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Did you forget your own name?
Now before you go reaching for your identification to check who you are, let me reassure you… I’m talking about your domain name.
Forgetting to renew a domain name can result in HUGE headaches, including paying additional fees or even having a competitor or domain name reseller grab your prized domain name.
Depending on their goals, they may use your old domain name for their site, they may agree to sell it back to you at an exorbitant price, or they may even completely refuse to sell name back to you, essentially holding it hostage.
Sure, there may be legal action you can take if you have trademarks in place, but that takes time- and during all this time, your site and your e-mail are down!
So, how do we avoid all of this in first place? Roll up your sleeves and let’s get started, shall we?
=============================== #1. First, let’s check! =============================== Crank up your favorite web browser and visit web site of registrar for your domain name, or just choose one from list below. These are just a few of registrars I could think of, not an inclusive list, and are simply in alphabetical order.
Dotster: https://secure.registerapi.com/services/whois.php
GoDaddy: https://registrar.godaddy.com/whois.asp
Network Solutions: http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whois/index.jhtml
Register.com http://www.register.com/whois_lookup.cgi
Once there, follow prompts to perform a whois search for your domain name.
Verify expiration date for your domain name, and put a reminder on your calendar (RIGHT NOW) to renew it at least 30 days prior to date given for current expiration.
If you are already within that 30 day window, renew your domain name while you are thinking of it. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
=================================== #2. The expiration process =================================== All is not lost if your domain name has expired. There is a period of time after its expiration that you can still reclaim your prized possession.
Here’s how it works.
On date that a domain expires, registrar removes it from root servers (the list of domains currently registered globally); therefore, any web sites or e-mail associated with domain name will begin to stop working.
At this point, domain has entered a 30 day period called “Redemption Period”. The redemption period is a grace period that allows you to re-register your domain name in event that you simply overlooked expiration date, didn’t receive expiration notice, etc.
