Abin’s Blog

I Finally Got My Own Website Up and Running

Thu, 07 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Abin's Notes · May 7, 2026, 18:09

Recently, I completed a small but meaningful project from start to finish: from buying a server and completing the domain's ICP filing to deploying the project, I finally got my own website up and running.

It was more than putting a page on display or trying out some technology. For me, it was a complete exercise in putting what I had learned into practice.

My understanding of “launching a website” used to be vague. I thought that once the code was written and the pages looked right, the work was more or less done. Only after going through the entire process myself did I realize how much goes into making a website accessible to other people:

A server, a domain, an ICP filing, DNS records, deployment, a runtime environment, and the project code.

None of these steps is particularly difficult on its own. Learning to connect them is where practical ability begins.

01 Buying a Server: Giving the Project Somewhere to Run

I started by buying a server on Alibaba Cloud.

You can think of a server as a website's “home.” A project on my local computer is something only I can see; deploying it to a server gives it a place from which other people can access it.

After buying the server, I began setting up the environment, opening ports, and preparing for deployment. For the first time, I clearly understood that writing the code is not the end of the work. Getting it to run reliably is where things really begin.

When I watched tutorials before, terms like servers, ports, and environments felt abstract. Once I started doing the work myself, they became specific problems with specific solutions.

02 Buying a Domain: Giving the Website an Address

With the server ready, I bought my own domain.

If the server is the website's “house,” the domain is its street address.

A domain feels more established than a bare IP address and is better suited to long-term use. Whether I use the site for a personal introduction, to present my services, or to collect my projects, the domain can serve as a consistent point of entry.

I felt a real sense of anticipation the first time I typed my own domain into a browser. It meant I was building an online space of my own, beyond a project on my computer.

03 Completing the ICP Filing: Preparing for an Official Launch

An ICP filing is a required step when launching a website in mainland China.

I followed the process and submitted the required details about the registrant, the website, and the domain. Waiting for the review was not complicated, but it made the whole thing feel official.

Eventually, I received confirmation from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology that the filing had been approved.

At that moment, the project seemed to shift from “giving it a try” to “this is really going online.”

For me, approval was more than another step in a process. It confirmed that the website had the basic regulatory foundation for public access. From that point on, I took the project even more seriously.

04 Deploying with the BT Panel: Putting the Project Online

Once the filing was complete, the next step was deployment.

I used the BT Panel (宝塔面板) to manage the server and my projects. Its visual interface was more approachable for a beginner than working entirely through the command line. It also gave me a clearer view of website directories, project status, port settings, and runtime environments.

I uploaded the code files I had written using VS Code and Cursor to the server, then deployed:

A Python project
An HTML page project

This was also the stage that taught me the most.

Code that runs locally will not necessarily run smoothly on a server. Along the way, I encountered issues with paths, dependencies, ports, permissions, and configuration. It seemed a little messy at first, but following each problem step by step eventually led to its cause.

My biggest takeaway was this: AI can help me write code faster, but getting a project working still requires me to understand the process.

AI-assisted coding improved development efficiency, and the BT Panel made deployment easier to approach. Still, every step between writing code and accessing the site online needed to be checked and worked through.

05 Going Live: Finally Accessing the Site Through My Domain

After a series of adjustments, the website was finally accessible through its domain.

I opened my browser and typed:

guofengbin.xyz

Seeing the page load successfully gave me a real sense of accomplishment.

I knew that page had not appeared out of nowhere. Behind it were the server purchase, domain setup, ICP filing, project development, file uploads, environment configuration, and deployment troubleshooting.

These had once been disconnected terms to me. Now they formed a complete sequence that I understood.

That was the most valuable part of the experience: I had taken an idea all the way through to a working website online.

06 Three Things I Took Away from the Experience

Looking back, launching the website taught me three main lessons.

Finishing the Whole Process Matters More Than Studying Alone

Watching tutorials, taking notes, and learning concepts are all useful. But completing something yourself is often where the fastest growth happens.

Servers, domains, ICP filings, deployment, and access are not especially complicated when considered separately. Being able to connect them into a complete process is a practical skill in itself.

AI Improves Efficiency, but Understanding Still Matters

AI tools can help us generate code, change pages, and troubleshoot more quickly. They cannot do the work of understanding why a project runs on our behalf.

Encountering problems, locating their causes, and solving them are the experiences that become our own abilities.

Having an Online Space of Your Own Is Valuable

After launching the website, I felt more strongly that owning a domain and a website is worthwhile.

They can hold a personal introduction, service descriptions, project work, and content built up over time. A personal website feels more like an asset of my own than relying entirely on accounts on other platforms.

This was just the first step. I will continue improving it.

07 A Final Thought

This experience made one thing clearer to me:

Many skills are built by doing, beyond simply understanding what you read.

Doing the work brings you into contact with real problems. Solving those problems gives you real experience. Completing the whole process builds confidence.

From buying a server and a domain to completing the filing, deploying the project, and finally accessing it through the domain, this process gave me a complete understanding of what it means to launch a website.

It is a new beginning.

Next, I will continue documenting my practical work with AI tools, productivity, and personal projects.

Less empty talk. More hands-on work.

Turn ideas into projects, get those projects online, and build the results into lasting assets of my own.

After Adding AI to Obsidian, My Knowledge System Started Working

Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Abin's Notes · May 3, 2026, 18:23

For the past two weeks, I have been learning and using Obsidian in depth.

Honestly, the more I use it, the more impressed I am.

Before this, I had tried quite a few note-taking tools: Notion, Youdao Cloud Notes, Get Notes, Feishu Wiki, and others. Each had its strengths, and each helped me solve problems at different stages.

But after settling down and using Obsidian frequently for two straight weeks, I began reconsidering a question:

How many note-taking tools do we actually need?

