Free Hyper-Local Marketing for Specialty Notary Work

Google loves Google! That means when people use the most popular search engine in the world to find a "Notary Near Me," YOUR Google Business Profile optimization is critically important. Jim Allen, a fellow mobile notary and loan signing agent, brings expertise from his previous IT & Marketing career to help notaries get more General (Specialty) Notary calls every single month. You don't want to miss this!

Guest Information:

Jim Allen is a mobile notary and loan signing agent based out of Boise, Idaho. And he's also a Google business profile trainer just for notaries, and teaches notaries how to get found on local Google searches.

Want more Speciality Notary Work? Optimize your Google Page by learning from Jim, to get the very most out of local notary Google searches: www.NotaryCoach.com/courses

Episode Highlights:

8:04 Using Google Business Profile, a free suite of services, you can generate significantly more general notary work or Specialty Notary Work.

12:34 The best time to start your SEO was this time last year. The second best time is today. Start with the low hanging fruit, the free Google Business Profile.

37:45 People need a Notary WHEN they need a Notary. So, it's critical to adopt a strategy for hyper-local marketing using Google Business Profile and other SEO tactics. When your potential customers Google, "Notary Near Me," you want them to find YOU!

--- Full Raw Transcription Below ---

Bill Soroka (01:03):
All right, hello and welcome to the Sign & Thrive podcast. It's my pleasure, my honor to introduce you, the Jim Allen, Jim Allen's a mobile notary and loan signing agent based out of Boise, Idaho. And he's also a Google business profile trainer just for notaries. So Jim, thank you so much for being here.

Jim Allen (01:27):
Yeah, bill, thank you. I really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you about this today.

Bill Soroka (01:34):
Well, I think even before we started the recording, we just said we're both equally passionate about what Google business profile, otherwise known as Google My Business. They just changed the names guys. So we're yeah. Jim and I have been talking Google My Business for years. So we'll probably just gonna say that, but it's the same thing as the Google business profile now, but we're both equally passionate about it because we've seen the impact and the results that it gets, right, Jim,

Jim Allen (02:01):
Right. Yes. Yeah, for sure. You know, I started off this whole journey. When I was a project manager for a marketing team, I actually was a project manager for an IT and marketing team almost at the same time, which is kind unusual for, you know, either you're in IT or you're in marketing, so right. Kinda strange. Right. But I had the great pleasure of being able to do, do both. So I got to the next job after the project managing IT , I'd started into marketing and I was part of a large organization where we had 800 plus brick and mortar stores. So my director was like our next step in getting people through our doors, through these brick and mortar stores was to optimize all of our Google My Business profiles. So that's kind of where the journey started for me. So I was tasked with all that. I had a team of people and so we started in figuring out, okay, what did we have to do to make our Google My Business profiles productive? Right. So we started into that journey and I spent a couple of years really immersed in at that time, Google My Business now Google business profile helped me say that. Right. so we really were successful. We were like on the lead in edge of marketing in that area, we call that hyper local marketing and hyper local marketing just says, you know, let's make sure all of our business information across all platforms is the same. And one of the biggest platforms that we wanted to operate on was the course Google business profile. And so we spent, well, I spent a couple years just immersed in that and we really got some fantastic success off of it.

Jim Allen (04:03):
And we were pushing ahead of our competitors. So our leadership was really, we're really happy with that. So I spent a lot of time training people. I would train VPs store managers, directors, employees on how to effectively use their, their profile so that they could drive more traffic into the store. So fast forward, I decided corporate life. I'm done with you and goodbye. And so I, I left corporate world plopped myself into a new business, being a lone sign agent, just like most of you. And then just started using all these marketing things I learned in, in my previous corporate life. And so that's, that's where that kind of started. And it's been very successful since then for me.

Bill Soroka (04:56):
Yeah. That I, well, you, you said so much there and there's so much that I wanna talk about. Yeah. But since you've just mentioned you know, leaving corporate life, there's so many of us in this mobile notary and loan signing community that got sick of corporate life. We were looking for a new business and we wanted to be of service and we wanted unlimited income. And that's one of those huge reasons why we love this business, but right, you, you just talked about bringing your skillset from your past experiences into this business. And I think that's so valuable and that's what I did too. You know, I, I had bunch of failed businesses, and jobs, and call center jobs and all of that. And I brought that with me into this, this industry, this particular industry just feels so ripe for innovation. And, and what is groundbreaking in this industry is kind of common business in so many other industries. That's shifting now. And I think more and more notaries are adopting or appreciating some of these modern marketing tactics, like Google My Business, search engine optimization, having a digital presence and all of that. So you, one of the words that you mentioned is hyper local marketing. Mm-Hmm , can you define that a little easier for, for people who have maybe never heard of it?

