In the Drawer Marketing

TexNotary Newsletter for Notaries

June 15, 2006

This time -

- In the Drawer Marketing

- Newspaper Leads (Marketing)

- E Notarization - Invitation to Marlene Miller

- Feedback - Trip fees vs. Full fees - Charles Peavey & Marlene Miller

- Feedback - Dmoz.org - Tim Gatewood

- New: Feedback Section

- Best Bang for Your Marketing Buck is still...

In the Drawer Marketing

by Brenda Stone

June 6, 2009

I have a drawer under my copier with a few little odds and ends in it for marketing. As much as I long to talk about my marketing drawer, and as much as I pine to handle my goodies and daydream about more marketing ideas, this article is not about my marketing drawer contents. It's about getting into the sights of the hiring entity.

Read it here.

Newspaper Leads

by Brenda Stone

June 13, 2009

Summer is a great time to start scanning your newspaper for leads like I have found in today's paper. Summer is the time big construction projects get finished. A big construction project done for charity just might lead you to a string of untapped business sources. After you read this article you will see what I mean.

Read it here

Invitation to Marlene Miller

to write an educational piece for us on electronic notarization.

I have not asked Marlene about doing this but I feel confident she will not mind doing it. (Sorry Marlene, I just had that "needy" feeling to get this "out the door" today. We will all wait patiently until you have time.) In the meantime, from the eNotary.org - I have pirated this little blurb to get you thinking along these lines.

Electronic Notarization Comes to Pennsylvania!

On January 3, 2006, the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania began accepting applications from currently commissioned notaries in the state for becoming approved electronic notaries (eNotaries). eNotaries are permitted to engage in electronic notarizations after receiving approval from the secretary. An application may be filled out online and printed from the secretary's Web site at www.dos.state.pa.us/bcel. Complete instructions and more information are also available on the Web site.

USNA has worked closely with the secretary's office to ensure that Pennsylvania eNotaries are educated and prepared for their new responsibilities. If you have any questions regarding electronic notarization in Pennsylvania, please call us at 800-587-2588.

The above article was "pirated" from U.S. Notary Association . Please go here to comment.

Feedback Section

Trip Fees vs. Full Fee In response to article appearing in this edition. Charles Peavy / California writes:
	Howdy Ms Brenda: I believe that there is the letter of the law and then there is a gray area called ethics. Some people have variable ethics and some don't. The concept of Notary Public is based upon having an impartial witness. If the Notary depends on the completion of a signing to get the agreed upon fee you no longer have an impartial witness but one who has a pecuniary relationship. An outcome based fee is the same as a commission and presents a moral hazard for the Notary. While there may not be a specific law prohibiting it, ethics would dictate that one turn down an outcome based fee for Notary work every time its offered. Best regards, Charles [Thank you Charles!] Please go here to comment.
Trip Fees vs. Full Fee In response to article appearing in this edition. Marlene Miller writes:
	My feeling is - I love this newsletter, by the way! - that you won't get a ruling from the SOS. The SOS will tell you that they administer only notaries, not signing agents, and that trip fees are not a "notary fee." Just my experience from asking the Pennsylvania SOS for "rulings." They don't rule. They interpret, or at least, their legal counsel interprets, and after the next election, that administration is gone and the new SOS has different ideas about what their office should or should not be interpreting. I've been here 3 years and we're on our second legal counsel (we never actually talk to the SOS - as I'm sure you're aware), and we don't trust what we hear from whoever answers the phone because they probably just started last week. I called Hawaii SOS (actually Attorney General there) and asked how many notaries were commissioned in the state. The woman who answered the phone said, "Ooooooh, a lot." When I asked how many, she said, "We don't know." When I expressed disbelief and asked for an estimate, she put the phone down, and there was a hushed conversation a short distance away. She picked up the phone and said, "Between five and ten thousand." What else could I do? I said thank you and hung up! But anyone who trusts what the person who answers the phone says is asking for trouble. Marlene U.S. Notary Association [Thank you Marlene - good information to have!] Please go here to comment.
Is There a Problem with DMOZ.org? In response to article appearing in this edition. Tim Gatewood writes:
	Brenda, The dmoz website states the following on their application to become an editor We work hard to make the ODP a fair and impartial resource for Web users. The ODP is not to be used as a way to advertise or unfairly promote websites. Editors who are primarily interested in promoting their own or clients' sites, and/or discriminating against their competitors' by manipulating site listings may have their editor accounts revoked without notice. If you believe that this editor is abusing their position, you should contact the folks at dmoz.org about it and ask them to investigate. Thank you for bringing dmoz.org to my attention. I have just submitted my website to them. (There were only 2 in the Tennessee category under Notaries.) Will let you know what response I get. Thanks, also and again, for being such a great source of info for the working notaries. -- Tim Gatewood, NotaryMemphis.com notary@midsouth.rr.com http://notarymemphis.com [Many thanks to you Tim!] Please go here to comment.

New: Feedback Section -

If you'd like to comment on an article or submit something for me to publish, please go here and do so.
If it has merit and is newsworthy, I'll publish it for you. If you have a product to sell notaries, I'll gladly publish this information for you.