By Michael Dorausch, D.C.
If you own the domain for your website, there’s a really good chance you’ve received mail from various domain renewal groups, urging you to renew your domain before it expires. While the expiration notice may appear legitimate, there’s many companies seeking to profit from domain owners that don’t know the actual cost of renewing a domain, or are unaware of when their domain is set to expire. Be careful when renewing your domains, don’t be a victim of price gouging and questionable domain transfer and renewal techniques.
(photo: $30.00 for a 1 year .com domain renewal is questionable)
The domain expiration notices usually come disguised as a courtesy to domain name holders. The owner of the domain will get a notification by mail (and sometimes by fax) stating that the owners domain may be expiring in the next few months. My most recent domain name expiration notice was for a chiropractic domain I own, which is set to expire in the end of June, 2009.
I realize these domain renewal letters aren’t only being sent to chiropractors, but the reason I am addressing this here, is because many chiropractors have mentioned to me over the years. They’ve accidentally sent payments to these web domain listing companies. That’s likely the primary reason these companies are still in business, it’s profitable.
It’s not really so much a scam as it is a questionable business tactic, as plenty of domain owners don’t know who they’ve registered their domain with, and they may have forgotten how much they paid for it in the first place. Hopefully not $30 or more if they registered it new with a qualified domain registrar.
$30 may not seem like much money for a domain renewal, especially if it’s a domain owned by a small business. But that’s far above the renewal rate many domain registrars often advertise, especially in the case of dot com’s. One of the domain renewal letters I received this week offered a one-year renewal for $30, a two-year renewal for $50, and a five-year renewal for $95. Another domain listing service sent me a solicitation to renew my domain for one year for $65. In my opinion, all of these fees are way too expensive.
3 Tips On Renewing Your Domain Affordably — Here are some things I suggest you can follow in order to affordably renew your domains. Unless you really don’t want them anymore, don’t let your domain names expire. That’s one positive thing about these letters, they are a good reminder that it’s time to renew.
1) Conduct a Google search for domain renewals. It’s almost certain you’ll get sponsored advertisements for discounts on domain renewals, many of them usually under $10 a year (for dot-coms).
2) If you don’t have a whole bunch of domains, consider renewing for at least a period of five years. Not for $95, unless you like throwing your money away, but for typically under 50 bucks for a five-year renewal.
3) Find domain renewal coupons. If your domain is registered with a major registrar, they may send you coupons in the mail, or via e-mail. If it’s time to renew your domain, and you haven’t located any coupons, perform some web searches for terms like domain+renewal+coupons or do a blog search for domain renewal coupons. Personally, I like the blog searches better, since the domain coupon discount codes tend to be more up-to-date.
So, check and see that your current registrar has affordable domain renewal practices, and if they don’t consider transferring your domain to a new and more affordable company. Make your domain renewal for a period of five years or more, so that you don’t have to worry about the risk of your domain expiring year after year. Search online for coupons in order to get the best rates on your domain renewals. Most registrars will let you combine a discounted domain renewal rate with a current coupon, which in some cases currently gets you to renew dot com domains for around seven dollars. And the $23 you saved by registering for seven bucks versus $30, you can apply towards your next chiropractor visit.
Happy domaining!
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