Wizards in the world of Web updates?

Do you know of a small firm that launched its own Web site amid great inhouse fanfare, but didn't get around to regularly updating it? It's an all too common tale that a new company hopes to rewrite. J.D. Solomon, Loren Fisher and David Bergeland, all former journalists who worked at The Courier-News in Bridgewater, have set up one of the newest dot.com companies.

Launched on October 14, UpdateWizard.com of Somerville is a joint venture between Solomon, founder of JDS Strategic Communications of Westfield, and Eli' Multimedia of Somerville. Elf's founders are Fisher, technology director of UpdateWizard, and Bergeland, its director of client relations. Solomon is the partnership's director of sales and marketing.

UpdateWizard's niche is in its simplicity. It allows its clients to make changes on their Web sites. "We kept running into people who wanted to set up their own Web sites:' says Fisher, "but didn't have the time or the desire to learn how to keep them updated." UpdateWizard allows its clients to type in the information they want to place on their Web sites, using Microsoft Word files. Using a software code and a set of instructions, the files can be placed on the Web sites. Many clients prefer to transfer their Web site to the UpdateWizard server, from where the changes are incorporated seamlessly.

One such client is Union County Economic Development Corporation (UCEDC), a nonpro it organization in Union township. "For someone like me, having a Web site is in addition to my core function of marketing, promotion and public relations," says Dorian M. Tomace, business development officer at UCEDC. "What they did was to set up the original Web site for us and gave very simple instructions on how I could update it myself."

UpdateWizard's charges start at a one-time fee of $120 for small requirements, like updating a couple of pages, and can go up to $1,500. The client then pays a monthly maintenance fee of $45 or more to cover the cost of hosting the Web site and regular help with updating its content. Many of UpdateWizard's clients pay that maintenance fee in an annual, discounted lump sum.

Despite knowing that his product is not a high-tech wonder, Solomon feels the market for UpdateWizard's product is sustainable. "If I'm in the business of selling widgets and want to be on the Internet," he says, "I don't want to be in the business of designing Web sites for widgets." But it is also true that setting up your own home page on the Internet," is relatively simplemany popular Web sites have a little icon on the side that promise to tell you how to create your own home page. Fisher doesn't think his firm's offering is as simple as that. "Those are usually cookie-cutter Web sites where you fill out a formula," he says. "With UpdateWizard, you can take any Web site, any design and keep it fresh on a daily, weekly or monthly basis."

UpdateWizard's current half-a-dozen strong client base includes an educational technology firm, an environmental consulting firm and a nonprofit agency in Somerset that deals with community affairs. Another client is a community arts cinema in Long Island with a Web site that has fallen into disuse. Fisher expects nonprofit agencies to form the mainstay of his firm's clientele because, he says, "we keep running into them and they won't be able to afford hiring staff for updating their Web sites."

UpdateWizard already has some competition in its newfound market. Cranbury-based Fusion Advertising & Communications recently announced a similar product as part of a larger package. The company helps hospitals set up customized, interactive Web sites and provides updation tools. "A hospital's PR department could update its newsletter by simply accessing it through a Web browser using passwords and filling out a form," says Victor Scire, president of Fusion Advertising.

UpdateWizard, where Elf and Solomon are equal partners, aims to be profitable within 12 months. The firm is targeting profits of up to $0.25 million in three years. Solomon declines to specify revenue targets, but says that profit margins are high. "We are not dreaming of becoming another Amazon.com, or launching our own IPO," says Solomon. "We will be happy serving a small, loyal group of customers." With more and more organizations getting tech savvy, UpdateWizard's niche will have to offer increasing value to keep attracting customers.