What would happen if you lose all documents proving your identity? It would make your life highly unorganized. You won’t be able to apply for loans, buy property, cars, etc. Think of a domain name as something that establishes the identity of your business.
Losing a domain name could prove disastrous for your business. Once it expires, it might take 24-48 hours for you to renew them. As per a report released by the Shopping car elite, your website rankings will plummet by 30% in the event of an outage lasting 6 hours.
The report also suggests that the damage caused by such an outage could affect your business for 60 days.
It would take some severe SEO overtime to repair such damage. Just 6 hours of disruption could do this to your business. Imagine the damage done to your reputation and finances if your website experiences 48 hours of downtime.
Scary, right? Don’t worry; the good news is that once you register your website domain, it is yours for a stipulated period, say 1 to 10 years (depending on the plan you choose).
Before we go ahead, let’s start with the basics.
Also Read: Understanding Domain Names – A Complete Guide
What is a Domain Name?
If you have a physical address where you conduct your business operations, people would know where to go if they want to do business with you. On the internet, your website is your office. The domain name is your address; it helps visitors or prospective clients find you.
Computers and other systems use IP addresses, but it’s hard to remember. Domain names were invented to eliminate this problem. It helps people to identify your business and reach you online.
Usually, domain names are a combination of words and numbers, and it’s unique for everyone. Two websites can’t share the same domain name. Moreover, prior registration is required before you could use it.
However, having a domain name alone doesn’t mean you’re good to go. You will also need a hosting plan and a content management system to launch your website. The cost of a domain name doesn’t include the other services.
Know About: How To Buy A Domain Name
Why Renewing Your Domain Name is Crucial?
People know your business by your domain name. Losing your domain name and switching to a new one means starting all over again.
If this isn’t a reason enough, here are a few more to renew your domain.
1. Renewal lets you keep your domain name.
If you fail to renew your domain name, it’s up for grabs. Anyone could claim it, including rival companies.
Upon expiry of a domain name, you get 30-40 days to renew the domain name. This period is known as the renewal grace period. Failure to renew the domain during the renewal grace period would lead to the domain being moved to the redemption period. This period would last for another 30 days.
Attempting to renew your domain name during the redemption period would cost you a lot more than the renewal grace period. Five days after the redemption period, the domain name becomes available to the public.
On most occasions, a business’s domain name is linked to social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Losing the domain name would mean your followers or clients would be redirected to another link, leading to loss of reputation and business.
Apart from this, third party services are also linked to your domain name. You would have to make adjustments accordingly.
2. Ensures Higher Uptime
After the expiry of your domain, all services connected to your domain name, like email address, etc., would be suspended as well. The extended downtime period would deter many website visitors from interacting with your business, plus it also raises questions about the site’s authenticity. All of these problems won’t arise if you renew your domain on time.
3. Better search engine rankings
When your domain expires, a parking page takes its place. It severely affects your search engine rankings. The SEO team would have to put in extra hours to undo the damage and bring it back on track.
Google and other search engines won’t understand if your site is down or if it’s dead; they will attempt to crawl and check repeatedly. Eventually, your search engine rankings will drop.
4. Enjoy peace of mind
If you failed to click on the auto-renewal option and ignored the emails, you won’t even know when your domain name expires. Sometimes critical emails end up in the spam section. Once the domain expires, you would have to concentrate all your efforts on getting your site back on track.
This process involves plenty of expenses and formalities. You don’t want to be doing all this when there are other important tasks at hand. Enabling the auto-renewal option would put your mind at ease and allow you to focus on productive tasks.
5. Prevent Fraud
People who are too engrossed in their business activities might not pay attention to such matters, or they might simply be unaware of it. Fraudsters benefit from such individuals. These imposters send official email notifications that look very legitimate.
Unsuspecting individuals might not go into the details and pay the exorbitant amounts. By the time they realize their mistake, it would be too late. Enabling auto-renewal using your official domain account panel would eliminate such risks.
6. Preserve your identity
Renewing your website domain is not a waste of money; it is a calculated investment. Your website domain is something that you have worked on, and it’s a product of your creativity and dedication. When an expired domain name is open to the public, all they need to do is buy it and redirect it to their website.
Moreover, an expired domain has plenty of valuable information like backlinks and established web-traffic. If you express a desire to buy the domain from the party who managed to grab it, it might cost you thousands of dollars (all because of pure negligence).
It’s simply not worth all the money and effort. The best thing to do is to be vigilant and renew it before the expiration date.
How do I renew my domain name at Host IT Smart?
- Pay attention to renewal reminder emails, important notices, and enable auto-renewal. If you do none of the above, it might cost you heavily. Most domain providers send alert emails 30 days before the domain expiration, and they send the second reminder five days before expiry.
- Update your billing information. If you lose your existing debit/credit card or get a new one, don’t forget to update those details in your account.
- Often, businesses have multiple websites, and the domains for these may have different expiry dates. Merge all the details and save it in a single location. When the expiration date nears, you can take the required steps.
- Don’t forget to check your emails regularly. If you have changed your email address, update it in the account to get regular alerts and notifications.
Know About: Domains – Facts, Concepts And Myths
Conclusion
Not renewing your domain on time will do more harm than good. It will undo all the great work over the years, including loss of reputation and client base.
Moreover, if you don’t invest in a domain name, you’re risking intellectual property loss. You won’t capitalize on the benefits of those assets.
At Host IT Smart, we can help take care of your domain while you focus on your business’s business-critical aspects. Get in touch with our experts today.
