SHORT ANSWER: An expired domain is a domain name that’s registration has expired.
LONG ANSWER: When a domain name is purchased, it must be registered in either your name as an individual or in the name of your business. Your domain name registration is good for one year, at which time you can renew ownership. 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 is simply a domain name with an expired registration. If you don’t renew your domain names at the end of each year, they become available for purchase on the open market.
Who would miss a domain name renewal?
- 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.
Domain name registrars know how valuable your domain names can be, so the good ones send out several renewal notices. If you retire an email address, make sure you update the new one with your domain name registrar so you don’t miss a renewal notice!
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 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! (Even a domain name without much traffic might cough up a few pennies over time… even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then!)
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!
Tags: affiliate ads, domain name investing, domain name registrar, expired domain name, PPC, renewing a domain name