NotaryBay.com Blog

We’ve been hard at work planning out more upgrades to NotaryBay and have a few changes that we finished up this past weekend.

1. Premium Members Get More Time

Premium members now get first crack at all automated alerts coming through NotaryBay.com. This means all automated job requests put in by customers through the big blue button will go to premium members first. If Premium members do not respond in time, or there are not enough results, the next round starts based on proximity and points. Click here to login to your account and upgrade.

2. Opening Up To More Companies (even some signing services)

When we originally came up with the NotaryBay concept, the biggest concern was signing companies abusing the automated features of NotaryBay. That, and of course my general disdain for most signing companies.

But, as we’ve continued to add features we’ve given and will continue to give our members complete control over the notifications they receive. Since our members have control, I feel better about allowing more companies to use the site. This means more work for our members. We’ve also noticed that most of our members minimum prices are within many signing companies pay ranges.

We aren’t opening the automated features up to all signing companies. Heck no. We will allow certain reputable companies only on a case-by-case basis. So, if you receive a notification from a signing service, and you want the job, great. If you don’t, make sure to update your minimum price to price yourself out of those notifications.

With the current slowness of the market we want to get our members as much work as possible. If you’d like to nominate a company that:

1. Pays on time
2. Pays decent
3. Treats their vendors well

Please e-mail us, and we’ll evaluate sending a proposal to the company. If the company begins using NotaryBay we’ll give you a 1 to 6 month premium membership based on the size and usage of the referral.

3. Time and Date in Alerts

We’ve added the ability for searches to add the time and date of the closing into our alert system as well. That way you’ll be able to see when the closing needs to take place without having to call in. Good for the searcher, good for the notary.

Coming Soon:

- Ability to adjust your minimum price for each type of service (single edoc, overnight, HELOC, on-site inspection, etc)

- Language Filter - Will give searchers the ability to filter by language spoken

+ More!

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One of the big concerns with our cool application is that we don’t send out requests that aren’t welcome. So, we’ve added more flexibility to your account to make sure you only receive the job alerts you’re really interested in. We’re committed to making NotaryBay as useful as possible for both notaries and searchers.

Here’s what’s new this week:

Limit your geography

You can now limit yourself from being alerted to jobs too far out of your geographical range. Don’t like driving more than 50 miles? No problem, make sure and login to your account to set your distance preference to a 50 mile maximum. The default is set at a 100 mile maximum (the highest level), but you can set it as small as 10 miles.

Personal Documents 101

We’ve added a new video covering personal and legal document work. I think you’ll find it helpful for expanding your mobile notary business to include services outside just mortgage closings. This video is only available to premium members. Login to your account to view the new video.

Referral Winners Announced!

Here are the winners of our October refer-a-notary contest. In order of most referrals:

1. Kelly R.
2. Jim L.
3. Zandra W.
4. LaShon J
5. Gladys F.
6. Eunice J.
7. Mary B.
8. Katherine S.
9. Joyce S.
Kelly and Jim will be receiving a new iPod Nano courtesy of NotaryBay! The other winner will get their upgrade bonuses completed after the holiday break. Thanks to everyone who referred other notaries, please continue to refer your friends to earn points!

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Good products and services are continually updating and improving. Think back a few years ago to the very first iPods…compared to today’s models they are giant ugly bricks!

NotaryBay is a web application that we will continue to improve for searchers and notaries. That being said, we improved a few things this weekend that I’d like to point out:

1. Feedback form added

When notaries are logged into their account, there is a new feedback form where they can e-mail our support staff with feedback, or comments about the application. See screen shot at bottom of post.

2. Advanced Search Features

We added an advanced search tab so that companies can specify what type of signing and what fee they are paying when they search on NotaryBay.com

When companies use the advanced search feature you will be notified of the zip code of the signing, the type of signing, as well as the fee offered. If you do not want to be notified of signings under a certain $ amount, you can update that number in your account control center.

3. More Localized Search Results

We tweaked the search algorithm a bit to favor more local results. Try searching in your home zip code. As NotaryBay continues to grow the search algorithm will be tweaked to return the best results for our searchers and members.

4. Performance Improvement

We significantly increased the speed of searches by make some database improvements. Speed is good!

Account Screenshot:

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2007 has been a year of change in the Notary world. Our bread and butter refi’s have dropped dramatically and the fallout from the sub-prime mess hasn’t helped any.

So, what can you do as a Notary? There are a few options

1. Keep doing what you’ve been doing and hope things will get better
2. Buckle down, hit the street and market, market, market
3. Turn in your stamp and call it a day
4. Look at ways to use your stamp outside the mortgage industry
5. Realize that you must change as the industry changes

Personally, I like options 2, 4, and 5.

