Built different.
On purpose.
Untap Web is a Midwest web design and AEO agency that builds high-performance sites for local businesses on a monthly subscription. No $8,000 upfront. No separate maintenance retainer. One flat rate that covers everything.
Why We Exist
The local business web market is broken.
Agencies charging $8,000 upfront for WordPress sites built on shared hosting that score 45 on Google's performance tests. Owners locked into maintenance agreements that never produce results. No accountability, no KPIs, no transparency.
Untap Web is the fix. Every site runs on Next.js — the same framework powering TikTok, Twitch, and The Washington Post. We deploy to global edge CDNs so your site loads fast from anywhere.
We operate on a subscription model, so our incentives are permanently aligned with your growth. Based in O'Fallon, serving clients across the Midwest.
$8,000 upfront
Flat monthly subscription
Scores 45 on Lighthouse
95+ every build, guaranteed
Vanishes after launch
Monthly accountability built in
WordPress on shared hosting
Next.js on the global edge
"Trust us" on KPIs
Transparent metrics every month
The Founder
Twenty years in enterprise.
Now applied to your street corner.
Founder & CEO
Chris Melson
MBA · BS Computer Science · BA Management·Webster University, St. Louis
LinkedIn ProfileA Transformation Executive who spent two decades keeping global financial infrastructure running — then looked at the local business web market and saw the same failure patterns he'd spent his career diagnosing. The inefficiencies were obvious. The fix was straightforward.
20+
Years enterprise
LSEG · Reuters · Refinitiv
200+
Person division led
Global trading systems
$36M
In waste stopped
Single call on a distressed program
95+
Lighthouse score
Every site, every time
Career Arc
2005 – 2014
Thomson Reuters
Global Operations Leader
Built the company's first follow-the-sun support model
Automated deployment framework saved $10M. Open issues cut 83%.
2014 – 2018
Refinitiv / Blackstone
Transformation Lead
$20B M&A carve-out — 110-person team restructure
Operating costs cut 31% ($1.4M). Customer satisfaction rose from low 60s to low 90s.
2018 – 2026
LSEG
Global Trading Systems Head
200-person division. $8M+ P&L. Mission-critical infrastructure.
Attrition reversed from 40% → 6%. Critical response times: 300 min → under 20.
2026 – Present
Untap Web
Founder & CEO
Enterprise discipline applied to Midwest small business
The same structured analysis that diagnosed $36M in waste — now diagnosing why your site scores 45.
Full Background
At LSEG, Chris led the Global Trading Systems Support division: a 200+ person organization with an $8M+ P&L, responsible for keeping trading systems operational across global hubs. He reversed attrition from 40% to 6%, reduced critical response times from 300 minutes to under 20, and designed the consolidation strategy that eventually restructured how LSEG manages global operations. When a distressed $80M FX migration program was escalated to him, he made the call to terminate it — saving an estimated $36M–$50M in projected future waste. That decision required both the technical depth to diagnose the failure and the organizational standing to act on it.
At Refinitiv during the $20B Blackstone M&A carve-out, he led a 110+ person team through full restructuring — cutting operating costs 31% ($1.4M) while simultaneously raising customer satisfaction from the low 60s to the low 90s, without losing key talent. Earlier at Thomson Reuters, he pioneered the company's first global follow-the-sun support model and implemented an automated deployment framework that saved $10M and reduced open issues 83%.
Those outcomes require a specific combination: the financial discipline of a P&L owner, the technical depth to evaluate architecture decisions, and the credibility to drive change in environments where failure has real consequences. When he applied that same lens to the local business web market, the inefficiencies were obvious. Untap Web is the structured answer to that problem.
Our Methodology
How does Untap Web build a small business website?
Every Untap Web engagement starts with a diagnostic: where is your site losing customers right now? We bring the same structured analysis used on high-stakes enterprise programs to your local business, then build to fix the specific gaps we find.
When we evaluate your digital presence, we apply the same framework used to identify $36M in recoverable waste: Where is the architecture fragile? Where is the process creating invisible friction? What does the data actually show versus what an agency is claiming?
The answers shape a deliberate build — not a template. That is why Untap Web sites consistently score above 95 on Google Lighthouse, appear in AI-generated answer panels, and drive measurable lead growth — not just traffic numbers.
Diagnose first
We audit your existing presence before writing a line of code. Lighthouse, schema, NAP, competitor gap — documented and prioritized.
Deliberate architecture
Information architecture, schema markup, performance profile, and internal linking are engineering decisions — not theme defaults.
Accountable by design
The subscription model means every month is a performance review. Our incentives stay aligned with your growth — not just the launch invoice.
Expertise
Technical skills behind every Untap Web build
Get Started
Let's see what we can fix.
Free bid, no obligation. We'll show you exactly what's holding your site back.