Whatever you do, if you want to keep your domain name don't let it expire. Otherwise, someone else could end up owning your valuable piece of online real estate. That is precisely what happened to me while I wasn't checking my email for an extended period of time due to illness. This occurred when my credit card was declined by my web host to renew my domain name and for monthly web hosting. I lost my domain and my site was taken offline.
When I returned to the online world, I went through the over 1000 unread emails that I had in my Inbox. Among that massive pile of electronic mail, I found several emails from Hypermart, the web hosting company where I purchased my domain and hosted my web site. Through these emails I learned that my domain name had expired and that my site had been removed from their servers due to my credit card not going through.
I went to check if internetsecurity101.net was still available, and to my horror, found that someone else had purchased my domain. Out of curiosity I visited what used to be my web site and I discovered that it was for sale. The current owners were taking offers through Sedo, a domain service provider where you can park, sale, and purchase domains.
I ultimately ended up buying my domain back for $300 US.
However, I've lost a lot more than just the purchase price for my domain. Since my website is currently offline internetsecurity101.net now has a Google page ranking of 0(previously 4) and is no longer listed in the search engines. In terms of SEO and building traffic again on Internet Security 101, I am virtually back to square 1. Not only that, I now have to go through the hassle of transferring my domain and uploading my site to my web host.
In the meantime I've decided I'm going to completely redesign the layout and update the content of my website.
Soon, I hope to have Internet Security 101 up and running again.
If you want to keep your site on the great frontier called the world wide web or not have to pay a fortune to purchase it, renew your domain. Don't make the same mistake I did and let your domain name expire.
1 comments:
Nice post, the companies that I purchased my domains with automatically debit my account for payment so this is not an issue. At least as long as I have the money in my account.
What really erks me is the pathetic scams that come in the mail which read "It's Time To Renew Your Domain." Then the letter is so cleverly written that If you were new to owning domains you might fall for it.
http://www.craigsblitz.com/cc.html
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