Many notaries will choose option 1, and many option 3. The day’s of 15 calls in a day are gone, and most likely won’t be returning anytime soon.

So what’s a notary to do?

First off, go back to all your clients you’ve had in the last year and let them know you are still around. Don’t beg for work, actually ask them how they are doing. With many notaries leaving the industry you might be able to pick up some extra business just by following up with past clients.

Secondly, if your state laws allow this, look at doing more personal document work. These jobs are usually pretty straightforward (ie, a family will) and pay cash right away. No waiting for a check in the mail. For example, here in Seattle we’ll charge a $25 trip fee + $5 per notary act. Of course, this fee is not set in stone, but it’s a good base price to tell people when they call to weed out those who think you’ll travel 20 minutes for $5.

Thirdly, keep watching us here at NotaryBay.com. Our application is a new way of finding notaries for companies. New things take some time to getting used to, but we think we’ve built something really revolutionary. As we continue to show off our application some are very responsive, others are content to their standard operating procedure of calling, calling, calling. Well, you can’t please everyone. But, as companies look to cut their costs and increase their efficiency we think they will choose NotaryBay vs. laying off workers or trying to lower fees to their notary vendors.

What do you think? Which option are you choosing for your business?

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We’ve created some amazing content to help you grow, build, and market your notary business. We have 6 videos, 15+ text tips, and a great .pdf report (”4 Perfect Side Jobs For Mobile Notaries”) that premium members get access to. Each week we’ll be adding a new video and tips to the premium member section of the application.

Premium members will also rank above free members in search results.

5 Reasons to Upgrade Now

1. Access to exclusive multimedia content you won’t find anywhere else. Developed just for mobile notaries. Video’s like: “Fee Negotiations - The one question you need to ask to get higher fees” and “The simple secret to getting testimonials and referrals from your clients” + many more! Access our pdf report: “4 Perfect Side Jobs For Notaries”

2. Beautiful profile page (www.notarybay.com/yourusername) to use in your advertising. Customers can call you directly or use the “click to call” feature to send you a text message and e-mail.

3. We will be announcing a partnership with a major player in the mortgage market by the end of the month, upgrade now and make sure you’re ranking high!

4. The first 300 notaries to upgrade this week will receive a 50 point bonus for the next 3 months on NotaryBay.com

5. Because it’s only $15/month!

Login to your account here and upgrade now!

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I want to thank everyone who joined NotaryBay last month during our beta testing! Your feedback and suggestions and testing helped a ton! So Thanks!

During our beta period we allowed all members to have a access to some of the premium member features such as the beautiful profile page we designed. With our beta period over, all members that signed up before Oct 28th have been downgraded to our free membership.

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Want to let your clients know about NotaryBay? (and earn loads of points?). Use these 7 fliers that we designed! Put your own name and referral link in the document and go to town! (I like flier #3 the best)

Download 7 NotaryBay Promo Fliers

Flier #1

Flier #2

Flier #3

Flier #4

Flier #5

Flier #6

Flier #7

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Change isn’t easy.

In fact, it’s darn right difficult for most companies and industries. This year has been a tough one for many notaries as well as the companies we work with.

I’ve spent most of this year building NotaryBay, designing it as an alternative to using a signing service when you need a mobile closing. The technology is of the application is smart, the design is top notch, it’s ready to go.

And now we need your help. Yes, you!

The truth is that for big change to happen in this industry its going to take more than just one person, or even one company. It’s going to take a community. Thousands of title, escrow and mortgage companies use signing services. Using a signing service means just one call or order online to get a notary scheduled. Many don’t even realize that there are alternatives to signing services.

NotaryBay offers an alternative to signing services that is good for notaries and good for the industry. Our interface encourages searchers to input their maximum budget ensuring that they get the most comprehensive results. You as a notary have the ability to set your minimum price so that you get contacted for jobs you’ll actually take.

Do you know a title or escrow company that could benefit in time savings and increased efficiency from NotaryBay? When you refer a customer to NotaryBay not only do you get rewarded with 100 points, but you also are helping the notary community.

To refer searchers to NotaryBay put your NotaryBay username into this link:

http://www.notarybay.com/yourusernamehere/customer

for example: my username is “mobilenotary” so my link is: http://www.notarybay.com/mobilenotary/customer

Let’s say you refer 10 of your current clients to NotaryBay (that would be 1000 points!). You’d also get points for every positive review they leave for you when they contact you through NotaryBay. Those clients may often have signing outside your area and now they can use NotaryBay to find other quality notaries to work directly with.

