Business

By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.com
Business Writer
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WILKES-BARRE — Fresh from an established e-marketer where they held key posts, the team at startup Javaleaf is brewing its own brand of Internet marketing and design success.

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Two of the co-founders of Javaleaf, Brock Siegel, left and Ken Mohn Jr., brought their years of Internet marketing experience to the startup company.

BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

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The staff of Internet marketing and design company Javaleaf is small, but it will grow at the right time and at the right pace.

BILL TARUTIS photos/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

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Since leaving Pepperjam.com the co-founders of Javaleaf have settled on a plan to attract clients and expand beyond the neat second-floor offices on South Franklin Street.

“We didn’t leave to do this,” said Ken Mohn Jr., chief executive officer of the startup firm. But having talked about getting together he, Brock Siegel, chief marketing officer and Quinn Kavanagh, vice president of sales and marketing, put their words in action and talents and skills to work.

“We provide design and marketing services to companies looking to expand their local reach,” Mohn said.

Their focus is on local; be it a restaurant or professional service. Javaleaf says it can put its expertise and experience to work to drive targeted traffic to the client’s Web site. “Local Marketing. Caffeinated results,” reads the company’s slogan.

Getting local businesses over the mindset that the Internet is too far reaching for them or too expensive for a limited advertising budget is a challenge Javaleaf wants to take on, said Siegel, chief marketing officer.

Print, television or radio might be the media of first choice for some of their potential clients. “The Internet certainly provides them another piece of real estate,” said Siegel.

Costs of the company’s services depend upon the project. Web site design can be done at a cost of $1,500 and up. A simple template for a small business would be in the low end of the price scale, while a law firm seeking a customized design and site management services would cost in the high four-figure to low five-figure range, according to Mohn.

Similarly, marketing packages range from $400 a month and up depending upon the level of exposure sought by a client.

If the customer wants business cards, brochures or other offline services, Javaleaf can do that as well, Mohn added.

Their client search has taken them beyond Northeastern Pennsylvania. “We’re not limiting ourselves to the area,” said Mohn.

Local is what’s local to the client, like Miami, Fla. Speed boats cut through blue waters on a Web site under development by Derek Traver, director of Web services.

The work Mohn and the others are doing is much like what he did as a teenager. “In 1996 I received my first payment for sending traffic to a marketer’s Web site,” he said.

But to do the work today requires different tools and skills picked up along his career path. “The search engine I worked with back then no longer exists,” he noted.

Mohn taught math to middle-school students for two years after graduating from the University of Scranton. He held the position of vice president of search engine marketing at Pepperjam. “I learned more about the dos and don’ts of running a business,” Mohn said of his stint with Pepperjam. Javaleaf isn’t competing with Pepperjam for the same business, he pointed out.

“We are looking for customers who aren’t looking to compete on a national level,” Mohn said.

Kristopher Jones, Pepperjam president and chief executive officer, declined comment on Javaleaf.

Siegel, 28, former vice president of business development with Pepperjam, said that company’s market is high-end retailers.

“It’s more effective going after the local business,” said Siegel, whose background includes bar and restaurant management.

So far their venture is doing well, the partners said; they’ve met and surpassed expectations, including a critical one.

“We’re profitable,” Mohn said.

The plan from here is to grow at the right pace and the right time.

Costs of the company’s services depend upon the project. Web site design can be done at cost of $1,500 and up. A simple template for a small business would be in the low end of the price scale, while a law firm seeking a customized design and site management services would cost in the high four-figure to low five-figure range, according to Mohn.