The Silicon Review
911 Website Repair is a Emergency Website Repair and Security provider for any open source PHP based content management system (CMS) website. The company offers website solutions for small to medium-sized businesses and individuals looking for affordable programmer options. The programming staff specializes in Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal and all PHP Based CMS platforms.
Featuring USA based management, programmers are on staff and 911WSR does not outsource to freelancers. With a 87% repeat customer rate, over 30,000 projects, 911WSR provides extremely complex and difficult repair work, upgrades, customizations, custom software, and full website development services. Where others have failed, 911WSR succeeds!!
In Dialogue with Michael Jones, CEO of 911 Website Repair:
What led to the inception of the company?
911WSR actually evolved! Originally, 911WSR provided website development only. Over time 911WSR started making components and plug-ins for WordPress and Joomla. Via our customer support service, when our plugins did not work for the clients, 911WSR discovered that most people’s websites were broken, and that to make our plugins work we needed to fix the clients websites. That got us into the repair business and 911 Website Repair was born. Then about 5 years ago, there was a rash of website hackings and instead of just fixing websites, 911WSR started malware removal services.
Once website malware is removed, clients need to secure the site to prevent repeated hackings. Using our skilled programmers, 911WSR created a software firewall which is now in its’ 4th version. SitesAssure Malware Removal And Website Security was born. Our firewall is not cloud-based. Unlike cloud based firewall’s our system does not manage your DNS or cache your site. Our staff will install, configure, and manage the security for you.
Our firewall is the alternative to cloud-based services. SitesAssure installs on the hosting account, and is independent of your CMS framework. SitesAssure evolved to answer the need for people looking for a non-cloud based alternative. Our current version has not had a single breach.
Can you talk about your first project? Was it successful?
Our first project was a website repair and it was extremely successful. People assumed they could make websites with the new content management systems released 13-14 years ago without any training. They thought they could just use plugins, with no programmer skills required. That is not true. They needed help and our 911 Website Repair business fit the need perfectly. People can make a site and just use 911WSR for help as needed for the sections they could not do. To date 911WSR/SitesAssure have provided services to over 30,000 websites.
As the internet grew so did the hackers. Hacking is actually an international consortium like a gang or mafia. In most cases hackers are not actually after the owner of the website. Hackers are after a global plan of just trying to bring down the internet and grab as much data as they can. Don’t take it personally as in 90% of hackings the attacks are automated. 911WSR/SitesAssure is able to not just clean these websites, but to secure them and that was very successful because people were happy they never got hacked again.
Additionally, unlike other companies, with our firewall, you get a warranty that if you were to be hacked again, we will clean your website for free. This warranty is because we know our product works. Nobody offers that.
Describe the pivotal factor that is instrumental for your customer retention.
After researching other security companies, the critical elements that were lacking were communication and timeliness. Companies have poor customer service and long response times. Many did not have phone support.
We have learned since we started in 1998 that communication is important! If you talk to your customer, even if things are going bad, but you tell them it’s going bad, you can build trust with your customer. We communicate and respond to every phone call and every email. Our staff reviews our customers’ work status every day. Many customers do not understand tech, so we keep it simple, keep them informed, and communicate. They just want to know what happened and what is being done about it.
Our callers state the same issues, “my developer dissappeared, does not answer the phone or email, owns the domain and websites” and have been to multiple companies who failed to solve problems. 911WSR does not dissappear, answers all calls, makes sure the customers own there domain, website and hosting, and fix the issues in a timely manner.
How do you manage the needs of this highly-volatile market?
We started off with website development, then software development, then website repair and then into malware removal and website security. You have to react to the needs of the market. The market is constantly changing and I know so many people whose companies are well known in the industry who are not diversifying and are not growning. A company cannot provide the same service they did 5 or 10 years ago because the technology has changed.
911WSR/SitesAssure identifies the current industry trends and problems, creates solutions and stays current by addressing those. Therefore, you need to keep changing your service model. That’s how you grow. That’s how you make a change in your business. If you don’t adapt, you are not addressing your customers needs.
Brief us about your latest product that is getting ready to be launched.
We have new products. First, a new malware scanner plugin for WordPress and Joomla. Also, our firewall is different than others because a malware scanner is integrated in the firewall. A website can be scanned internally, without using the hosting company or a third party service. Our new products will print a issues report for WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.
Another product is what we call “Mail Order Manager”. A component addon for Virtuemart. “MOM” gives a customer service rep the ability to enter phone orders on behalf of the customer. Customer information, product search, ordering, billing, shipping, and more can be done in one easy to use interface.
911WSR has also developed proprietary software such as a HRM Program, Real Estate MLS/IDX software, Restaurant Ordering, and Hotel Management Reservations/CRM software.
What is the future roadmap for the company?
I believe that we are well positioned right now. However, everything is changing; especially technology and I feel having a tremendous growth path and adapting to these new technologies before other companies can is essential. Many companies consist of freelancers and are not scalable. Everyone wants security and our company provides that with knowledge. In our environment, we don’t rely on one person, we work as a team, we have meetings every day and we share our collective knowledge and we teach each other. As a result, our growth has been tremendous and will continue to be tremendous in the next 5 years.
An Illustration of Success: Client Testimonies
“I have used this company twice. Five-star service. My website crashed and they remotely repaired it in the course of a day. My call was courteously answered (no prompts, an actual human). No stress.”
- Lauri Herman, Martha Vineyard
“We originally contracted 911 Website Repair to modify an existing Joomla component. We were so impressed with their professionalism and quality of work that we also had them perform some very complex VirtueMart customizations. We couldn’t be happier with the results and would recommend them to anyone!”
- Rob Jones, Atlanta, Georgia
“By operating directly at the web application level, SitesAssure Software Firewall takes the concept of a web application firewall out of the realm of complex server setups and all that they entail.”
- Sam Barrow, CEO, Squidix Web Hosting