Increase Your Notary Business—Part 1
by Sharon Hassler, President, Go Get Experts
Our goal at GoGetNotary is to help you increase your notary business. We believe you can take one giant step towards this goal by using your web page as the foundation for your marketing strategy. This 7-part series, “Increase Your Notary Business,” was created to help you maximize that effort.
There are free or inexpensive ways you can attract more visitors to your web page and increase the odds that prospects will contact you. We’ve tested various methods to determine the best results for our GoGetNotary members, and now we’re sharing some of these tips with you through this 7-part program.
“Having only one location online is like being a needle in a haystack; the trick is to have more needles.”
Make the Best First Impression
1. Let’s begin with the foundation: your professional profile online. This is, in effect, your online brochure, and it can be your silent salesperson promoting you 24 hours a day. Increasing traffic to your page is important, but that traffic may be worthless if your page isn’t impressive. Spend the effort to make this the best presentation you can. Give it the same time and attention you would an expensive printed 4-color brochure. Make an appointment with yourself right now to work on improving your web page within the next 24 hours, and mark your calendar to review your page every 3 months during the coming year.
2. Start with a zip code search. You need to know how you compare to other GoGetNotary members in your area. If they’re certified and you’re not, you need to get certified. If you’re new and they have lots of experience, get additional certification and training to beef up your page and increase your credibility. Concentrate on posting more “needles in the Internet haystack” to bring visitors DIRECTLY to your web page. Remember to regularly update your page with any items that will impress your potential clients, and do zip code searches to review other web pages and stay competitive.
3. Spend time on the description of your experience and customer service. Use a word processor to draft the text. Write in third person (Lori is…) not first person (I am…). Think about what would you say to a prospect who asks why they should use you. You may think there’s not much to say, that you handle a signing the same as every other notary. However, if you describe your service in detail and the other notaries don’t, you have the edge. Detail your notary experience and how previous experience in other fields relates to what you do today. Explain how you treat customers, how you pay attention to detail so customers sign correctly and don’t have to return for a second appointment, how you care about their schedules and convenience, how you know that notarizing documents can be stressful and you go out of your way to make your customers feel comfortable, how you stay up-to-date on changes to state notary law and industry technology… Doesn’t that sound like someone you’d choose to work with? The professional profile with the most information can convert more prospects to customers.
4. Include testimonials. Why? They increase your credibility. It’s not you saying you’re great…It’s someone else saying you’re great! If you’re working with mortgage companies, title companies, escrow companies, call your contacts there and ask them how they would describe your service. Take notes, then ask them if you can use their comments on your web page. The next time you’re completing a notarization, listen for what the customers are saying as you’re finishing up. Do they seem happy with the process? Are they saying you’ve made it easy or comfortable? If so, thank them for those comments and ask them if you can quote them on your web page. If they’re concerned about confidentiality, let them know you won’t refer to the nature of the documents and you can use just their first name and last initial or only initials and city. Keep your ears open and listen for praise you can turn into strong testimonials for your professional profile.
These simple steps are essential to making your online profile more effective. You don’t need a big website for results but you do need a web page that serves as a warm introduction, projects a professional image and instills confidence so you can convert web page visitors to customers.
©Copyright Sharon Hassler. All rights reserved. Sharon Hassler is president of Go Get Experts, LLC, owner and operator of GoGetRealEstate.com, GoGetLoan.com, GoGetNotary.com and GoGetEscrow.com. A former loan officer and real estate agent in Southern California, she served as Communications Manager for First American Title-Arizona for 11 years. For more about Sharon, visit GoGetNotary.com/Get/Sharon.