Jim Allen (06:21):
Yeah. You know, and bill, this, this is something that kind of drives me nuts is that you know, people will throw that SEO word around a lot. Right. And it really, there there's, there there's some breakdown of that SEO term. And one of the terms is hyper local marketing. And that is just simply saying let's market in your local area because of how Google and other search engines are set up to find you. So like for Google, we're, Google's looking for local businesses, right. So when somebody types in the search field notary near me, right. They're not gonna find Bill Soroka in Arizona when they're here in Boise, Idaho. So that's, that's hyper local, like very localized search results should come to the person who's searching. So

Bill Soroka (07:21):
That's critically important for service, right?

Jim Allen (07:24):
It is. So it's really important that in hyper local marketing that you understand that your business information is consistent through all these different platforms. So it, it, it translates well for all the search engines and people can find you easily. Right?

Bill Soroka (07:39):
Yeah. That's I mean, when it comes to pick, deliver, having a service based business, that's just seems like it is the absolute, most important thing, but there's so many components of this, Jim, so yes. How did, how did people wrap their head around this? How does a notary maybe with no marketing experience and no technical experience, figure this stuff out. Yeah.

Jim Allen (08:02):
Yeah. Well, it is it's and that's why I, when I get my chance to talk with people, I like to break down that, that term SEO, so they can start figuring out how to fit that into their business. Right. So at the very least, I mean the lowest hanging fruit everybody has is Google My Business. It's free and it's free

Bill Soroka (08:28):
and

Jim Allen (08:29):
It's, it's free. And, and it's the, it's the, it's the most searched used search engine. There is out there, right? We have, we have Google, we have being, we have Yelp there's other platforms that are being used for businesses, but really, I guess I I'll say Google and Yelp are probably right up there and Google is just man, everybody just think about this. What did you search for yesterday that you found on Google? And most people will say, oh, like three or four things. It's like, yeah. So we have to optimize our businesses to be found on Google that's that's hyperlocal marketing right there.

Bill Soroka (09:12):
Exactly. And I, I got to attend one of your classes a couple weeks ago, which was spectacular by the way. But one of the things we brought up is that Google loves Google. So when you're a small business and you use the Google business profile listing services and you do it well, and you do it right, right. There's clearly a right way to do this in a, a, not so right way to do this. But when you use that Google the search engine really prioritizes a a profile that is optimized well and used, clearly used. So, I mean, when you think about it, Google just wants to pair up people who are looking for stuff and people who can provide that stuff. Right. That's what makes Google valuable.

Jim Allen (09:57):
That's you're right. An under-optimized Google profile will sit you down on the second or third or fifth page. Right. once you understand, and it's not rocket science to do this, so information's out there. It's just that, well, in my class, for example, I just condense that down into two and a half hours. And by that time you're done, it's like, oh, I know what I need to do. Right. And so yeah. So if you optimize and understand the strategies behind the Google My Business profile, then you kind of like become more popular in search, right? You're getting reviews, you're putting fresh content into the profile. People are starting to find you Google starting liberalize that, oh, this person or this business actually is relevant in search. And it, they start ticking you up that page. And finally you can get into that three pack. That's where we all want to be. When you do a notary near me, you wanna be on that first page in that, for those first three listings so that you know, that's where people are gonna go. They rarely go to the fifth page to find you.

Bill Soroka (11:07):
So , I, I never even bothered with that. Yeah. Yeah.

Jim Allen (11:10):
Never, but

Bill Soroka (11:11):
What is the, I think there's this I don't know. I think it goes kind of goes both ways, but on that first page of Google listings, there's, there's this assumption that even those top five that are, it clearly says "ad", but a lot of the people miss that ad part. So are we talking about paying for advertising or paying for placement here or is this more organic and free?

