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January 29, 2011

He stopped advertising with us because he got too much business?

Filed under: Advertising — admin @ 9:47 am

I rarely have situations like this. But, once in a while I call one of the more seasoned Notaries and they don’t want to advertise for various reasons. It takes a long time in this business to get so much business that you don’t need to advertise. Normally those people have been doing this at least fifteen years before they are in that type of situation. Yes folks, it does take a long time to get established as a Notary Public. I only was a signing agent for six years, so I never got fully established.

In any case, when I called this person, he said that he used to be a corporate executive vice president of a corporation. He quit his job to become a Notary Public. He got so much business from our site that he couldn’t advertise any more because he couldn’t handle all of the calls.

However, business dropped so much in the last year, that he wanted to continue advertising and I was able to sell him an upgrade. He still gets lots of work, but from people who don’t pay him enough and he wants to attract some higher paying clients. Don’t we all? In any case, it was nice to get such a serous and fun client back. But, I am amazed that in 2018 he is getting six or more jobs per day, almost every day?

If you want to know a good background for being a successful mobile notary, try being a vice president of a business. That will make you sharp on being business-like. He also gave me the oddest compliment. He liked that I spoke in complete sentences which made me start to wonder…. Do other people use partial sentences? Don’t know. Doesn’t matter. Never thought about that.

In any case, if you want to get too much business, advertise on 123notary. But… make sure you have reviews. Reviews are a magnet on any site to get more positive attention.

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January 27, 2011

How do you get reviews if you have multiple listings?

Filed under: Popular on Linked In,Reviews — admin @ 10:39 am

When people want additional areas on 123notary, there are different ways to sell it to them. I can put another area on their basic listing and give them high placement in that other area. Or, I can sell them a completely new n# in another county. The people who get a separate listing tend to renew these spots more in the long run. However, they get mad because the reviews from the original listing do not show up. So, what is the solution?

As I am looking for unique content on each listing, I want reviews to be organic to each listing. When people copy the reviews from one listing to another, the dates show up from the date they did the copying. Having five reviews from December 14, 2015 looks very cheesy. So, I allow the Notary to copy their favorite review. And I will copy another review on another day. That way they can start with two reviews that do not show up on the same day. Additionally, since these reviews are the best two out of how ever many they have, those reviews will carry a lot of weight.

A well written relatively current review is worth a lot more to the users than some dried up review from 2012. People will think you are washed out if you only have old reviews. So, having two new reviews is worth a lot. Then, you can get some new organic reviews on top of that. You only really need six reviews to do well on 123notary. After six, the return is very marginal if any.

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January 26, 2011

Clarifying vague claims in your notes section

Vague: I am experienced
Better: I have signed a million loans including reverse mortgages, HELOCS, 1st & 2nd mortgages, and Debt Consolidations

Vague: I am dependable
Better: I always confirm the signing from my car. I let them know my ETA and let people know if I am running late (which is not the norm)

Vague: I am meticulous
Better: I always triple check my work and make sure that my stamp is clear, especially on recorded documents.

Vague: I love people
Better: It is so nice to constantly be meeting new people all the time at signings.

Vague: I love animals
Better: I always introduce myself to all of the animals at a house when I do a signing. Animals understand me — and if you don’t believe me then ask them!

Vague: I am detail oriented
Better: I am very particular about where each initial goes, and how it is formed. I like people to put suffixes on their initials such as Jr. or III when applicable just to be thorough.

Vague: I am very professional
Better: I wear business casual to all signings. I introduce myself at the door and NEVER park in the driveway unless requested to by the borrowers. I introduce the documents one by one and show the borrowers all critical information on each one, before we start signing.

Vague: I have a flexible schedule
Satirical: My schedule is very flexible because IT does yoga. I do not do yoga, but my schedule takes regular yoga classes at Bikram, so I can accommodate signings at the oddest of hours.

Better: I am available from 8am to 10pm, but will consider signing after that if given advanced notice and extra financial compensation.

Vague: 10 years of notary experience
Specific: 1000 loans signed (more more informative)

Vague: I have 20 years in the financial industry
Specific: I was a Mortgage Broker for 10 years and a Title Officer for another 10 years.

