Reply by Harry [NR] on 7/26/04 2:40am
Msg #4957
Good question. The short answer is that it relates to the "shape" of the ZIP codes, your respective positions in them, and the fact that our system calculates estimated distance from each notaries' location, which are generally geocoded, to the search location, which is usually more crude. (However, as discussed in another post, some agencies using our system can enter an entire address for a considerably more accurate search because it does geocode the address of the signing.)
We recently received a question via e-mail from another Premier Member who wanted to know whether our policy was to display new Premier Members BEFORE older listings in the same ZIP code. My response to that message covers many points that pertain to your inquiry. The following are highlights from that response. Names and ZIP codes have been changed to protect the innocent. Saddle up, it's a long one:
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The duration of a person's membership has no bearing on their position in the search results. Instead, notaries are always displayed CLOSEST to the signing, first the Premier Members and then the Basic Members. All other things being equal, this is how signing services and title companies prefer it. It doesn't matter to them that one notary has maintained a membership longer than another notary nor what they are paying. That is one of the fundamental flaws in some of the other systems. On some sites, the more you pay, the higher you go or the more ZIP codes or counties you get to list under. What benefit is that to the organizations who consume signing agent services? If there is a person 2 miles from a signing and another 40 miles away, and they are equally qualified with the same base fees, the title company will probably not want the person who is 40 miles away because of the additional travel fees.
Our philosophy is to offer incredibly valuable tools for the benefit of notaries and their clients, not our pocketbooks. The search functionality is one case where the value to those companies is extreme, and there are no hidden agendas. By focusing on their needs - what they truly value - we build repeat customers and attract new ones every day. The more they use our site, the more Premier profiles will be viewed, so everyone wins in the long-term. But going back to your particular circumstance...
Nearly all of the notary addresses in our system are geocoded to the street or house level, making distance estimation more accurate than other systems. When a ZIP code is entered on the search screen, a radius search is performed from the latitude/longitude coordinate of that ZIP code. The coordinate of the ZIP code usually represents the approximate geometric center of the geographic region representing the ZIP code - in other words, the middle. From the middle of the ZIP code, our system will search for all notaries located within, say, a 20 mile radius. It will calculate the distance from the center of the ZIP to each and every one of those notaries. From the 11111 ZIP code, here are the top six, along with the approximate distance our system has calculated:
notary one 1.0317
notary two 1.5221
notary three (YOU) 1.5626
notary four 2.8475
notary five 3.0595
notary six 3.3102
As you can see, as the crow flies, "notary one" is the closest to what our system believes to be the center of the 11111 ZIP code, except she is a Basic Member, so she does not display before you or "notary two." "notary two" is 4/100 of a mile closer to the center of THAT ZIP code than you are, which is why she displays first in the Premier Members section. If you click on the map on the search results screen, you will see the center of the ZIP code represented as a blue dot. "notary two" is just northeast of your location and extremely close to you, but also closer to the 11111 ZIP code.
With that said, the other neat aspect of our search engine is that you are not limited to displaying under only certain ZIP codes or counties, like you would be on some systems. Consider the following ZIP codes, for example:
11112
11113
11114
11115
11116
11117
11118
11119
11120
11121
They all have one thing in common: they are also located in your area and your profile is the FIRST to display in every one of them; you are listed before "notary one" and all of the other 1,002 notaries in a 75-mile radius of these ZIP codes.
Next, I'd like to point out that you are not seeing the whole picture. Some signing services actually have the capability to geocode the signing location as part of their search. That is, if they enter the entire address on the search screen, we will translate it into a specific latitude/longitude coordinate and search from that, not from the approximate center of a ZIP code. This approach is even more accurate and more valuable to them, especially in areas with large ZIP codes, like Montana. When using that feature, they could enter the address of your next door neighbor (who would be in the 11111 ZIP code, but whose location would also be based on their street) and the system would probably display you as being about 50 feet away.
The next thing to point out is that, in the future, we will be calculating a Notary Rotary Candidate Index (NRCI), which will be kind of like a credit score for notaries. The score will range from 200 to 800 and will be based on a very complicated formula. One input to that formula will be length of membership on our site because, in the absence of other verifiable data, it is one factor that can speak to a notary's experience. Other things we'll be looking at are the completeness of notary profiles, activity in our forum, the date of the last profile update, complaints or ratings of the notary in our system, etc. That type of scoring system could be used in lieu of endless certifications and it's something we believe will also be very valuable to SS's and title companies.
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In your case, Elizabeth, I believe you are currently the first notary in 95759, which is a primary ZIP code for Elk Grove, CA, and you are second for a number of others. Regardless, it's usually a safe bet that an SS, title or escrow company will look at the first few profiles for any given search. For that reason, it is critical that you maintain an accurate, complete and professional profile. Outside of signing up with companies directly, it is probably the single most effective way to generate leads from our site.
I hope this helps (and that you're still reading),
Harry
Notary Rotary, Inc.
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