Jim Allen (11:36):
You know, I, for, for the beginner, I say, organic, let's get, you started correctly. Let's get your page optimized. Let's get you into the habit of marketing on Google. Right. And then paid ads. That's gonna a more advanced next level. And I, I certainly would not not recommend it at all. I mean, if, if you have the budget, you and you know how to work Google AdWords, then yes. Or you have somebody that can help you with that, for sure. But for the beginner that is just getting their page verified that they just don't have any idea about how to do anything on Google or how to optimize it. They're just like, I dunno what to do. Start with optimization, start with getting your, your page up to snuff so that Google can start finding you and people can start finding you.

Bill Soroka (12:33):
Yeah. Ex you know I, one of the I don't know, I've one of the things I started saying is the best time to start your SEO was this time last year, the second best time is today. Right. You've gotta start that because right. Even this organic, this idea of using an organic approach takes a little bit of time, Jim, right?

Jim Allen (12:57):
Yes, it does. So, yeah, we all want things to happen almost instantly for us including myself, you know, I want something to happen tomorrow, but it does it takes time for, for Google to recognize you, and it takes time for you to build up enough reputation, I guess, is what we wanna say in the marketplace and your local market to start bumping you up into that, into that organic listings on the first page on that three pack. Now you can be really good at, and you can, everyone can do this. You can be really good at optimizing your page and you get bumped up into that three pack. Don't need to pay for advertising there. Right. Right. You're already there. You're in that coveted spot. So, yeah, I think it's important.

Bill Soroka (13:49):
Well, it's really important and underrated on so many different ways. And I really, I wonder if you can highlight for us. Cause I think a lot of people don't believe it's free. What we're talking about the, the power of what this profile can actually do. What's the difference between a notary who is working and growing their business in the specialty notary work realm. Right? Cause maybe this may not just be for loan, signing agents, cuz that's not how we get found a lot still important that's right. But not how we get right. But for specialty notary work or what many people call general notary work? The, what's the difference between a notary that does a powerful Google business profile and one who does not,

Jim Allen (14:38):
Well, it all comes down to optimization. And once you have your profile optimized, I mean, if everything's equal, everyone has the same optimization, right? You get your profile done. Really the most, the main difference is content that goes into this, into this profile. So number one is that you're pro providing good relevant content within the profile that could be Google post. That could be your products and services that could be making sure you have your website in, you know listed your proper hours. But I, I think the really after all that said and done and EV you know, all things being equal, the thing that really is powerful in this, in this space are reviews. Reviews are what moved the needle for sure. And the better you are at understanding the power of the review, right? I always tell people, all right, you're a consumer, you're out there looking for Mexican restaurants. You come across listing that has 305 star reviews and the, and you see another listing, that's no reviews, which one are you gonna choose? And of course, instantly everyone goes, well, I'm gonna look at the 300, the one has 300 reviews. Well, why always why? And you know, okay, so now they figured it out. Oh, because well, that's trust. I mean, there's lots of people that have figured out that this restaurant is a good place to eat, right? So I want people to take their cons, their consumer glasses and put on their marketing glasses and understand from that perspective, what you have to do to really move the needle on your business. And that is in reviews. So you wanna get high quality reviews that speak about your business. You wanna make sure that you get five star reviews. I mean, we don't always get five star, but that's our goal. Right. We wanna get five star reviews and we wanna respond to those reviews. Yeah. And we go into that quite a bit in my class. I spend a lot of time in just talking about how important reviews, how they move you and how they move the needle in your business. Instant. I love instantaneous. I mean, we're not, this takes time. This is a 30, 60, 90 day plan, right?

Bill Soroka (17:08):
Yeah. Maybe even longer, right. Depending on the Mar the geographic location.

Jim Allen (17:12):
Oh, it comes down to location. How densely populated you are, how much competitions in the local area. Right. how, how long your listing has been around. I mean, there's a lot of different factors that involve this, but bill, the thing is, is that most people, most small businesses don't get it. Yeah. They don't get it. So you have this huge advantage to you because people in that space are mostly uneducated about how powerful their Google My Business profile is. Oops. See, I did it. Their Google business profile is Yeah. So, you know, and just learning these pieces and parts, especially understanding how reviews can move the needle for you is so critical.

