What is An Internet Domain Name Lifecycle
Domain Name and URL are used interchangeably by many people. While there are some similarities in them, there are some differences too.
A domain name or a site name or a website name can be synonyms for each other. They all are essentially a string of alphanumeric characters which can be read easily.
They are the layman’s equivalent of the highly technical Internet Protocol (IP) address which is a set of 4 or 6 groups of numbers.
A typical domain name has an entire lifecycle which dictates if and how it can be registered, renewed, or bought again.
Domain Name Registration
Be it an online business for students, an entrepreneur having online business ideas, individuals with e commerce ideas, having a friendly, easy to remember and logical website name is important, especially for a business website.
A domain lookup is the first step one must undertake. It is important to check domain availability to make certain that the name of your choice is obtainable.
Domain registrars like Exabytes provide a very wide array of cheap domain names and their extensions to be registered as per the business.
A free domain is given with selected business hosting plans. These domain names can be registered for a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 10 years.
A domain remains active only for the period it is registered for from the day of registration.
Domain Transfer
If it so happens that you registered your website name with some other domain registrar who is not providing satisfactory service or you found a cheap domain registrar, there is an option to transfer an existing domain name to another registrar via a “domain transfer process”.
This can be done after a waiting period of 60 days for top level domains.
The waiting period could vary depending on domain extensions. It is best to contact your preferred domain name reseller or registrar for details.
Time for Domain Renewal
Every registered domain name must be renewed upon the expiry of its registration period. The date of expiry is typically 1 year to 10 years from the day the domain was registered.
Renewal Grace Period (30 to 45 days)
A domain name which is not renewed before it expires and is left as is enters a “renewal grace period’.
The grace period ranges between 30 to 45 days – the actual number of days varies depending on the domain extension and the registrar.
Caution – When a domain name expires, all the services mapped to the website also stop working. These could be business emails, e-commerce platforms, online store and other such facilities.
During this time, your domain registrar is at liberty to auction the domain or park the domain as per their choice. If in case the domain is being auctioned, anyone can buy it.
The party which registered it originally will also have to participate in the auction to stand a chance.
Interestingly, while the domain is in the renewal grace period, a domain lookup on a domain finder or a domain whois check may show the expired domain name as renewed.
This is because domains get auto renewed by registrars. One still must pay the renewal charges to get the domain back to active state.
The Danger of Redemption Period
When a domain name is not renewed in the renewal grace period, it enters the next phase of its lifecycle called “redemption period”.
A domain name which is set to enter this phase is sometimes deleted by a domain name reseller. One can ascertain the status of a domain by performing a domain expiry check.
However, the expired domain name would still be a part of the domain registrar’s domain registry database.
By this time, the cost of renewing the expired domain would have also increased. Be it a free domain or a domain name purchased – one would have to pay a domain renewal fee along with a domain restoration cost.
These again would be subject to the domain’s extension and individual domain registrars.
Domain Name Pending Delete
The penultimate stage of a domain’s lifecycle is “pending delete”. This is a stage of no return – the domain name cannot be retrieved back at all by the party who registered it.
Every domain remains in this state for 5 calendar days. Thereafter, it is completely deleted from the domain registrar’s database.
Once the domain name is deleted, all associated services like emails, ecommerce store, online payments etc. will be completely lost without any website backup.
A domain name which has been deleted by the registrar becomes available for registration as a new domain. They will be shown as available on domain whois search and can be registered or bought by anyone.
Domain Privacy Protection as an Add-on Service
Every domain name reseller, domain registrar offers domain privacy as a service.
How Does Domain Whois Privacy Work?
Once this service has been bought from a domain name registrar, the user’s actual contact information and other details are replaced with a forwarding information.
What are the Benefits of Domain Privacy Protection?
1. Guards your private information
With an ever-growing landscape of online theft, information misuse and other such dangers lurking around the corner – it is most necessary to safeguard personal contact information like email address, telephone number, address etc.
A domain privacy protection service ensures that your individual and / or company contact details always remain hidden. It is a massive shield against spammers and identity thieves.
2. Avoid Junk Mails
Everyday, hundreds of mails come in unsolicited and without any interest being shown. Often, spammers and uninvited marketeers look up a domain whois record and collate contact information of individuals and companies.
A domain privacy protection service provides much needed safety. The registered email address of such domains keeps changing which makes it difficult for spammers to hit their target.
Exabytes offers cheap domain registration, domain look up services with awesome domain names which can be found with its domain name generator service.
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