If you’re currently operating a website online, then you are probably familiar with domain names and web hosting. Still, what many website owners forget to realize is that these things all expire at some point. Even some of the most seasoned domain investors and large corporations have forgotten to renew their domains in the past. If you like your domain name and do not want it getting auctioned off to the highest bidder, it’s very important to remember that you will need to renew your domain each year (and web hosting each month most likely). Not renewing those services in time can be costly and sometimes even irreversible! Listed below are some of the most common reasons both businesses and individuals forget to renew their domain names.
1. Forgetting which email is listed as the owner
2. Indecisiveness on whether to renew the domain name or not
3. Ignoring the notification email from the registrar
4. Missing out (due to the spam box or other reasons) on the registrar notification email
5. Person that was responsible (and his email) left the company
6. Domain owner doesn’t control the email listed as the owner
7. Domain owner forgets completely that he owns the domain (could be he/she registered with a registrar he/she doesn’t usually use)
8. Owner forgot to renew the domain where his email was on (the email can’t work without the original domain name)
9. Owner forgets to set up email forwarding from “email on WHOIS” to “email he/she reads”
10. Domain owner doesn’t have an “auto-renew” option on the domain name
11. Credit card on file is expired, so the “auto-renew” never takes place
It Happens More Than You Think
I previously came across this interesting story about a foster agency making the mistake of letting their domain expire. It was picked up by someone else and the new registrant wanted $12,000 for it! It’s certainly not a situation that anyone wants to be in, but let me point out that this could easily have been avoided had the agency been paying attention and not let their domain name expire, go through the redemption period, and ultimately drop for someone else to register.
The lesson here is to pay attention to your domain names and their expiration dates. It’s costly to let them expire and the consequences can be irreversible. With the busy lives we all live today, it’s easy to let a yearly bill slip through the cracks, but it is important to treat your domain name registration as important as any other bills you may have. They don’t call good domains premium internet real estate for nothing. Would you forget to pay your mortgage bill each month? It’s no fun having the electricity turned off because you forgot to pay a bill, either. But, can you imagine if you called your energy provider and they told you service to your home was no longer available because they decided to sell it to your neighbor? Go through the list above and review the most common reasons people forget to renew their domains. As you will see, many of these can be easily avoided by simply verifying information (such as your WHOIS details) are up-to-date and use an email address you check on a regular basis. Remember, a domain registrar will begin emailing you 90 days before your domain expires. Registrars will usually send 90, 60, 30, 10, 7, and 3 day notifications about your domain expiring. By taking a few minutes to verify some simple information it might save you one big headache in the future!