Bill Soroka (18:00):
Yeah. I think it's an extremely underrated service free service, but then also, you know, it's a, it's intimidating. And when you go out into, if you YouTube also owned by Google, but when you search YouTube for Google My Business assistance or Google business profile help, it is so overwhelming. There's a lot of crap out there and there's a lot of generalization there. And I think Jim, that's why I invited you to my show. Well, for a few reasons, but you're a dot connector in this industry as well. Like, and that's what I like to call myself to. I'm a dot connector and I draw the line from one place to another. And you do that with Google business profile just for notaries. Like, because there's some nuance to us, we're mobile, we're on the road a lot. We're providing a service, our fee structures vary from state to state. So all of that has to be taken into consideration. So I love that you've taken this on. That's another great example of a a value that you found to bring to the industry. But before we get into that, even in more, I wanna go back to the reviews cuz I think you've nailed it. Reviews are so powerful. Outta curiosity. How do you ask for reviews at your appointments?

Jim Allen (19:17):
Yeah. You know, that is probably the, like the number one question in class that we, when we start talking about reviews, , that's what everyone wants to know. For some reason people get hung up on that ask and I don't, I'm not sure why. So number one we want to make sure we cherry pick reviews and what all, I mean by cherry pick. Well, I want to ask for review from somebody that I it's like, they're sitting across the table from me and it's like, we could be friends, you know, we could go out to dinner and just have a great time. This is the person that I have built rapport with. And I've kinda like earned the right to ask for that review. I, I think because of the rapport that've built, so build, so while I'm finishing up my work, putting stuff away in my bag, whatever I'm doing, I'm, I'm gonna mention to them, Hey, it's really been great helping you today with your documents.

Jim Allen (20:12):
Would you mind leaving me a review to help me build my business? I get more great customers just like you. And they're like, oh yeah, Jim, no problem. Not a problem. What do I need to do? And so I have on my phone, I've got a pre-formatted text that I copy and paste into text. There's probably different ways to do that, but I, I take that text and I paste it in to, and I text that to them, with my link. And and that's how I, I have really gained a lot of great reviews just using that method. Don't overthink it. I think a lot of people are like, oh, I gotta have QR codes or I gotta do this or no, slow down. just, don't overthink it. Just ask because you have earned the right to do that. Now. I don't wanna ask everybody. There is sometimes a grumpy, old guy sitting across from me. I'm signing his refire, his reverse mortgage. And he just wants me out of there. It's like, no, I'm not gonna,

Bill Soroka (21:06):
He's not a candidate for a review. Yeah.

Jim Allen (21:09):
, he's not a candidate. I I'm very strategic on who I ask. And there's reasons why I do that. And that's

Bill Soroka (21:17):
Yeah.

Jim Allen (21:18):
That's why I get great.

Bill Soroka (21:19):
Thank you so much for sharing that. I, you know what I, what I heard when you're, when you're speaking and I love that you you get strategic about it, but it's a habit too, right? Cause if you, if you sporadically do it, you get sporadic results. But if you just consistently like, oh, we're clicking, I'm gonna ask this person. I know they're gonna say yes, I know they're gonna do a five star review. And then you made it easy for 'em. If you make people work to give you reviews, it's not happening. Right. If they gotta look you up on Google. Yeah. I I've heard some people say, oh, just find me on Google or find me on Yelp. I'm like, that's not happening. But if you send them the exact link, like here's where you post your review, it can surprise you. And I think in my experience, I get about an 80%, maybe even 90% follow through rate. How do you handle if somebody says they will and they don't. Do you do anything?

Jim Allen (22:16):
Nope.

Bill Soroka (22:17):
Awesome.

Jim Allen (22:18):
I tell people this might sound a little harsh, but I'm gonna say it anyway. So buyers are liars and well, I always give this example, like, all right. Yeah. Maybe they, they didn't give you a review when they said they would, but remember when you were on that car lot and you said to that salesman, yeah. I'll be back, we'll talk later and you never showed up. It's the same thing. So sometimes people get busy, some people are like, yeah, I don't like to do reviews, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell I'm gonna do it anyway. You know, it's just, it's just that. And so move on.

