Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Consumer Alert!: Domain Registry of America

BEWARE of notices from Domain Registry of America (DROA)! Both my clients and I have received notices from them that our domains are about to expire. The upper right-hand corner of the paper reads "Domain Name Expiration Notice." I was not fooled by this, but I figured the average Web site owner might be since they make a great effort to have an official looking envelope and letter.

 DROA's letter looks official giving you options for renewals and suggestions to purchase additional, related domain names. THESE FEES ARE MUCH HIGHER THAN MOST REGISTRARS! (I currently pay approximately $10 per year per domain.) DROA charges $30.00 for a one-year renewal. You'll end up spending much more money. This is blatantly misleading and dishonest!

PLEASE make it a policy to know when your domains expire and who your domain registrar is. For example, mine is GoDaddy. I shouldn't be receiving ANY notices about my domain renewals except from them.

Domain information is public information (unless you've paid extra to keep it private) and this is how they get your domain name, contact information, etc. DROA is a domain reseller and web hosting company that has a horrible reputation - just Google it and see if you can find any positive information. Apparently they have been at this for a very long time - search results date back to 2002. Report them and don’t do business with Domain Registry of America.

Minnesota
State Offices
Office of the Attorney General
Consumer Services Division
1400 Bremer Tower
445 Minnesota St.
St. Paul, MN 55101
651-296-3353
Toll free: 1-800-657-3787
TTY: 651-297-7206 or 1-800-366-4812 (Toll free)
http://www.ag.state.mn.us

OR consumer information at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm


Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Text Donations

While reading my recent issue of DMNews, I read an interesting article about how non-profits are using text donations to raise money.

I guess this caught my eye because last Friday I attended a great Leadership conference in Brooklyn Park at Living Word Christian Center. (Leadercast is an annual event sponsored by GiantImpact and is simulcast in many locations around the U.S.) During the simulcast there were a couple of opportunities to text a $10 donation to Compassion International, a child advocacy ministry which aims to release children from poverty via sponsorships. I digress.....

But it got me thinking about how to use this locally. Can our churches use it? Our local chapter of Habitat for Humanity? Our area non-profits? It would be worth testing. Many of us carry a mobile device of one sort or another and all you do is text a message to a given number and your donation is taken on behalf of the non-profit. You can give with immediacy knowing that it is going to a cause you are passionate about. No writing a note to do it later - it's done!

Mobile Loaves and Fishes uses text donations to fight homelessness. They have an office in Minneapolis, although their text donation campaign runs out of their Austin, TX office. They use a service called T3 to manage this campaign for them.

The American Red Cross ran a very successful text donation campaign to raise money for Haiti. In January of 2010, they raised $5 million in pledges all in $10 increments. Pretty cool.

Broadtexter is a great text messaging service for use in sending alerts, announcing promotions/offers, and personalizing your service, etc. They DO NOT have an option for accepting donations, but a FREE, useful tool for small businesses.

There are other services that will manage text donations. Google "text donation services" for more info. Or there is a good blog article on the Consumer Reports Web site - What to Know About Text Donations.

I'm inspired to see how many different ways this can be used! How about you?

Ciao for now, Paula