“The Successful Notary” 3/07 Newsletter

by Sharon Hassler, President, Go Get Experts

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Hope you have plenty of signings with your Irish corned beef and cabbage!

SIGNING COMPANY DIRECTORY

Recently we talked with signing/title/mortgage companies to update our
Signing Company Directory and to add about 20 new companies to our list. Check out the list to see if you’re signed up with the companies we added. A few more are pending while they clear the comment section with higher-ups. (Updating this list is very time-consuming and we may move it to a members-only section in the near future.)

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NNA CERTIFIED/BACKGROUND SCREENED

While talking with title companies, one conversation that stood out was with Stewart Title. Their quoted policy now is they are only going to contract with notaries who are NNA certified and background screened. That was straight from the source. So even if background screening isn’t
required by the GBLA law, Stewart has decided to require NNA certification and background screening. Guess you have to decide how much you want to work with Stewart. We’re not making a judgment about this; we’re just reporting what we were told. (Of course, if Stewart needs a signing
handled and there’s no one in that area meeting this specific requirement… then what do they do?) Most other companies said they’re not requiring the background check… yet. One is working on offering the screening themselves so notaries don’t have to go through NNA. I’ll let you know as we hear from these companies.

Our question to you: Should we add a new Services category for you to check off for your page?
   (a) NNA Cert/Background Screened
   (b) Background Screened
   (c) Neither - No change to categories at this time.

ARTICLES

Reaching Number 1 in Google by Sharon Hassler, President, GoGetNotary.com. We were reminded recently of the power of a content-rich web page when our stats showed a visitor had landed on a member’s page after a search for these keywords: bayonet point notary signing agent. That page (Elaina Murphy’s) was Number 1 in Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL for those terms! If you’re not taking advantage of including good search terms (keywords) on your web page, you may be missing an opportunity for more business. Wouldn’t you like to have the top position or even appear anywhere on page 1 of Google? Here are some suggestions on how you can optimize your page for better search results…

Preparing the Closer/Notary Signing Agent Portfolio by Gerrie Pierre-Fleurimond, CNSA, Instructor, NotaryTrainer.com. We asked Gerrie to describe what materials to use to make a great first impression, and she provided a great article: The closer portfolio is an important tool for notary signing agents and title closers alike. If you are ever afforded the opportunity to interview with a mortgage or title company to determine if your services will be utilized, you must ensure that you are ready to make the best impression possible in a very short time frame…

More Signing Agent Marketing Tips by Hazzaa Kassis, Midwest Notary Association. Here’s an excerpt from an article entitle “Tips and Tricks” by this prolific writer. Understanding Marketing Basics: We often wonder why we lose our customers. Why some companies just never call us back. We have been doing business for them for quite some time, never made a mistake yet we don’t hear from them anymore. The difference between you and some of the most successful companies is “Marketing…”

More Tips for NON-LOAN Signing Notary Work by Laura Vestanen, Mobile Notary, Notary Signing Agent. Laura Vestanen has put together a book specifically for notary work outside of loan signings. (Yes, there is life without mortgages.) Here are just a few items she suggests in this excerpt from her book: Adoption Papers; Business Documents; Certification of Document Copies, Contracts, and Corporate Documents; Changes to Neighborhood CCRs; Documents for People in Jail or Prison; Documents Related to International Commerce; Government Forms…

Is A Business Plan Important for A Home-Based Business? by Kelly Robertson, President, LoanSigner101.com.
Kelly talks about getting of on the right foot: Once you decide to start a new business, you’ll find it’s a lot easier to stay on track with the “blueprint” you create. Originally, I called my plan, “The Working Plan” which basically answered the Who, What, Where, When and Why of my business. Start with something simple to make planning easy — a guide to help you process your thoughts and organize your research efforts…

NEW LOGOS AVAILABLE

In case you missed the update, we’ve added a couple more association/certification logos for your page, NNA Cert/Screened and APN&CSA. Next up, we’ll add MWNA, TheSigningRegistry, and 123Notary. Log into your page and select “Upload photo/logos” to post new logos on your page. NOTE: If you’re using the NEW NNA background screened logo, UNCHECK the OLD Certified logo. NNA says: DON’T POST BOTH but we want to leave the old one available.

BUSINESS CARD SAMPLES

These cards seem to be very helpful to new notaries or to veterans who want some new ideas. If you’d like your card included among the business cards samples our site, please email us a medium to high resolution scan and we’ll post it for you. (If the size if below 30k, it’s probably not going to reproduce well online.) If you sent your card and you don’t see it posted, please resend.

TESTIMONIALS

We would like to update our Testimonials page. If you’ve had success with GoGetNotary, please let us know and we’ll add your comments to our Testimonials page along with a live ink to your web page. By the way, I don’t always follow my own advice so I frequently miss the opportunity to take notes when a notary is thanking me for business received from our site or for the help our articles or other resources have provided. Not taking advantage of praise from a customer really is a missed opportunity!

NEW PRODUCTS

We’ve added info in our library on a few new products. Gerrie Pierre-Fleurimond has three ebooks, Prepare and Pass the New York State Notary Exam, Marketing Advice for Notary Signing Agents and Glossary of Terms for Title Closers and Mortgage Notaries. Linda Kassis of MWNA has created a video, Notary Signing Agent Training/Sample Loan Signing and a book (or CD), Signing Agent Manual. Visit our library to learn more.

NOTARY NETWORKING GROUPS

If you belong to a notary group holding meetings in your area, please email us with details on your group, upcoming meetings and contact info.

AS ALWAYS…

Let us know if you have any suggestions for improving GoGetNotary.com. We appreciate your feedback!

Learn how a GoGetNotary web page and listing can boost your marketing efforts and how easy it is to get your own unique domain name. Check out our Marketing and Featured Notary sections for tips on building your notary and loan signing business.