Don't let anything distract you from renewing your domain name. It can happen to the best of us: in January 2007, for a few embarrassing hours, Google.de was owned by an opportunistic cybersquatter – all because, apparently, the search engine giant forgot to renew the Domain Name in time.

Google's domain name was quickly restored to its rightful owner because "Google" is a trademark. But if you have a generic domain name, or have not trademarked your brand, it's completely legal for someone to "drop catch" your domain name – that is, to register it seconds after its registration grace period expires.

Expired domain names are very attractive to speculators and marketers because they are likely to already have a certain amount of traffic which the previous owner generated with their own search engine optimisation, marketing campaigns and so on. If you are looking for a domain name yourself, it could well be worth trying to find a recently expired domain, because someone else will have started off the marketing process for you!

When your period of Domain Registration expires, your registrar has 45 days to notify you that your domain name has expired and that you need to renew it. No one else can register your domain name during this time. If you don't register it during the 45 days, the domain name will be "dropped" from the registry, meaning that it will no longer point to your website if people try to visit it.

However, you are the only person allowed to re-register it for a 30 day grace period after the domain is dropped. Once this 30 day period expires, there is a five day holding period, after which, anyone is allowed to register your domain name.

You should be aware, though, that some domain name registrars and resellers have a system whereby dropped domain names can be grabbed sooner – sometimes in as little as 30 days after your domain name registration period expires. For this reason, you should be extremely prompt with your renewal, to make absolutely sure that your domain name will not be lost.

The first way to ensure that you won't lose your domain name is to register it for several years at a time. Many registrars, including DomainMonster.com, offer bulk registration discounts. That means that if you sign up for several years at a time, you can save considerable amounts on your domain registration costs.

When your registered period gets close to ending, your domain registrar should contact you to remind you that you need to renew. There are a few points to remember here. If you're not sure whether your domain registrar will remind you to renew, log onto your domain administration account right now. There is usually a check box which says that you would like to be reminded when it is time to renew.

Some registrars, DomainMonster.com included, have an automatic renewal billing option, so that you don't even have to think about it. They'll send you an email to remind you that your registration period is expiring and that they will renew your domain name on your behalf, and you will be billed accordingly. This is the safest way of managing your domain name because you know that even if you forget, or don't check your emails regularly, your domain will be in safe hands.

By Brian Jackson