When you register a domain, your ownership isn’t absolute. Much like car registration, you must renew every year. As long as you ensure that your domain is current, you don’t run the risk of waking up one morning and finding out that your website has disappeared due to your registrar taking it offline.

It’s very simple to avoid domain lapse. You can enable automatic renewal, an option available with most registrars. As the name suggests, it will allow your registrar to automatically charge your debit or credit card on file (or PayPal account, depending on your registrar), usually precisely on the renewal date.
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