New online service offers affordable fixes for small, startup companies
BY DAVID KRECHEVSKY
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
 WATERBURY — For small and startup companies that rely heavily on their Web
sites, hiring information technology staff usually isn’t an option. So when
something goes wrong with a Web site, it can be difficult — and expensive — to
get it fixed.
That’s why Michael Jones of Torrington and John Monteleone of Southbury founded
911websiterepair.com, a service offering “expedited emergency Web site
restoration.” For a flat fee, the service, based at The Executive Center on West
Main Street in Waterbury, provides tech¬nical assistance to help clients get
their Web sites functioning again.
“There is nothing worse for a Web site owner than to have his site down due to
programmatic issues or, worse yet, a hacking,” said Jones, a Web site and
business consultant. “Downtime not only results in monetary losses, but it can
affect short-term search-engine rankings and site traffic.”
Finding a programmer willing to drop everything to fix a site, and do so
affordably, is a problem, Monteleone said. “There are a couple of principles out
there on the Internet — people believe that everything is free, and that
everyone is an expert,” he said. “The facts are that everything is not for free,
and very few people are experts.”
FROM JAZZ TO WEB
Jones certainly qualifies, though he didn’t start out that way. A Hartland
native, he is a graduate of The Gilbert School in Winsted and of then Western
Connecticut State College. An accomplished trumpet player, he toured with jazz
groups and performed on three CDs with the New England Jazz Ensemble.
But while in Europe performing in the band with the international tour of the
musical, “A Chorus Line,” Jones fell ill and eventually “could¬n’t play trumpet
anymore.”
He instead pursued a fascination with computers, graduating from Porter &
Chester Institute in 1997. His first job was with Wallingford-based
cduniverse.com, where he worked on “search engine optimization” for the company.
Search engine optimization means improving a Web site’s ranking when computer
users conduct searches on the Internet; the higher a site is listed in the
search results, the more likely a consumer is to visit that site.
“I learned how Internet businesses work,” Jones said. “Af¬ter that I became a
consultant and went on my own in 2001.”
It was at cduniverse.com that Jones met Monteleone, who was the company’s chief
marketing officer. He said he and Jones hit it off right away, and have been
partners for several business ventures.
“Mike is probably one of the few guys that actually understands how search
engine optimization works,” Monteleone said. “He understands how to put together
a marketing plan for a Web site that works.”
Nanci Callahan Nivolo of Harwinton, who operates NCN Professional Skin Care,
said Jones helped her optimize her company’s Web presence.
“He’s a master,” she said. “I had been doing my Web site on my own ..., and
although I was doing OK, I wanted to take it a further step. Now I’m on page one
of every single major search engine for all of my keywords and phrases. He did
that for me.”
“Usually clients get all bogged down in ‘bigger, brighter, bolder, better’
methodology, which at the end of the day doesn’t work,” Monteleone said. “That
led to the genesis of 911web¬siterepair. com.”
BUYING BLOCKS OF TIME
Jones said he is paid well for his Web site consulting, but began finding that
clients couldn't afford to pay him to repair their Web sites, and he didn’t have
the time to do it. In addition, he said, most Web site repair services put
projects out to bid, which takes time, and they often won’t deal with what to
them are minor issues.
“American programmers don’t want to do one little task that will take five
minutes because it’s just not worth it to them,” he said. “And no do-it¬yourselfer
is going to pay somebody $40 to $100 an hour” to fix their problem.
911websiterepair.com instead has contracted with a company in India called
SecureNext. com, which provides programmers — all of whom speak English — who
can diagnose a problem and how to fix it. The two companies evenly split the
fees paid by clients.
“For $119, clients get a programmer for six hours,” he said, adding that longer
blocks of time can be purchased for larger fees, at roughly $20 an hour.
“Clients log into our site, purchase their level plan — which could be six, 18
or 24 hours — and then communicate directly with the programmer.” That’s how it
worked for Jon Truelson, owner of Tru Media in Hamden, a Web design and
development consulting business.
About a month ago he had a large project with a programming challenge “that
would have added nine or 12 or so hours to the process. Being aware that Michael
had created this project, I decided to kick the tires and see what results came
about.”
Truelson described the process of working with 911websiterepair.com as “very
streamlined,” but highly dependent upon “me, the client, communicating my needs
as clearly and concisely as possible.”
All communication was done via the Web site, which also maintains a history of
the information exchanges. After explaining what he wanted, Truelson said, he
got excellent results.
“The task was done very quickly, and I got exactly what I was looking for,” he
said.
Asked whether he had security concerns while dealing with programmers half a
world away, Truelson said he simply changed the access passwords to his Web site
when the work was completed. “It is incumbent on the client to know what they
are doing and have their own clear sense of security issues and how to deal with
them,” he said.
“That’s why the 911 site is so great,” Monteleone said. “This kind of work, a
lot of people in this country don’t want to do it. And what they want to charge
for it, the clients don’t want to pay. So there’s the conundrum. But
911websiterepair.com has basically solved it. It gives people a wide array of
services at very affordable prices.”
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