Kinsta to everyone?
“I initially was not offering hosting services as part of a website project, but after dealing with multiple sub-par hosting companies and dashboards, I found that it was much easier to recommend Kinsta for client website work.
Strategically it made sense for the client – not having to worry about shared resources or a slow website on other provider servers, and easier for me to maintain with Kinsta’s website management account interface.”
SIX15 knew not all clients wanted the same thing. Some still preferred managing their own hosting, while others wanted everything handled for them. So, they adopted a flexible business model that adapts to different clients while keeping things simple on their end:
For hands-on clients:
- SIX15 continues to use Kinsta’s Affiliate Program to refer clients who want to manage their own hosting.
- These clients get access to Kinsta’s fast and secure hosting, and SIX15 earns commissions without being involved in day-to-day hosting tasks.
For clients who want full-service:
- SIX15 uses Kinsta’s Agency Partner Program to offer fully managed hosting.
- These clients don’t have to worry about anything. SIX15 handles it all from setup to maintenance.
By partnering with Kinsta, SIX15 found a way to simplify their work, offer better service, and grow their business. Whether clients want to manage their hosting or have SIX15 do it for them, this dual approach makes everyone’s life easier.
Conclusion
Kinsta has transformed the way SIX15 works. What used to be a stressful hosting setup is now smooth and scalable. Today, SIX15 manages 34 client websites with no downtime. Clients trust them for fast, secure, and reliable hosting.
With Kinsta’s Affiliate and Agency Partner Programs, SIX15 can offer flexible hosting options for every client. Their Website Care Plans have been so successful that they launched Website Growth Plans. These plans help clients turn their websites into tools that drive business growth. Thanks to Kinsta’s dependable support, SIX15 can focus on helping their clients succeed.
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