“Expired Domain Name”: What is it?
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: Your domain name can be registered to either you, personally, or to a company of your choosing. Once it’s registered to you or your company, it stays registered for one year. Once your domain is registered, each year you get to renew that registration. 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!
An expired domain name is one with an expired registration - no one can claim ownership. If you fail to renew your domain name, it becomes available for purchase.
Who in the world would let a good domain name expire?
- Perhaps it wasn’t such a good domain name 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.
Prior to your domain name expiring, your domain name registrar should send you several renewal notices. Make sure the email address on file with your domain name registrar is working 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. Why would they bother? Because just maybe there is still traffic finding its way to your old domain name. And traffic is money. The domain name will now point to a parked page with PPC ads, with all monies going to the 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! (Even a domain name that didn’t produce much traffic for you might produce a penny one day!)
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!
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Tags: affiliate ads, domain name investing, domain name registrar, expired domain name, PPC, renewing a domain name