People and businesses build their identity around their name and their values. The same applies online. Our domain name defines us and enables others to recognise us on the internet. Because of this, it’s very important to renew our domain rather than keep registering new ones. This also gives us control over our online brand and means we can be sure it won’t end up in the wrong hands. Keeping our domain name also means we can carry on benefitting from associated services such as email accounts.
But how do we renew a domain?
When the time comes to renew a domain, we should contact our domain registration company. To find out when our .barcelona domain expires, we can go to the user panel and check the expiry date. Once inside the panel, it is important to select the domain we wish to renew, as we may have registered more than one. Once we select the domain we wish to renew, we find the option ‘renew domain’. This is where can choose the duration of the registration period, which may be for one year or longer. The ICANN allows a maximum of ten days for registration. Next, we should confirm the data and pay the quota.
There is no need to wait until the last moment to renew. Even if there are weeks left before it expires, we can renew our .barcelona domain in advance without the registration period being affected. For instance, if the domain expires on 1 January 2022, the next expiry date will be 1 January 2023, regardless of when we renew. This means that if we have a discount code we can make the most of when we want to apply it, whatever the date is.
What happens if the expiry date comes and goes and I haven’t renewed the domain?
Our registration company will usually contact us when the registration period is due to expire. This varies depending on the registration company, but we may be contacted up to 30 days before the domain expires. If for some reason we do not see the reminders, we still have five days after the expiry date in which to renew the domain. After those five days a definitive deactivation process begins and within a few days we will have lost the domain.
This does not mean we lose our domain name forever, but rather that it becomes available again for anybody wishing the register it. Consequently, if we are lucky and nobody registers the domain, we can register it again through the usual new domain registration procedure.
This practice comes with an element of risk, and apart from the possibility of not being able to register it again and losing our digital identity, the renewal process is more straightforward than registering anew.
To avoid headaches, many registration companies offer the possibility of automatic renewals. This mean that unless we indicate otherwise, the registration company will renew our domain every year without our having to think about it.
