So you have a domain name that represents you/your business/your family/your cat on the internet. You probably spent a lot of time and (maybe) money to make it great and fun and profitable.

Did you make sure the domain registration is in your name? Is it in your company's name? (I suppose it could be in your cat's name -- there are a a few Mr Whiskers with sites, I'm sure). Needless to say (or, Needing to say, since I"M POSTING THIS FOR A REASON), it's pretty important that your domain name registration reflects the proper ownership of the site.

If you signed up for a super cheap hosting plan that says something like "Free domain!", you might check their terms of service to see who actually owns the registration before you put a lot of the aforementioned time/money/felines into the site. As a matter of fact, do this for EVERY domain you have, regardless of where/when you got it. I see this quite a lot: someone registers a domain for an organization/club/business whatever, and then that person leaves or is incommunicado for some reason and OOPS FORGOT TO PAY EVERYTHING GOES BYE-BYE.

Protect yourself and your investment in your tiny house/vegan sandal rescue blog. Make sure the contact info is correct and up-to-date. Use the Technical and Admin contacts as well. Point them to other responsible people in the organization (your receptionist, or your VP of sales, or your Executive Cat MR WHISKERS THIS IS SERIOUS STOP WITH THE STRING), so if something happens there are multiple ways to find out before BYE-BYE time.