It is critical to understand that a domain name has an expiration date.
If a domain expires, your Web site will stop working. It does not mean your files disappear, but the domain name used to access your site will no longer be visible on the Web.
There is a period of time after a domain expires where you can still go back and renew it, in order to re-enable the name; however, ultimately if you do not renew the name, it will become available for other people to register.
There are several additional factors to keep in mind:
When you register a domain name, you choose a period of time to pay for the registration, such as a year or longer.
It is possible with many registrars to set up automatic renewal for a domain name, so that whenever it expires, a credit card is automatically charged for the renewal, so that the domain does not expire. This method is not foolproof though, since credit card information can change, etc.
The best policy when dealing with domain names is to be certain that you have the contact information up to date with your registrar, and that you have all the required account information to log in to the registrar's web site, in case you need to make changes.
If you have a domain name registered with another company, we recommend that you keep the login information in a safe place where you are able to find it easily, either on your computer or written down somewhere. You may also want to consider transferring all of your domain names to us, so that everything is "under one roof".
If your domain expires: renew it, by logging into the web page of the registrar where the name was originally registered.
If you don't know where the name was registered (for example, if you are managing a site and have no idea of the origins or status of the domain name), then you can use a Whois Web site to determine where the name was registered, and to check on the expiration date. A typical Whois service: whois.domainpeople.com