The primary benefit of having your own domain name is you can choose something that’s easy to remember and easy to share with others. Set it up so it forwards to your GoGetNotary web page and you’re ready to start announcing it to the world. Use it on your business cards, car magnets, ads and flyers. Include it in your email signature and other online directory listings so potential customers can click on it and go directly to your web page. Here are examples of a couple of our members who now have their own domain names forwarding to their pages: NJNotaryOnWheels.com, and PembrokePinesNotary.com.
Another benefit of your own domain name is as a portable “permanent address.” If you decide in the future you want to add a separate full web site to your Internet marketing efforts, you can switch the domain name from your GoGetNotary.com web page to your new separate web site. That way you don’t have to go back and change any of the links you’ve already posted in other directories. Later, if you decide you aren’t happy with your web site and want to drop it and just have your GoGetNotary.com web page, forward your domain name back to your page.
Domain names probably cost much less than you think if you shop around, but beware of hidden conditions. After a bad experience with a reseller, we teamed up with a national registrar to offer domain names for less than $10 a year and no sneaky expensive “gotchas.” What was our bad experience? We bought a domain name and discovered 30 days later that it included $499.00 for a hosting fee! It wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the description of the domain name or during the purchase. It was buried in the tiny type on page 6 of their 11-page contract. (When’s the last time you printed out a contract and read every word?!) Fortunately for us, our credit card company thought that was a “fraudulent and deceptive practice” and refunded our money. That domain name company, incidentally, is still in business and keeps resurfacing online with a new public “aka” name.
Visit GoGetWebsite.com and do a name search to see what’s available. Experiment with several names. Try your business name or your first or last name plus notary, signingagent, notaryservices, etc. We suggest you stick with the .com extension. You want this to be easy to remember and that means using .com NOT .net, .info, .us and so on. When you find a name you like, follow the instructions to purchase it. (You don’t need to get multiple domains like .net, .biz, .info, etc., or “Privacy.” Unless you want to buy your own template website, hit “no, thanks” when other offers appear.) Then follow these steps to forward your new domain name to your web page:
- After successfully purchasing your domain name, select Back to My Account.
- Select My Domain Names in the pull-down menu under Domain Names.
- Log in again if required. The Domain Control Center will open up.
- Check the box next to your domain name and, if your Status to the right shows “Active - Locked,” click on the Locking icon in the menu bar above. When the Locking window opens, select “OK” lower right. You will then return to the main page.
- Check the box next to your domain name again, and click on the “Forward” icon in the menu bar above.
- When the Forward window opens, select the “Enabled” button.
- In the “Forward to” field,” enter the web address where you want your domain name to forward, such as http://www.GoGetNotary.com/get/YourUsername.
- Set “Redirect” to “301 Moved Permanently.”
- Click on “OK lower right.
- On the main page, check the domain name box again, and select the
Locking” icon. When the Locking window opens, select “OK” lower right.
Now your domain name is set to forward and it is locked again to ensure safety. Your new domain name will start forwarding to your web page within 24 hours (usually within just a few hours) and you can start marketing it everywhere to everyone! This is the web address you’ll post online and use on your business cards, invoices and all your marketing materials.