SHORT ANSWER: An expired domain is a domain name that was once registered to an individual or a company whose registration has expired.
LONG ANSWER: You can register your domain name in either your name, as an individual, or in your business’ name, your choice. Once it’s registered to you or your company, it stays registered for one year. Every year after that you can renew your ownership. Domain name renewal costs anywhere from $5 to $15, depending on which domain name registrar you use.
Most domain name registrars give you the option of a multi-year renewal, which saves a few dollars and the headache of renewing every year. Multi-year renewals are a good idea if you have a domain name you are pretty certain you will want for the foreseeable future.
Even if you decide to let go of the website attached to the name, you can always use it for PPC and affiliate ads like the big guys do!
A domain name with an expired registration, meaning no one owns the name at the moment, is known as an “expired” domain name. If you don’t renew at the end of the year, that domain name becomes available for purchase by someone else.
Who would allow a good domain name to expire?
- Maybe the domain name wasn’t so good after all!
- Absentminded website owners who simply neglected to renew their domain names;
- Webmasters who got tied up in other ventures or interests;
- Webmasters who discontinued a site due to time constraints;
- Webmasters who ran out of money to continue to operate.
Domain name registrars know how valuable your domain names can be, so the good ones send out several renewal notices. Make sure your email address is correct and deliverable so you don’t miss a renewal!
These days, when a domain name expires, domain name registrars “take over” the name for a few months afterwards, before releasing it to be sold again. They do this so they can make money on any traffic you may still have finding its way to the name. The parked page will now be filed with Pay Per Click ads with all the money going to the domain name registrar. Smart!
Here’s the rub: if you decide you want the name back after it’s expired and the registrar has assumed control of it, the registrar will charge you anywhere from $50 to $150 (those are the prices I’ve seen) to pull that domain name out of limbo and reinstate it to you! (This is a good indication of how much even a cheap domain name is worth!)
The lesson here is, if there is any chance you can use that domain name, make sure your email address is good so you don’t miss your renewal!
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.