Jonko.com is an automobile reference and opinion site that offers a variety of auto repair tips, tricks, and tutorials. The Jonko.com staff is comprised of a handful of motivated individuals who volunteer their time to create and manage the site. Unlike "real" e-commerce companies and dotcoms, Jonko.com is not losing money, near bankruptcy, or a penny stock. Also unlike a real dotcom, we are not paying our staff ungodly amounts of money. (We have been known to give away a T-shirt or two...) Anyway, at present, Jonko.com is a completely volunteer effort that pulls together folks who all share a love of cars and the community that can be built on the web. If you are interested in joining us, or contributing in anyway, please let us know. info@jonko.com

Our History
Jonko was launched in August of 1999 to capitalize on the growing web population and to sell a simple auto accessory called "Suspenders." "Suspenders" we're developed by my father, a mechanic for some 20 odd years, who was sick of having his fender cover fall off the car while he was working on it. So after years of fetching fender covers off the floor of the garage he created a simple accessory that would hold the cover in place.

After inventing "Suspenders," he decided he could probably make a few bucks if he sold them to other mechanics and handymen in the area. So he did. And soon enough he had sold several hundred pairs throughout NE Ohio where his garage is located. Buoyed by his local success, he wanted to sell more "Suspenders" in other areas. Unfortunately, with a garage to run full-time one has little opportunity to sell auto parts on the side.

That is where I come in. In one of many phone conversations I had with my dad post-graduation, he suggested I work on helping him sell these "Suspenders." I bounced some ideas off him, we went back and forth, and eventually settled on the web as a great place to get out the word. Sadly, neither of us had any real computer experience to speak of, and we didn't have a whole lot of excess capital to pay someone who did. That left me armed with a "Teach Yourself HTML" book and a weekend or two to figure this whole web thing out. I did, although not too well, and the first incarnation of Jonko.com was born. (Above right)

The pages we're simple and we featured the "Suspenders" and some basic auto tutorials to help drive people to the site. Although I spent hours cutting my teeth on the site, it was hardly a success. I think all in all we sold about 4 or 5 pairs of "Suspenders," throughout the 6 months the site was up.

During those 6 months I worked on my HTML and graphics skills and put together a new Jonko layout. This Jonko.com was a bit flashier, with navigation bars like the big sites and I was sure with our redesign we would begin selling "Suspenders" like mad.

We did have a few more sales but the bulk of our trafic came for the expanding tutorial base and the auto message boards that we added. Although slightly frustrated, I was happy that we actually had more people visiting the site and we're actually generating enough traffic to secure an advertising contract with Burst media.

The ads from Burst paid approximately $10/month. This was hardly substantial as our actual costs we're far greater than that but we figured soon enough it would work itself out.

In May of 2000, we launched the third version of Jonko.com which focused on more tutorials, more content, and pushing us more as an auto resource than as a seller of "Suspenders." We bought the domain JonkoIndustries.com to develop a small site for the "Suspenders" and related materials and decided to focus the new Jonko.com on Auto Repair Online rather than selling products.

While operating the third incarnation of Jonko we have added several more tutorials, loads of additional auto related content, and a new message board forum system. The third version saw our traffic reach new highs and our advertising revenue reach the point where they just cover our monthly hosting costs.

The site you are currently visiting is the fourth Jonko.com and is our most recent attempt at cleaning up and adding more. We have added several new sections and are also now selling our super great looking Jonko Auto T's online so you can let everyone you are web savvy and mechanically inclined all at once. Further, we will be adding a new photo gallery for user rides in the next few weeks to replace the old gallery and we hope to be able to dedicate more time to keeping the content fresh.

In a nutshell, that's us. If you like what we're doing here, let us know. If not, feel free to let us know as well. The site is constantly growing with the goal of becoming the ultimate online auto reference. You can help by making a contribution, writing an editorial, or joining our Auto Repair Forum.

Again, thanks for stopping by...

Jonko.com