The new TLD's are a boon for end users who cannot get the .com (or cctld) but other than that they basically only make money for the registries and the biggest one of those is getting fat from your cash instead of donuts.
Far from fair or accurate, especially from an inside view dealing with the thousands of domain buyers and investors who are interacting with these names. I've never seen any company in the industry up until this promotion work to generously bridge the domaining sector with actual end buyers the way Jay and Rob have. The marching orders we received here were very clear, and the hybrid model created is gaining fast traction and already leading to lead generation and premium closes.
From an inside view their directives were:
1. Work to digitally empower domain buyers in the industry to a higher level, specifically by providing a lexicon of resources that have never been prior assembled, including full detailed mapping for a hundred thousand names that could become lucrative to domain investors through recommendation alone.
2. Keep their outlay for singular names at a subsidized price under $1, to ensure that very little out of pocket expense would need to be incurred for participation so that no one would be left behind.
2. Connect their purchases with more than 1.5 million actual fully disclosed real estate agent prospects, and ensure they can interact with them as a non-cost courtesy to empower their planning, investment decisions, prospect targeting, and marketing plans. Go to extreme levels to provide real consumer intelligence that can serve not just .REALTY names, but any real estate based names where domainers may be looking for contact resources. I'm not sure there is a domain investor alive who had prior access to the depth of marketing materials and innovation that the team assembled at dot.realty as value-based courtesy.
3. Empower a network of domain sellers to work with our own promotional targeting, advertising, marketing, and elevation of overall application awareness, so that they can share in the premium upside. To the point that even flipping a name from $1 to $300 might be more instant net than registrars themselves would traditionally make on renewals over ten years. Before even factoring in the cost of the promotion, ongoing marketing, resource development, portal creation, customer support, and the costs of doing business. The responsibility of course on the registries, is to invest wisely and soundly in enhancing name brand awareness so that everyone wins in the end.
The thing that got me the most though was the constant reinforcement to always remember that there are people in this world (and in our industry!) that earn $200-$400 a month, and that may be the full extent they have to take care of their families, parents, children, food, rent, heat, electricity, healthcare, and all other responsibilities. The encouragement was that a single purchase at $1 that was sale-converted into a real estate agent's hands at even a $300 a flip, could be life changing beyond any sense of the word and we were never to forget it. I've seen more innovation, care for the industry, care for Epik clients, and encouragement of those externally to share in resources in this one promotion, than near any other gTLD goldrush grab over the last many years. It reflects genuine interest in helping domainers succeed, genuine interest in providing them a fair platform at a low cost entry during a time when many lives are actually crumbling, and genuine innovation that sets the bar high for every other promotion that follows.
Even as many editors decide to outright ignore any news that ultimately doesn't end in planted acquisitions or a monopoly, we work full throttle in good faith.... marching forward, lifting spirits, and hoping to help keep optimism, positive encouragement, and a bright future alive. This promotion is just one example of it. To spin it into greed-based mechanics is disingenuous at best. I'm not sure what happened to this beautiful world of ours, but it seems like in the face of many people suffering, there is no shortage of those with diminished outlooks. There are good people in the world, who have not lost faith of what is possible for the future.
If you are looking for a great opportunity, the people at Epik are committed to making .REALTY sing for many years to come. The portal at dot.realty is legendary (password: epik2020), the landing page technology and promotional campaigns are world class (epik.realty), and it is only a small taste of the good things to come. All bias aside, I'd be backing up the truck, loading up every geographical name worth taking, and contacting us to include them in outbound actions and targeted videos if you want a positive bump. This isn't promotional hype, or wrongly classified marketing text.. this was a handful of individuals deciding to share something cool with the industry, and showing up front how serious they were about stacking the deck from minute one into the hands of domain investors that legitimately wanted to see something new. I would be celebrating it, participating in it, and seeing how we can evolve it together even further.
I hope all of you know how much you are loved, respected, and cared for, and how deep the regard is for the people in this industry and those who entrust Epik as their registrar. An incredible amount of positive energy goes into every promotion, every video, and every communication, and as always we have mightiest of expectations for the future. Domain names are more than just itemized inventory lines to us, and we already know that love has already won!
I recently discovered what is now one of my favorite quotes:
"Be the light you wish to see in the world."
May you have a miraculous October, and never forget that ALL OF IT works out in the end. If it hasn't worked out yet, then it probably isn't the end.
Blessings + Peace