Why It Is important to look after your Domain Name

We often hear horror stories of people losing their domain names or we get a call from a client asking why they can’t access their website… and it turns out the domain name has expired…

As a business owner you have probably invested a lot of time and money in your website, business merchandise printing such as pens and business cards, company clothing embroidery etc and this will all tie back to your website address (your domain name). Your email accounts are often tied to your domain name too.

Maybe you have had your vehicle branded with your business name and website details, or invested in a business directory to help organically raise your Google rankings.

All of this revolves around your domain name. You are looking to increase traffic to your website and the one thing that connects all of this up is your website. Now we all know that to have a website you need a domain name, but the maintenance of this is equally important.

Domain names do expire! Often you or your developer will purchase your chosen name, but this is for a set term only and which needs to be regularly renewed. Many domain names are purchased for 1,2, 3 or 5 years but do you know the expiry date of your domain name?

Do you know when your domain name expires?

If you miss renewing your domain name, someone else can purchase it and you will have lost the platform for your website (it’s address), your email accounts for the domain, and all the merchandising you have had produced will be defunct. Your Google ranking will vanish along with any directory listings and that’s for all the search engines, not just Google. The new owner will register the name and may point it to another website, possibly using it to spread viruses to your customers or they may just hold you to ransom to buy back your domain name.

So check your expiry date of your domain name and ensure this does not happen to your business!

If your domain name is looked after by ourselves at Poppy, we always enable auto renew on all domains. This way no mistakes can be made. You can also check this with your registrar as they normally have the option to auto renew too.

Tips to Remember:

Keep your domain registrar login details or management company details safe
Check that auto renew for the domain name is enabled.
Check that your payment methods are kept up to date. For example if your bank card has expired, update those details with your registrar.
Register your domain for a longer term if possible, it helps your rankings and ensures less chance of accidents happening!