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January 23, 2011

Bad Notary Reviews and the Law on the internet

I am not an Attorney, and this blog article does not constitute legal advice, but only my experience talking to Attorneys as well as “practical” advice.

Many internet sites have review systems.
Yelp, RipOff Report, 123notary, Travelocity, and others. People who get a bad review sometimes get upset and want to sue. The question is, who can you sue, and how hard is it? What I have been told (consult an Attorney for a “real” opinion) is that the sites that publish reviews are off the hook. The law protects their right to publish information that someone else wrote regardless of whether it is true, false, based on evidence, or not. However, you do have the right to take legal action within a time frame of perhaps a year or several years depending on your state based on the Statute of Limitations. You would need to contact an Attorney to see what that time frame would be.

The Statute of Limitations
On the other hand, if a slanderous statement is published on the internet which just sits there, even if it had been there for years, you could claim that since it is still being “published” that it is within the time restraints of the statute of limitations and perhaps a judge might buy that (good luck.)

Who can you sue?
If you want to sue someone, you need to go after the individual who wrote the review and NOT 123notary or whomever published it. Step one is to find out who they are which an Attorney can do. You need to know their legal name and address, etc. You can have an Attorney write to them and try to get them to take the review down. If you sue them, it is likely that they are broke, especially if they write in broken English like so many do. So, good luck collecting.

How much will it cost?
But, you do have rights. It might cost you $5000 just to establish the identify of the individual who wrote the review. It might cost another $10,000 to go after them depending on who you hire, what state you are in, and how good the Attorney is, etc.

Bad Notary Reviews?
Very few Notaries on 123notary get bad reviews — only about two per month. However, most Notaries are paranoid that it will happen to them and that their life (as they know it) will be over. Notaries with bad reviews stay in business and do not lose that much market share. What they do lose is their pride more than anything else.

So, for Notaries, you should just leave the Attorneys alone and forget about it. Just write a rebuttal and wait for three years and I’ll remove it. Cover up your bad review with good reviews. If you have ten good reviews and only one bad review at the bottom of the stack, people will see the bad review in proportion or might not even read it at all. A bad review will not ruin you life. Just deal with it like a pro instead of making it worse and provoking a huge conflict with 123notary. After all, it is not our fault you got a bad review. Also, should we disable our entire review system just because one Notary complained bitterly about a bad review and threatened to sue. If we removed his/her bad review we’d have to do it for everyone and then we wouldn’t have a review system at all. Review systems are a very practical way for the publish to defend themselves from bad service providers.

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You might also like:

Common complaints we get about Notaries
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19399

123notary’s comprehensive guide to getting reviews (mentioned above)
This guide includes many supplemental and highly relevant and helpful links.
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16290

Notary Marketing 102 – your notes section
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19788

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Notaries on Facebook groups — the blind leading the blind

Filed under: Social Media — Tags: , — admin @ 10:31 am

I hear this from multiple sources. There are a lot of Notaries on a lot of private Facebook groups who get together and bash people. I am one of the people who gets bashed the most because those Notaries were rude to me or failed my test, or both. If you are rude to me, I normally let it slide the first time, but if you just don’t stop, then I get forceful in return and then the Notaries who receive my reciprocal wrath run to Facebook (like babies) to slander me. This is a pattern that has been going on a lot in the last year, and somewhat less before that. You can’t just cause trouble, run away and stab someone in the back online. Those type of people get kicked off my site, get no work and drop out of the industry — it is their karma.

Asking Questions on Facebook
Since bad Notaries hate me, and wouldn’t turn to their Notary Handbook for knowledge if God himself told them to at gunpoint, they resort to Facebook. I do not monitor my personal Facebook group, so asking questions there will get responses from those who do use it. This is a nice network for discussions and opinions, but not for law and practices related questions. Here is why asking questions on Facebook is a bad idea.

1. You do not know the competency or level of experience of the person answering you. Even those with 20 years signing experience fail my test the majority of the time. So, the more experience you have, the worse you usually are. You get stuck in this industry since no other industry will have you. You don’t even know the identity of the person you are corresponding with on Facebook either.