Bill Soroka (22:52):
You don't take it personal

Jim Allen (22:54):
Because it's nah, I don't take it personal. Just move on. You're gonna find another person. That's gonna give you a review. And the other thing I really wanna say about reviews, bill, that is probably the second most important thing that you can do in reviews is, and I think you kind of alluded to this a little bit, but is to be consistent, right? So one thing that in the Google algorithm, Google likes to see consistency, right? You don't wanna go out and get 20 reviews and stop for a year and then do it next year, right? No, you wanna go two to three reviews every month, just a nice little cadence and or whatever, whatever cadence that you think you can get. You know, mine is mine's two to three. Well actually it's three, I'm sorry, three to four. That's what I kind of shoot for. But I, I just want that nice cadence in, in there. So Google's like not picking me out and saying, oh, this guy is slamming reviews. Right, right. You don't want to do that.

Bill Soroka (23:53):
That's really good advice. And I, the beautiful thing about this business is for so many different reasons, but when you're out doing the work, you're meeting new people every day, that gives you an opportunity to build a relationship, to ask for those reviews. So it does build almost a pipeline for this. Now the other beautiful thing that's coming through is in your particular style for asking for reviews is if you focus on your two main responsibilities as a mobile notary or a notary public, your two main responsibilities are to first deliver your product as an expert, like know your stuff inside and out, they're paying you for this service. You're competent. You're confident you get it done professionally. And number two is that you lay the foundation for a relationship that could last beyond one single transaction. And that's what you're talking about.

Bill Soroka (24:53):
When you talk about you know, these are somebody I could hang out with for dinner. It, when you take this approach to this business, the world opens up for you. There are people I signed eight years ago that I'm, we're still in contact with. I still get invited to their parties. That's the opportunity here. When you're 100% present, you show some personality, some authenticity, maybe even some vulnerability and you follow through on what you promise. So there's huge opportunity here, but why go through all this, Jim, I'm curious cuz now you've you have your own personal experience with Google business profile in Boise of all places, right? And then you, you've now taught, let's talk about results. Like I'll give you an example of what I'm, where I'm going here. I've got a notary in Chicago, really awesome. Who is part of an experiment with Google business profile and SEO whose phone went from sporadic rings for general notary work to 30 to 40 calls more per month. What kinda reason are you getting for sure or hearing?

Jim Allen (26:04):
I I'd have to. I have to agree with that. So early on in my notary career, I was focusing on loan sign, right? We were all getting fat off of loan signings. I had no time for general notary work and I, I gotta be honest bill. I kinda poo-pooed general notary work. I jumped on clubhouse. I started listening to Laura B and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm missing out. And plus loan signing started slowing down a little bit. So I, I really put the gas on this. Right. And so I have, I can see where I started and where that little line started jumping up. So my goal when I was telling everybody my goal is 20%, 20, 30% of my business to be general notary work. So I have a nice mix. I have loan signings. I have directs, I have signing services.

Jim Allen (26:56):
I have and I have general notary work. So it's turned out to be true. It's turned out to 25 to 30% of my business right now is general notary work. And just like you said, that little experiment that you're doing with a person in Chicago. Yeah. My phone rings consistently every day I get, I was like, I've got something coming in. I don't know what it is. You know, that's, that's kind of the weird thing about our industry. We kind of, people need a notary now. They don't schedule you for like two weeks out. I need that POA done two weeks out. Well, there's a couple times that that happens, but most of the time I need it now. So yeah. That's, that's been my experience and that's just, I'm really, I'm happy with the

Bill Soroka (27:42):
Reason. Yeah. I think that, I think that's huge and it gives people just a tangible idea of what's possible. And in Chicago in particular, that's highly competitive. I mean that's millions of people and all the little subsidies and then also there's you you're in Boise, which is what population I know they're growing like crazy, but what's what a million or two.

Jim Allen (28:04):
Yeah. We're just, I think we're right under a million here and, and, and it's really spread out, so yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bill Soroka (28:11):
Fantastic results.

Jim Allen (28:12):
So, you know, people that are in highly populated areas. Oh my gosh. See, the advantage that you have over me is that you have population. Now you have competition, but realize the competition doesn't really know what they're doing on your, on their Google business profile. You simply just by the knowledge of what to do are going to outran. Many of those, not all because some of 'em do know what they're doing. Right. But at least you can come up into competition with them. And some of those you can boot down to the bottom behind you. So,

Bill Soroka (28:46):
And then It is it's huge. And then it is what you're looking for is just an opportunity to say, yes, you know, you want that phone to ring, right? So then you can qualify, make sure that you can be of service, build a relationship and get the appointment. And I think when you do this work the right way, when you get the appointment, they're in, you know, they've got, you're gonna be their preferred notary if you show up with presence and with not, not gifts, but with 100

Jim Allen (29:15):
Presents.

