This article was first published on the 9th of January, 2020 by Patrick Carpen.
This may come naturally to some people, but some of us still need a little reminder. The title of this article was one of the few that ended with an exclamation mark – simply because it cannot be overemphasized how important it is to keep checking on the expiry date of your domain name.
If you’re building an online business, you’re pumping hours upon hours of time and energy into that project – to say nothing of money. Then boom! One day you wake up and your domain is for sale, or “website not available.” What the heck?
Although nowadays it is obvious that domain name registrars have put systems in place to protect webmasters from this disaster, that extra layer of care is important. During my early days on the net – surfing around and trying to make money online, I lost millions of dollars because of this mistake. But it wasn’t entirely my fault. At that time, I had registered with the .ws company, which turned out to be a total waste of time. They offered a domain name, an MLM program and hosting for $10.00 a month. One day, the bank froze my credit card for verification purposes and my payment of $10.00 got declined. At that time, I was so entranced in my work, and I was receiving so many emails everyday, that I didn’t notice the emails which got clustered among so others – the emails informing me that my payment was declined.
Then one morning, I got up eager to continue building my website. I typed in my domain name and BAM! It’s for sale! WTF? I contacted the .ws company and they told me that it was because payment was declined. By that time, I had spent a few hundred thousand dollars building links to my site, driving paid traffic, buying content and the rest of the works. And by that time, my website was starting to pick up speed. Affiliate links were being clicked, eBooks were being sold and money was starting to come in.
But it all came tumbling down in one fell swoop! Sometimes I wonder if I should sue the .ws company for this, because, instead of suspending my service for non-paymetnt, they went straight away and released my domain name to the public. A domain name shark swooped it up and was offering it for sale. I contacted him and explained my situation. He said I could bid and that bidding started at $400.00. Seeing that this was a process that could drag on infinitely, I got angry and told him to “go f**K himself” for a bid.
Then I went on to start all over again on a new website project. It is for these reasons that I always keep my domain names, www.platinumrecipescollection.com, and www.patrickcarpen.com, registered at least 8 years in advance. And the others, I keep checking up on them regularly. Although they are on auto renew, I still keep them renewed a few years in advance.