2. People who use Facebook will give you wrong answers to Notary questions more than half the time and probably give you bad marketing advice too.

3. People on Facebook do, however know where their business is coming from (if they keep track) and what the gossip is about who is paying, and who is mean (I am generally on that list even though I am nice to those who treat me with respect which is a factor never considered by slanderers.)

4. People on Facebook can tell you what their experience is. They might not interpret their experience in a way that makes sense, but they know what they experienced, and whether they liked it or not.

5. I recommend against asking technical questions on Facebook. The NNA, your Notary Division, or perhaps 123notary (we do not know state specific laws though.) are not bad entities to ask notary questions. 123notary steers people in the right direction all day long in many aspects of the notary profession. But, those on the private groups on Facebook choose to ignore our help which is free of charge and bash us instead. It tells you what type of people you are dealing with on the private groups.

Basically, private groups on Facebook are for frustrated low-IQ people to commiserate, bash people and exchange a lot of erroneous technical notary knowledge. I recommend that your first recourse is to consult your state notary handbook. The NNA might still have their hotline which has state specific knowledge. There are notary law primers available for most states. Additionally, there are many articles online about various notary topics — but beware, those articles might also have wrong or outdated information. So, if the information is for a job that has legal liability, your state is the only official source for up to date and correct information — not Facebook.

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January 22, 2011

How to write an email to ask for a review

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , — admin @ 11:02 pm

It is so important to have reviews on your notary profile. Most notaries don’t have a single review, but the people high on the list typically have a few. Notaries are shy and don’t always know how to ask for a review. Here are my tips.

(1) Don’t ask anyone for a review unless they compliment you on what a great Notary you are, and perhaps how thankful they are. If they mention how you are so much better than those other notaries, that is a good sign. If they like your service — ask for a review. Otherwise, don’t waste your breath.

(2) If they like your service ask them, “Would you mind writing a one sentence review about my service on 123notary.com? It’s easy.” If they say sure, then tell them, “I can show you how to do it, or I can send you an email.”

(3) Next, you need to write down their email. Remember, that asking verbally and then following up with an email is a good combined approach. Doing one without the other is much less effective. I call it the old 1-2.

(4) Writing the email.

Dear Samantha,
I am so glad you enjoyed my Notary work. I enjoyed working for you too, and hope that I will hear from you in the future. I’m only a phone call away. If you would like to write a review about me, just click on this link, and fill out your name, email, company name, and write a quick sentence or two.

http://www.123notary.com/notary-review-input.aspx?id=62487

(5) I put the link to Carmen’s review page. But, if you look at your personal page on 123notary.com, right above your NAME, you will find the link that says, “Write a review about (your name)” Just cut and paste that link into an email and you are set.

(6) Problems.
I get emails once a week claiming that their client wrote a review about them, but that I am at fault for not publishing it. If I am in town, I publish reviews daily. I get a huge SEO benefit from each review so trust me — I have no reason not to publish your review. If I am out of town, you might have to wait five days or so until I get to a computer. I work very hard and need to leave town to clear my head in the mountains or desert. Sometimes people say they wrote a review when they didn’t. There is no proof here.

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You might also like:

123notary’s comprehensive guide to getting reviews
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16290

Don’t ask for a review at the wrong time!
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=15800

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Cattle call Notary offers

Cattle Call Notary Offers
Do you Moo? Actually it’s more of a sheep call than a cattle call. Cattle are rather large and both genders can be a handful when riled, ask any cowhand. I would have preferred to title this blog “Sheep Call Notary Offers”, but the commonly used term will suffice, and it worked to get your attention; as you can’t deny that you are indeed reading this. Sheep are wonderful animals, so gentle and trusting. They baaahh a bit when you shear their wool, but that’s the extent of their complaining. Unlike cattle that like to roam individually, the sheep tend to herd together; they are so easy to manage! I’m sure some are aware of “leg of lamb” and “mutton chops”, but they choose to ignore their ultimate fate.