Bill Soroka (29:18):
But that leads me to an interesting question because and I, without getting into too much detail here on a podcast, right? And I, I know you go over this in your training, but I think when you talk about putting on your marketing glasses, I think putting on consumer glasses is super important for choosing keyword, right? Cause so many people don't know whether notary public actually does or why they need a notary or the types of documents that they need to have notarized. Cause somebody just says, Hey, go get a notary. So what are some of your tips for choosing keywords for your Google business profile?

Jim Allen (29:57):
Well, you know, it comes down to your category, your business category, and most people operate under notary public. I mean, you, you can, if you're a paralegal or a real estate agent, you can add those categories into your business, but it kind of dilutes your, the power of it. Right. Cuz they're, they're the categories made me similar, but they're far enough apart. It's kinda, it, it may dilute you, but key, I mean, notary near me is like the key word right now. Everyone does anything not or anything near me. So notary near me really localizes that search right down to where that search is happening. So, you know you, you certainly don't want to keyword stuff, things, but you do wanna optimize your Google posts or your products and services with the things that are people are searching for. So you know, wills, POA, power of attorney, those are all kind of key words that people use in, in search, but I'll say most of it's like notary and then name of your city or notary near me or traveling notary, you know? So there's a number of different kinds of keywords that come up and that you'll be found for just with being in that category of noting.

Bill Soroka (31:21):
Yeah. And there's, there's some services that help you identify what some of the keywords are that people are searching for too. But it always blows my mind the the misconceptions or the misspellings or the public notaries or the notary Republic those types of key. No. Yeah. and that's what I mean by the consumer glasses when you use those types of keyword cuz and recognize that we're looking at it from our perspective with our training has notaries. So, but if you look at it from a, a consumer who only uses a notary once a year or once every couple years for their last bill Testament or their estate planning update you can learn a lot about the consumer experience and car, a niche out for yourself that way.

Jim Allen (32:10):
Yeah. Well, you know, I always ask people when they call me, I like, wow, how'd you find me? And they'll say Google. And I say, well, what, how did, how did you find me? Right. It's like, and a lot of them do say, I'll say probably nine times out of 10 people are saying, yeah, I did like not near me or I just put in the word notary or I did notary in my, in the city and the city name. So that's what I find typically that people are doing how they're finding me on my Google business profile.

Bill Soroka (32:41):
How does social media tie into your particular business?

Jim Allen (32:44):
well I'll say this is that I have social media. It's not my cornerstone, but I use it as a listing. Right? So like you should have a Facebook business page. And you should post to it. I'm not as strong there as I am on, on Google because, and, and this is why I I've only had a few people reach out to me on my, on my Facebook profile, but I have 99% of people reach out to me through my business profile. That's how people are finding me when people are looking for a notary, it's usually for a pretty urgent reason. Right. They're like I said before, people aren't looking for you to schedule you out two weeks and say, ah, come over here on Tuesday at four in two weeks now, usually it's because an urgent situation mom's in the hospital. I gotta get my I'm I'm changing jobs or I'm selling a some sort of property or, and this has to be done now. So that Google profile really comes into play there cuz everybody searches on Google. How many times have you gone to beam to search for

Bill Soroka (34:07):
Something? Bill? I have no. Like I, I never, when, when be pops up, when I buy a new computer, cuz Microsoft always is trying to force me to use it. Right. I'm I'm like, how do I adjust this? How do I get off of this? Never

Jim Allen (34:20):
Right, Dolly. Right. That's how I do. And I was like, I'm gonna Google. And so that, yeah, so social media does come into play. I know a lot of people use social media, but in my opinion, social media for me is not as powerful as my Google profile. That's where search traffic is originating.

Bill Soroka (34:43):
I think that's a, that's a really great demonstration of where to focus your energies for sure. And because people do, they only need a notary when they need a notary, they're not gonna be on social media. I think social media can be a great enhancement and a way to do your branding, sharing your additional content, but you've got to weave it into your Google business profile as well.

