1.) Monthly hosting. Basically, you are paying controlled rent for a space to have your business, organization, or personal website on the internet. Unless you have your own server, then you will need to pay this monthly rent. The benefits of hosting with a company, rather than setting up your own server, is that most of the hosting companies run what is called a “dual backbone.” This means if there is a power failure (such as can be caused by a weather event), they have the capability to keep your site “up” by switching to the backup server that is still “up,” allowing you to have uninterrupted service on your site. 

There are times, however,  when events beyond a hosting company’s control happens. Usually, this is due to some kind of “mischief” caused by hackers and the like – often from other countries.  For example,  DDOS attacks (“distributed denial of service”)  can happen when an individual or a group of individuals or “bots” send an excessive amount of “requests” for access a server or website. (An Internet “bot”, also known as web robot, WWW robot or simply “bot”, is a software application that runs automated tasks (scripts) over the Internet.) This huge number of requests overload the server’s capabilities and temporarily shuts it down. (“Temporary” is relative to the technical person on the other end finding a way to stop the attack and/or wait it out and then put defensive measures into place to prevent this if from happening again. Unfortunately, in this day and age it happens quite often, especially against large companies when statements are being made. Other times, it is someone who is just showing off their abilities to ‘get in’.)

2.) Domain fees. The second part that you need for your website to be available to the public is your domain name. Whether it is a .com, .org, .biz, etc. your online presence name (www.yourname.com) needs to be renewed annually. Sometimes the renewal terms are longer. You can have your hosting company take care of this for you, or you need to remember to do it yourself. You can add an automatic renewal with a payment option – as long as you remember to update that option when it expires.  In order for your website to appear at all, you MUST have a domain name.  The domain name, once purchased, is set up to “point” to your hosting service, where the website itself resides.  You can have a domain name with no website attached, but you can’t have a website without a domain name.  That’s why it is so very important that you don’t let the domain name lapse.

So what happens if you forget? You will generally receive a notice that you missed the payment and you have x amount of time to be able to grab the name back by making the payment. (That is, if you have your current email in your contact information.) Otherwise, if you don’t make this payment, then someone else can come along and buy the name. They may not want to use it – but they will then be able to ask whatever price they want in order for someone else to use it. This is why you see websites available for “$1500” or more. Someone purchased the name and then they sat on it until someone else comes along who really, really wants it. They can then demand whatever price they want for it – and if you really want it, you will pay their asking fee.  So, what once might have cost you $25 to renew for the year now cost you $1,500 – or more!

Options for renewing your domain name:

A.) Auto renewal – Making sure you have your current contact information and payment method on file.

B.) Have your hosting company take care of it for you. They will add it to your bill once a year – this way you don’t forget.

C.) Put it on your calendar as an automatic reminder – then go in and take care of it yourself.

No matter which method you choose, unless you are giving up your internet presence, do what will help you keep your domain name so you don’t lose it.

Dynamic Graphics purchases and takes care of renewal as an added service to our hosting package, giving you the assurance that you won’t lose it.  Contact us today for more information.

located in
Sequim, WA 98382

Email: info@dynamic-graphics.com