I have a bit of news you or your clients/brands may be interested in:

New ”.me” domains are available today. For example, you could register yourbrand.me just like yourbrand.com. The fee is about $20/yr.

You may never use it, but it will prevent others from doing so.

I use GoDaddy to register my domains. GoDaddy is one of the few “.me” official registrars. If you decide to use them, please use this link since they pay a referral fee and I would appreciate it – the $0.50 goes into a pot for pizza parties!

And there are some good domains available for all you speculators out there.

If you have any other questions about protecting your brand online, social media marketing, search engines, etc, let me know. My team of consultants rocks!

You can subscribe to my site via e-mail for more news like this: http://billdotson.com/subscribe/

I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the campaign. We raised $2750.00 out of the $3000.00 goal. This was my first experience of online fundraising. I consider it a success.

Here’s what worked:

1. Got permission from the Red Cross to use e-mail and this blog. I’m not sure if I needed it, but permission never hurts.
2. Wrote a blog post (web page) about the campaign. I made sure to choose an image since it really helps conversions (donations) when people see images of familiar icons. The copy included various ways to donate.
3. Changed my e-mail signature to read: "Help me help the Red Cross…" The signature was only two lines and explained I would match everything the person donated. There was a link to the blog page.
4. I e-mailed people in or from the Bluegrass. The campaign was for our chapter so it seemed like the natural group of people to contact. Approximately 200 people were e-mailed. Around 30 donated and I got two people who donated after the campaign was over. I’m not sure if this is a good ratio or not, but it served the purpose.

In addition to the funds raised, I learned who donated funds and who communicated they did not because of other charitable contributions. The last communication was very valuable to me since it acknowledged people do care.

I am a bit surprised about the total number of people who did not respond to my e-mail request. My request was personalized and its not as if I make these requests all the time (it was my first one). No matter…I will respond to them in the future because its only polite to do so.

Thanks again if you donated!

(written while on a train to the city housing the Red Cross international HQ: Geneva.)

The Bluegrass Area Chapter of the Red Cross is raising funds and I’ve agreed to help. Their Heroes Campaign is designed to raise about $80,000 and nominate people in the region to be recognized for their heroic efforts.

I’ve agreed to be one of the team captains and raise at least $3,000 by March 24th. This is a request for your help.

If you donate to the cause, I’ll match your donation and you can nominate someone to be a Hero.

I would love to show our local chapter the power of online fundraising. If you choose to donate online, please put my name in the “Comments” box on their form.

Here are the steps to take:

1. Decide to help the Red Cross — do you really need to decide to help them?
2. Choose how much to donate. I suggest a minimum of $25, but I’d love to see an average online donation of $100.
3. Choose your method of donating. This Red Cross page gives you many ways: http://www.redcrosslexky.org/donate.htm
4. Just write my name in somewhere on your donation or e-mail me to let me know you donated. You can also use this blog post and comment your amount. I’ll match it.
5. After you donate, don’t forget to nominate a Hero using this PDF: http://www.redcrosslexky.org/Heroes%20Nomination.pdf
6. Fax the PDF to me at 859-422-8422.

The timeframe is tight — just a month — so let’s get to it!

And of course — all donations are tax deductible!

The thousands of people aided in the area thank you.