In fact, if you really want to look good to your clients you should suggest they look at NotaryBay.com. It’s a 100% free tool for them that could greatly increase their productivity, and they will be very happy that you made them aware of the site!

Our little NotaryBay team can only reach so many offices, and we only have so many connections in the industry. An e-mail from you can do so much more than a cold call from our sales team.

We have many more great features planned for NotaryBay, but we need to tell the world about our little site. So please write personal e-mails to contacts you have to let them know about NotaryBay.com. Make sure and use your referral link so that you get credit when they register. Don’t write people you have never done business with.

Free Premium Memberships Expiring

Next Monday on Nov. 5th, all NotaryBay members signed up during our beta testing period will be downgraded to our free membership level. This gives you a week to check out some of the latest features. Free members will always rank below premium members in the results. Free members will not get the awesome profile page that we have designed and search engine optimized for best results in Google and yahoo.

Final Note

We want to give escrow, title and mortgage companies an amazing alternative to using a signing service, and give those currently hiring notaries directly a great tool to improve their efficiency in finding quality notaries. For Notaries we want NotaryBay to be the simple, low cost, easy way to manage and promote your mobile notary business! Your profile page makes that all possible!

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Blake, one of our sales guys wrote this post a week or so ago. I figured it gave some good insight into life here at NotaryBay HQ! - Scott

So today it is pouring rain in Seattle and it is great to have a job where you are not out in it. I feel for all of you having to drive around to signings in weather like this. As for you notaries in warmer climates, we just assume not talk to you right now, because it is miserable out!

Scott, Mark and I are hard at work on some new features for NotaryBay. We are half exhausted and half excited about the new features and news! One thing we’ve been working on is trying to get companies and users to “use” the site. In fact Scott is on the phone with one of them right now. The door is closed to his office, which is a pretty good sign it got serious! We have made some great connections in the last month.

Some of the new features worth addressing:

• The Price Feature

It’s important for all of you to put in a minimum price. If you don’t you may get calls for jobs less than you are willing to do. We will also lose customers because the automated feature suddenly doesn’t become so automated when notaries are turning down jobs. Probably the Most important point

• Referral Link

I am not sure if Scott mentioned this before, but it is worth a few words. If you want to get another notary signed up use your public profile link with /signup after it. Then you will get points for referring your friend or notary. Remember you’re ranked by points. So go to the points page and see what else you can do.

• Future Stuff!

Mark is working on some cool ideas we have had in the last few weeks and getting them loaded on the site. You will soon be able to load a picture on your profile which is cool and always fun. Some other cool new stuff is in the works so keep checking back here for updates and your profiles for new things.

There is tons of stuff to look for and be excited about if you are a notary. Scott still has the door closed and is making calls. All in all we have had fun this week calling prospective users and researching/creating new feature ideas. Our ultimate goal for the month of October is to get a few test customers registered on the site and for you to refer notaries in. We are really excited that you are all apart of this adventure. I shall regress back to my hot chocolate and lonely morning. If only Scott would open the door. Happy Signings!

Blake

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This weekend we finished a significant upgrade to our zip code database as well as the search logic that powers NotaryBay.com

You’ll see that in urban markets our results are much more local and much more user friendly.

Real World Tests 

This week we have a number of companies who are testing the NotaryBay application, so if you get a job alert make sure to respond quickly!

At NotaryBay.com HQ

I talked to a notary today who received a notification (from one of the companies testing right now) last week. It was great to hear how the system works in real life! We’ve been testing and building features for months now, but to hear that the notary really loved how it worked was very re-assuring. Just because you build something you think is cool, doesn’t always mean everyone else will! (although, nearly every client we have showed notarybay so far has been very receptive).

One problem that we struggle with is that we have to think about both the notaries and searchers when it comes to deciding features and work-flow issues. For example, making notaries call in for a job makes more work for the notaries, but less for the searcher. Without searchers using the application, no notaries get work! Our job is just connect the two and attract both parties to use the application.

Beta Almost Over. Version 1.0 Coming Soon

By the end of the month we should be done with our beta testing as well as finishing a few more features we want to have ready for our customer accounts and notary accounts. Once finish Version 1.0 of the application we will have a premium membership option for notaries who want to rank above free members in their area. All accounts are currently set at the premium level. We will have a few more exciting features for premium members when we launch. All notaries who’ve already signed up will be downgraded to the free level, with the option to become a premium member anytime. Free members will still receive notifications (via text message and/or e-mail) of jobs in their area, but they will rank below the premium members. Within each level of membership, members with more points will rank higher in the results.

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