diff --git a/cli/main.go b/cli/main.go
index 3a03906..35a4c0d 100644
--- a/cli/main.go
+++ b/cli/main.go
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ func main() {
 
 	wg := &sync.WaitGroup{}
 	for _, mon := range cfg.Monitors {
-		cfg.Logger.Printf(" Starting %s: %d seconds check interval\n - %v %s", mon.Name, mon.CheckInterval, mon.Method, mon.URL)
+		cfg.Logger.Printf(" Starting %s: %d seconds check interval\n - %v %s (%d second/s timeout)", mon.Name, mon.CheckInterval, mon.Method, mon.URL, mon.HttpTimeout)
 
 		// print features
 		if mon.ExpectedStatusCode > 0 {
diff --git a/example.config.json b/example.config.json
index 8b663cf..15d5882 100644
--- a/example.config.json
+++ b/example.config.json
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
       "threshold": 80,
       "component_id": 1,
       "interval": 10,
+      "timeout": 5,
       "expected_status_code": 200,
       "strict_tls": true
     }
diff --git a/monitor.go b/monitor.go
index d28d6f4..593bf5d 100644
--- a/monitor.go
+++ b/monitor.go
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ import (
 	"time"
 )
 
-const HttpTimeout = time.Duration(time.Second)
 const DefaultInterval = 60
+const DefaultTimeout = 1
 const DefaultTimeFormat = "15:04:05 Jan 2 MST"
 
 // Monitor data model
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ type Monitor struct {
 	Method        string        `json:"method"`
 	StrictTLS     bool          `json:"strict_tls"`
 	CheckInterval time.Duration `json:"interval"`
+	HttpTimeout   time.Duration `json:"timeout"`
 
 	MetricID    int `json:"metric_id"`
 	ComponentID int `json:"component_id"`
@@ -100,7 +101,7 @@ func (monitor *Monitor) Tick() {
 
 func (monitor *Monitor) doRequest() bool {
 	client := &http.Client{
-		Timeout: HttpTimeout,
+		Timeout: time.Duration(monitor.HttpTimeout * time.Second),
 	}
 	if monitor.StrictTLS == false {
 		client.Transport = &http.Transport{
@@ -213,6 +214,10 @@ func (monitor *Monitor) ValidateConfiguration() error {
 		monitor.CheckInterval = DefaultInterval
 	}
 
+	if monitor.HttpTimeout < 1 {
+		monitor.HttpTimeout = DefaultTimeout
+	}
+
 	monitor.Method = strings.ToUpper(monitor.Method)
 	switch monitor.Method {
 	case "GET", "POST", "DELETE", "OPTIONS", "HEAD":
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 1a9f1aa..b273079 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ Configuration
     "strict_tls": true,
     // seconds between checks
     "interval": 10,
+    // seconds for http timeout
+    "timeout": 5,
     // post lag to cachet metric (graph)
     // note either metric ID or component ID are required
     "metric_id": <metric id>,