Jim Allen (35:09):
Well, I think you need to know your audience, right? Okay. What audience are you going after now, if I'm gonna, if I'm gonna start marketing to like escrow officers escrow officers are not gonna find me on Google. They just do not use Google to find most of the time, right? Find notaries. They use different platforms, you know, they'll go to all these different notary rotary or you know, these kinds of platforms to find a notary. And and even the public, well, let me go back kind of off track here. So if I'm, sorry, if I am gonna go after escrow officers, I'm gonna go towards LinkedIn. Yeah. That's where I'm gonna do my, my marketing. Right, right. If I'm gonna go after the general or specialty notary work, I'm gonna go back over to Google business profile and I'm gonna hit it there. So I think there's different areas to market based upon your demographic that you're going after. And certainly Google business profile. If you're going after and you want to build your general or specialty notary work, this is where you need to go for that. And that's, that's my focus. That's what I teach. I, I don't get into the weeds on of these other platforms. I'm, I'm very, you know, get very focused in, on, on Google business profile for general and specialty notary

Bill Soroka (36:35):
Work. I love that. And I think that's what makes it so helpful cuz it does, it gets into the weeds with all that other stuff. But when you stay laser focused, right. And you connect the dots for everyone, that's why I'm so excited that we are pairing up and sharing your class with so many in the notary community. Jim I will have your, the links to your classes on my notarycoach.com. But is there anything else that you'd like to any other advice or anything else you'd like to share with other notaries who are out there looking to build a business that's gonna last no matter what the economy's doing?

Jim Allen (37:14):
Yeah, well, you know, our business is cyclical, so we all are feeling a little bit of the pinch of, you know, at least in our, my area loan signings are starting to soften a little bit. So we have to, we have to be able to pivot into different areas of notary work and this, this is the lowest hanging fruit for you. You, you, and this is something you could change today to, to make a difference for your tomorrow in your business, right? So just knowing these principles, knowing these concepts if this is the business that you want, you want more general notary business, then you know, you gotta figure out where your audience is. And in my opinion, I think it's on Google when people search for notary near me. And you've gotta start building up your reputation your presence, your relevance online, so that you can be found it's free. Did I mention it's free and it is just, it's the number one place where people go to find notaries. It's just the, it's a fact. So I would just wanna encourage people to figure out how to optimize their Google profile so that they can draw more customers to them.

Bill Soroka (38:33):
Yeah. It's time to stop excuses for not doing this. Right. And take your, take yourself on and learn how to do this, cuz it is it's a at this point I would say it's make or break of a business. Mm-Hmm if you plan to have a business that's going to last, you have got to have a strong digital presence in the Google business profile is a key foundation of that. But as you're speaking too, you know, as here about to let you go, but one thing we haven't talked about yet is because we focused on specialty in general notary work, is there all the other services that so many of us do, whether it's fingerprinting the APO work?

Jim Allen (39:11):
Yes.

Bill Soroka (39:12):
The field inspections, all of that can be optimized on a Google business profile too, right?

Jim Allen (39:18):
Exactly. let me just take, for example, a steel work. And so I just recently got involved in that as I'm putting that into my business function. Right. So I got confident. I was like, okay, it's time to pull the trigger and say yes. And so I optimized, I put some things into my Google My Business profile. I listed on a post and five days later, guess what I did. I had a phone call from a, a business downtown Boise. He's like I read on your Google pro he read on Google that you do of steel work. And I said, Loved it. I was like, oh yeah. And wow. Yeah. So, you know a couple hours later I had completed an OPPA steal from this guy. He was ecstatic. And he was like, wow, I can't believe that you, you did what you did so quickly. And so I was like, well, I would've never got that business. Had I not optimized that page to reflect that fingerprinting the same thing, any of these different little subsections of notary work can be optimized on your profile and you can start drawing in traffic for that.

Bill Soroka (40:41):
I'm so glad that we had that little, last little bit of conversation. I know that's gonna be so critical because earlier you were talking about diversification

Speaker 4 (40:51):
And diversification. I don't care what business you're in or not even in a business. If you're in life, diversifying your investments, diversifying your

Bill Soroka (40:59):
Portfolio, wherever that portfolio is critical to your peace of mind, wealth building the whole deal. So in your, even in, just in your business, when you said I've got some business coming from signing companies, some business coming from direct, some business coming in from a general notary work or specialty notary work that's diversification, then you add apostille work. Then you might add, others are adding all these other elements to their business. And that's what helps even out some of the sicklicles.., The cycles,

Jim Allen (41:37):
There you go cycles. The

Bill Soroka (41:39):
Cycles of this business is sometimes signs go down, sometimes specialty note where goes up, field inspections, go up, whatever it is that you have going on, there's a way to balance this out because we're all here for how you started this conversation out. Jim, you got sick of corporate life. You don't wanna work for other people. You're here because you want your time back. You wanna spend it doing the things you love with the people you love. You want unlimited wealth or income possibilities, at least no matter what you want the choice to decide how much you're gonna get paid. Right. And then we all want it something that we can be proud of. And I think that this business under the notary umbrella gives us all that.