I just received still another of the Sheep Call notary offers. It has the usual “we pay xx$”; really? I love our free market democratic form of government. There is nothing wrong with some firm sending me a solicitation to buy their product for xx$. But the reverse offends me. By reverse I am referring to solicitation for my services that try to price set for me. They got it back asswards. It is the seller who sets the price and the payment terms. With my notary services I, not they, am the seller. I set the price and payment terms. To put it bluntly, it’s my way or the highway.

My name is http://kenneth-a-edelstein.com not “Undisclosed Recipients”. My self image, regular readers already know this; is more like a Lion than a Lamb. Many prefer to deal with docile manipulateable sheep. I know, when the rent is due you are against the wall and tend to shed your Lion’s attire for a cloak of wool. The callers are very astute at voice reading and want to be able to control their notary. Sometimes to a level of detail that goes beyond the offensive. If you absolutely must “play lamb” for a while, so be it. But work quickly at formulating a plan that allows you to shed the wool and return to Lion attire.

Back to the offensive solicitations. My general response is to state my fee and that I am available for the assignment. I add that PayPal payment is required prior to printing the edoc. That is a real “turn off” to the bottom fisher. Actually I find my response much more efficient than asking for an “unsubscribe”. I don’t want to be bothered, or offended by receiving such tripe. Truth to tell, sometimes I step a bit “over the line” in my response. I have a cute cartoon graphic called KMA.JPG. Sometimes I send it as a response to cattle calls. The acronym’s first letter stands for the word “kiss”. If you want a copy just send me an email. It would be great if all notaries sent the soon to be infamous kma.jpg in response to these lowballers.

Sure we are all notaries. But, poise, character, image, and deportment differentiate us. Your feeling of self worth, backed by your training and skills are what sets you apart. The fact that you are a member of 123notary.com is a strong indication that you, unlike most notaries; really know what you are doing. There is a good chance that your 123notary.com listing is the reason that you were included in the email directed to the flock of sheep. But, show them wrong!

Frankie Valie and the Four Seasons recorded “Walk Like A Man” (or Woman) and that is what you should be doing. Cattle / Sheep call emails are mass attempts to demean notaries. They are an offer for bottom dollar, collection grief, late docs and an extended lesson in being micro managed. The only thing these people deserve is what the herd leaves behind when it passes.

You might also like:

Read about lowball notary fees
http://blog.123notary.com/?s=lowball

Witnessing intake forms for Notary Heaven
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=8832

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January 21, 2011

I just got 2 jobs from 123notary, what do I do now?

Congratulations. Give yourself a pat on the back. Some people are lucky on 123notary and get a few jobs within hours or days of signing up. Others have to wait. A few don’t even track their calls, so they’ll know they got work, but won’t know where it is from. Metaphysically speaking, since you invested thought and action into creating a 123notary listing, you are much more likely to get business from it within a short time period after signing up. Additionally, those that pay for listings get more business because of the metaphysical commitment they made by paying. Those that edit their notes and information more often also get more business since they are paying attention and devoting their thought to it. Thought is the most powerful force in the universe, and it applies to 123notary as well.

So, what do you do now?
Add more to your notes section. Your notes section should evolve with you. As you learn new skills or get new certifications, enter that into your notes section. As your number of signings goes up, add that to your notes ase well. Get a few reviews from your satisfied clients as well. Reviews speak louder than words. Consider upgrading too. For advanced Notaries we have the Elite Certification program as well where you can learn the most sophisticated notary, signing agent and marketing techniques in the business. That’s all for now!

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You might also like:

How much more does a 123notary certified signer make?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=15392

Here’s another way to make an extra $4000 per year
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14162

5 or 6 reviews doubles your business
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=8484

Long term Notary marketing plans
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=15793

$40 for a signing 72 miles away?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14959

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January 20, 2011

Another tip for getting reviews

Filed under: Reviews — admin @ 10:34 am

As I have said many times, people give you a review when you are the best they’ve had or the worst. Average people don’t get too many reviews. Those who ask everyone who likes their work for a review and forward a link to their review page get reviews — those who don’t ask get few if any. It’s a numbers game.

