No; it is not possible to buy a domain name forever – like ‘for ever and ever’. However, you can register for a longer term. Here is why and how.
When starting out, it’s easy to miss out on a few crucial aspects that might cost you much in the end. Losing a domain name is one such items that can cause agony to any webmaster. Yet, a large number of domains are lost every day translating to hundreds of lost businesses and brands largely due to expiration of domain names.
So, how can you buy a domain name forever and avoid losing it upon expiration? Unfortunately, this is an impossible mission for anyone today thanks to the ICANN rules that govern domain registrations and ownership. ICANN is the universal body tasked with the responsibility of governing the internet institution and managing its core infrastructure such as domains names registration and ownership.
What do ICANN rules state?
- You can register a domain through your preferred registrar after agreeing to their terms and conditions.
- Different registrars have different terms regarding how long your domain registration lasts. Most of these companies are flexible and can thus allow initial and renewal of domain registrations in one-year increments. However, the maximum allowed period of the remaining unexpired term is ten years.
- Registrars should alert all its registrants regarding approaching domain expiry date three months before it occurs.
How can you avoid losing your valued domain due to its expiration?
Before delving into this topic, we should perhaps point out why used domains sell like hotcake and why losing your old domain might be a big blow to you. Old domains that have content associated to it are good for SEO due to the traffic they pull based on their keywords rankings on SERPs. So, can you now imagine losing a domain name that already has a high-flying website behind it just because you failed to renew your domain on time? That’s what you gift whoever buys that particular domain including the traffic your site has been commanding on SERPs. Sounds awful, right?
Here are some of the tips to help you avoid missing domain renewals
- Register for a longer time
- Set to have your domain auto-renew
- Use one registrar for all your domains
- Use group email address to receive notifications on all your domain renewals
- Mark your calendar for domain renewals dates
Unless your aim is to run a temporary website for promos or advertisements, it’s only prudent that you register or renew your domain for several years, preferably five or more years.
This might cost you a little more but it’s worth it especially if it involves a domain you no longer use but would like to retain its ownership.
This helps you remember to check all your domains from a single place thereby making it easier to monitor those nearing expiration.
Setting up a group email alias that sends messages to several people in your organization can ease the process of monitoring domain expiry dates.
You can enter your domain renewals in your calendar to help you easily monitor their expiry dates. Try to renew any domain at least 30 days before its expiration. If you fail to do it, your calendar sends you an alert regarding any upcoming renewals.
Conclusion
There’s no way for you to buy and retain ownership of a domain forever. For this reason, you’ll have to renew it after a specified time, typically every few years, lest you lose it to other web masters aiming to benefit from the domain’s traffic and other SEO valuable features. However, it’s easy to avoid falling into this pitfall by using these simple tips.