A highly valuable asset on which your online presence, reputation and revenue depend, a domain is much more than just a set of words typed into a browser address bar. Despite this, many online business owners – whether due to inattention or technical glitches – lose their domain when it expires.
To prevent fraudsters from taking over the name of your web project and avoid devastating consequences, you need to renew your domain in time. We have collected real stories of domain disasters and also given the best recommendations on how to protect your domain from such risks.
Why Domain Expiry Becomes a Problem?
Usually registered for 1-10 years, a domain is valid for a certain period after which it becomes free. To prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, you must renew it in time.
Although the renewal procedure is simple, some website owners ignore it, which results in auctioning the domain or deleting it completely. However, the provider gives you a grace period followed by a redemption period where you can still get your name back (albeit by spending a large amount of money).
According to TechRound, out of three newly registered domains, only one is renewed every year. Meanwhile, of the 70% of domains that are not renewed, over 40% eventually expire, while about 30% go to a new owner.
From owner forgetfulness to registrar problems, there are many reasons why domains are not renewed. However, a lost domain not only means the loss of your website, but also risks to your business, brand and even the safety of your users.
Real Stories of Domain Losses and Lessons for Millions
Let’s look at a few examples of domain loss instructive for everyone, whether they have a small blog or a large business portal:
1. Using an expired credit card nearly ruined Foursquare’s business. A very curious case happened to the popular social networking company in 2010. Due to late renewal fees, the company’s domain expired. Fortunately, the domain was promptly returned thanks to the intervention of the team behind the brand. Had this not happened, the already popular company could have lost the trust of the audience and millions of dollars of investment.
2. The infamous story of Microsoft temporarily losing its hotmail.co.uk domain after forgetting to renew its registration. As a result, millions of users lost access to their email accounts in an instant, leading to a reputational crisis for the tech giant. Although the problem was solved quickly enough, many users switched to competitors’ email services.
3. Small businesses aren’t immune to similar incidents either. In 2022, one Etsy shop owner lost his brand’s domain due to a notification failure from the registrar. Quickly buying that domain in an auction, competitors redirected all traffic to their website.
Such cases show how months of work, revenue and customers go nowhere in an instant, and both small brands and large corporations can suffer. So, protecting your domain name is a necessity, and you should not neglect it.
Consequences of Domain Loss
If you lose your domain – for example, because you simply forgot to renew it – then get ready for a chain of problems. First, your website will stop working, then the email that is linked to it, and then search engines will remove your pages from the index.
Instead of watching your customers leave and your competitors rejoice, you need to restore your domain immediately. Keep in mind that this can cost tens of thousands of dollars, especially if the domain has already been bought out by someone.
Unfortunately, many expired domains fall into the wrong hands and are subsequently used for phishing and malware distribution. If your old domain is scamming your customers instead of providing services as before, the reputational blow will be crushing.
Tips on How to Protect Your Domain
The good news is that preventing a domain disaster is easier than it may seem at first glance. Below, you’ll find a few steps to help keep your domain safe:
· If the auto-renewal feature is available, be sure to enable it. Most modern registrars provide such an option that your domain will renew automatically if there are funds on the account.
· Don’t forget the renewal date. Enable your smartphone or laptop to mention renewal a month or a week before the expiration date.
· Choose your domain name registrar wisely. Services like Spaceship domain transfer offer convenient management and timely notifications.
· Check your contact information to make sure your notification email is up to date. For example, some companies lose their domains simply because they forgot to enter an actual email address to receive notifications from the registrar.
· Register a domain for the long term, such as 5 or 10 years. For example, to avoid similar problems described above, a social media developer renewed its foursquare.com domain for 10 years at a time.
By taking these measures, you will spend a minimum of effort and time. However, you will create a solid barrier against domain name loss.
Wrapping Up
Having long realised the importance of domain protection, large market players like Google and YouTube have registered their key domains for decades to come with a tiered notification system in place. Small businesses like Etsy shops can adopt this practice using free tools such as Google Calendar.
If your domain does expire, here are a few options to solve the problem:
· You have a 30-day grace period with the ability to renew for a standard fee.
· If you hit a redemption period, the renewal cost can go up to $50-$200.
· If your domain was put up for auction, you will have to shell out a hefty sum.
Keep in mind that in an online environment where every detail of your presence matters, keeping your domain means saving your business. Since protecting your site name is not a complicated process, with basic discipline and the right registrar, you will prevent your asset from falling into the wrong hands.