Welcome to Beyond the Build: Lessons from 15 Years in the Trenches

I’ve spent 15 years in the thick of development and marketing, coding websites, crafting campaigns, and wrestling with analytics. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. My name’s Josh Jones, and this blog, “Beyond the Build,” is where I’ll share those hard-earned lessons. It’s not about navel-gazing or tech nostalgia; it’s about giving you practical insights to take your digital efforts past the launch and into real results.

My journey started as a developer, hunched over lines of code, building websites from scratch. I loved the craft of turning ideas into functional, pixel-perfect realities but I quickly realized a site alone doesn’t cut it. A beautiful build without a plan is like a car with no engine. That’s when I shifted gears into marketing, diving into strategy, analytics, AI, and machine learning. Over the years, I’ve worked with startups, big brands, and everything in between, learning how to bridge the gap between tech and business goals.

What’s “Beyond the Build” about? It’s for anyone who’s launched a website and wondered, “Now what?” I’ve seen too many businesses stop at the finish line; great sites that gather dust because no one thought about traffic end engagement. My goal here is to unpack the strategies and tools that keep your digital presence alive and kicking. Expect posts on avoiding common pitfalls, adapting to shifts like the cookie-less world, and using data and tech to drive growth. I’ll draw from real experiences. Like the time a client’s flashy site tanked because they skipped content planning, or how a small tweak in analytics doubled a campaign’s impact.

This isn’t theory for theory’s sake. After 15 years, I’ve got stories, scars, and solutions to share. Whether you’re a business owner, marketer, or developer yourself, my aim is to give you something you can use: insights that cut through the noise and help you build not just a website, but a results machine. Let’s go beyond the build together.