But, I have been writing a lot of nice reviews for people who merit it. Very few people get 100% on my Notary questions. Since we have 5000 professional Notaries on our site, it is ironic that only about 3% are good enough to get a review from me about how good their Notary knowledge is. But, in general it is hard to get a review, so why not get one by being an expert Notary and getting a review from me.

I am not sure what a review from me is worth. People might think I’m biased as a site owner and manager. This is not true. If you get 100% on my Notary questions you get a review whether I like you or not. But, trust me, it is so hard to find someone who will get 100%, that if I start out not liking you, I’ll start liking you. I like quality — plain and simple.

I have also been giving people reviews who did well on my recertification questions. Yes, it is annoying to take my quiz, but you get something out of it that lasts forever if you do well – a review! A review is worth its weight in gold or platinum, so view it as a precious gift.

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High placed listings – which ones get more clicks and why?

Filed under: Advertising — admin @ 9:54 am

I spent six hours analyzing clicks this week. Perhaps I should have spent more time. What I noticed is that the high placed listings seem to be affected differently by the same analytics.

People who argue with me do not show a drop in clicks. But, people who interrupt me do.

People who score well on tests do a lot better in the mid range of our search results while the high placed people with high test results show a more moderate gain.

People who refuse to talk to me show a drop of clicks in the mid range, but no drop in clicks for the high placed listings.

People who have someone else answer the phone for them show the largest drop in clicks.

People who have poor language skills also show a huge drop in clicks.

People who don’t answer their phone get fewer clicks, but not that many fewer clicks. I’m not sure why.

It seems that the Notaries were correct when they said that if they are rude to me, that they won’t be rude to title, because being rude to me does not show up on clicks. But, general signs of incompetence and poor communication show up heavily. So, I learned a lot in my six hours. Perhaps I should put in a little more time.

HIGH PLACED LISTINGS
There were four huge factors that determine how a high placed listing will perform on 123notary.com. So, if you are considering spending big bucks with us, please consider that we want you to renew. If you dress up your listing properly, you will most likely get a great result and want to renew. But, if you don’t, then your money will get poor mileage and you will have nobody to blame but yourself.

Reviews
The listings with the highest clicks in a p#20 position had a median of 10 reviews. I decided not to do an average because Ken Edelstein in NYC has over 400 reviews and that would ruin the average. But, median numbers are a good way to show statistics in a useful way. The P20 listings with the poorest clicks had only one or two reviews if any. It seems clear that the most definitive analytic that can cause your listing to perform well or poorly is reviews, the quantity, quality, and having a few recent reviews as well.

Experience
People lie when they document their number of loans. Other people do not keep their experience up to date, so they are showing artificially low numbers of loans signed. Another issue that has come up in the last few years is that Purchases and Structured Settlements have become common. But, are these to be considered “loans?” In my book yes, because they are a financial package and represent the same quality experience as a loan even though technically they are not a refinance.

People with the highest clicks had a median of 6000 loans signed while those with low clicks had only 3500. So, even if you have a lot of experience, it seems not to be enough.

Test Scores
For those of you who think my phone quizzes are inappropriate, unnecessary, rude or inconsequential — you are wrong. Test scores correspond to click popularity, and test scores are my second most critical analytic next only to reviews.

Notaries with p#20’s with the highest clicks were typically elite certified or at a minimum had a good quiz score of 80% or higher. Less than one in ten do poorly on my quiz by phone. Notaries with the lowest clicks in the p#20 category typically did not have any certifications and roughly half did well on my quiz. So, half of the listings with low clicks were competent Notaries compared to almost all competent in the high click range. This indicates that proving your skill to me does not guarantee performance, but is a big piece in the puzzle.

Notes
It is hard to put a score on someone’s notes. You could grade on thoroughness, detail, organization, writing style, uniqueness, etc. It might take a few minutes per notes section to give some type of a useful grade. But, based on brushing through many listings quickly, I learned that high placed listings had a 75% rate of having a high quality notes section while the p20’s with low clicks only had a 45% rate of having a high quality notes section. So, the same thing I have been telling you guys for over a decade has not changed. If you want to be popular on 123notary — get reviews, certified, and write a unique and factual notes section. Ask for help if you need any. I can’t write it for you but I can give commentary and help organize it.

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