Jim Allen (42:20):
It does. I agree. Can you, you summed it up. That is it Jim, we just have to out how to make that happen, right?

Bill Soroka (42:28):
Exactly.

Jim Allen (42:29):
Yeah.

Bill Soroka (42:29):
Good. And, and that's what these conversations are all about. So Jim, thank you so much for being here and sharing so much of yourself. I'm excited to share your you and the course and the value that you bring with many more in our community.

Jim Allen (42:45):
Well, bill, thank you. And you are a leader in this area for notaries helping us be better at what we do. And I know I say this for a lot of different people. A lot of people out there that we all appreciate what you do and how you support us. So thank you bill. We that's. We love you. Thank you.

Bill Soroka (43:05):
Thank you. It's absolutely my pleasure. Glad we're here together.

New Speaker (43:09):
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the sign and thrive podcast for notaries brought to you by the notary E journal notaries that are diligent about compliance and committed to customer service are loving this journal. Here's what Danielle has to say.

Speaker 5 (43:26):
Hi, I'm Danielle a notary signing agent in California, exclusively using notary EURAL since August, 2020. My favorite features are those that make the process more efficient while remaining diligent about compliance, scanning the information off the signer's ID ensures accuracy, commonly notarized documents are preloaded and searchable, which speeds along the process and allows me to focus on compliance and service without sacrificing record keeping the notary E journal has enhanced my productivity and allowed me to provide better service.

Bill Soroka (43:54):
Did you catch that? Commonly used document titles are preloaded and searchable. It's another awesome feature that helps notaries be more efficient at the signing table, especially when you're handling mortgage loan or estate planning packages, check out some of those pre-loaded documents in the notary EUR for yourself. Try it for just a [email protected] forward slash E journal.

--- End of Transcription ---

Bill

This episode was produced and marketed by the Get Known Service
Intro music provided courtesy of Fan Fiqtion

This episode was produced and marketed by the Get Known Service

This episode was produced and marketed by the Get Known Service
Intro music provided courtesy of Fan Fiqtion

Create Email Subject Line Free Hyper-Local Marketing for Specialty Notary Work Sponsor(s) - Beginning of Episode Sponsor(s) - Middle of Episode Sponsor(s) - End of Episode The Notary eJournal by Jurat, Inc HTML Email Code

Hi {{first_name}},

Google loves Google! That means when people use the most popular search engine in the world to find a "Notary Near Me," YOUR Google Business Profile optimization is critically important. Jim Allen, a fellow mobile notary and loan signing agent, brings expertise from his previous IT & Marketing career to help notaries get more General (Specialty) Notary calls every single month. You don't want to miss this!

Some of this weeks episode highlights are:

8:04 Using Google Business Profile, a free suite of services, you can generate significantly more general notary work or Specialty Notary Work.

12:34 The best time to start your SEO was this time last year. The second best time is today. Start with the low hanging fruit, the free Google Business Profile.

37:45 People need a Notary WHEN they need a Notary. So, it's critical to adopt a strategy for hyper-local marketing using Google Business Profile and other SEO tactics. When your potential customers Google, "Notary Near Me," you want them to find YOU!

LISTEN TO MY LATEST PODCAST

For all the reasons we talked about here, getting your name or business optimized on Google Business Profile is unbelievably important. Check out Jim's link for more training in how to do this.

Bill

📚. PS - This podcast is made possible, in part, by support of Jurat, Inc and the Notary eJournal. In most states, including California, the new Notary eJournal is an exciting and more efficient way to journal. With a special add-on device, it even digitally captures fingerprints. Jurat's CEO, Nick Colvill has offered an incredible deal for you if you’d like to try it out. Click HERE for details.

This episode was produced and marketed by the Get Known Service
Intro music provided courtesy of Fan Fiqtion