I used to feel that more tools meant more capability.

Whenever I saw a new note-taking app, I wanted to try it. When someone recommended a template or a knowledge base system, I could not help looking into it. Over time, I collected more tools, my information became more scattered, and I ended up with another kind of inefficiency.

Some content was in Notion, some in Youdao Cloud Notes, some in Feishu, and other stray ideas were tucked away in WeChat, memo apps, and documents.

It looked as though I had accumulated plenty of “knowledge assets.” But when I actually needed them, I often could not find them, remember them, or put them to use.

That has been one of my biggest realizations recently:

Having too many note-taking tools can become a distraction.

What we really need is a stable, sustainable knowledge system that we can keep building over time, rather than a constant change of tools.

That is where Obsidian has surprised me most.

It feels like a “second brain” that can grow with you over the long term, beyond a simple place to record things.

Obsidian's Core Strengths

Obsidian's defining features are local storage, Markdown, links and backlinks, and a high degree of flexibility.

Local storage keeps your data in your own hands and reduces dependence on a platform. Markdown keeps the focus on the content with fewer formatting distractions. Links and backlinks let notes connect naturally instead of remaining isolated documents. Its broad plugin ecosystem also makes it highly extensible.

When I first started using Obsidian, I found it a little intimidating.

It did not feel as ready to use out of the box as some other note-taking apps, and it did not have the same flashy interface. Once I spent more time with it, though, I began to appreciate that restraint.

It brings you back to what matters most:

Capturing ideas, connecting knowledge, and making experience your own matter more than making notes look beautiful.

Three Things Obsidian Works Well For

Over these two weeks, I have gradually found Obsidian particularly well suited to a few kinds of work.

First, Recording Thoughts That Develop over Time

Many ideas begin as a sentence, a passing thought, or a fragment. If you keep recording and adding to them, they can gradually grow into an article, a method, or even a complete framework for understanding a subject.

Second, Building a Personal Knowledge Base

We are used to organizing things into folders: work, study, life, projects, reference material. But knowledge in the real world does not always follow a straight line. An idea might belong to writing, business, thinking, and management at the same time. Obsidian's links, backlinks, and tags work well with this web of connections.

Third, Working with AI

This is the part I find most promising.

Obsidian is good for collecting and developing knowledge over time. AI is useful for extracting key points, summarizing, expanding ideas, and offering inspiration. Combining them can make working with knowledge much more efficient.

For example, I can record my original thoughts in Obsidian, then ask AI to help organize them, draw out key arguments, and develop them into an article. Or I can work in the other direction and ask AI for new ideas based on the contents of my knowledge base.

That starts to become a personal system for producing knowledge, beyond simply taking notes.

How I Plan to Combine My Tools

Of course, I do not think Obsidian can replace every other tool.

After thinking it through, I have decided to focus on two main parts, connected with AI:

Feishu Wiki + Obsidian + AI.

Feishu Wiki is better suited to team collaboration, project management, documenting processes, and sharing material with others. Its strengths are collaboration and organizational efficiency.

Obsidian is better suited to personal thinking, building knowledge, developing writing, and reflecting over time. Its strengths are flexibility, stability, and deep connections between ideas.

AI acts as an amplifier, helping me develop existing content further and put that knowledge to work.

My current view is:

You do not need a large collection of tools. The key is to use your core tools deeply, understand them well, and make them work together as a system.

I used to spend my time looking for a better note-taking app. Now I am more interested in finding a better way for knowledge to move through my work.

What Makes a Good Knowledge System?

A good knowledge system should support at least three things:

Input: recording valuable information.

Organization: turning scattered material into a structure.

Output: putting knowledge to use in communication, decisions, and action.

If we collect without organizing, record without reviewing, and consume without producing, even the best tool is just a storehouse of information.

What I want now is for my notes to become a source of practical ability.

After two weeks of using Obsidian in depth, my biggest gain was not learning a particular plugin or building an elaborate template. It was realizing this:

What matters most is the system behind the tools.

With a stable knowledge system, a person can think more clearly, communicate better, and act with a stronger sense of direction.

I will continue using Obsidian in depth and work on combining it more effectively with Feishu Wiki and AI.

Less anxiety about tools. More steady accumulation.

Less repeated tinkering. More time developing what I already have.

I believe that once this system is fully working, it will become an important foundation for my productivity for a long time to come.

Building a Personal Brand Around AI Starts with Positioning, Not Prompts

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Abin's Notes · April 14, 2026, 22:13

While building a personal brand around AI, I have found that the first step is to define its positioning, before learning prompts.

I am Abin, the person behind Lingdian AI (灵点AI).

Recently, I have been exploring one question:

How can everyday people actually put AI to use?

My focus is not on which tool is the hottest or which model is the most powerful.

I care about more practical questions:

Can AI save people time?

Can it help content creators work more efficiently?

Can it help beginners create content, start a side project, and explore modest ways to earn from their work?

Can complex technical capabilities become methods that ordinary people can use?

If I had to sum up my current direction in one sentence, it would be:

Practical work with AI tools, more efficient content creation, bringing digital projects to life, and earning through small, focused services.

As I keep writing, breaking down examples, and reflecting on what I learn, one thing has become increasingly clear:

The first step in building a personal brand with AI is positioning, before writing prompts.

01 Many People Begin Without a Clear Direction

When people first encounter AI, tools and prompts often get most of their attention.

I was the same.

I looked for the most capable tools and the most useful prompt templates.

Gradually, though, I realized something:

These mainly address efficiency, rather than direction.

If you have not thought through:

What you want to write about over the long term
Whom you most want to help
What problems you can solve
Why someone would want to follow you

Then learning more prompts may simply help you produce scattered content more efficiently.

One day you write about AI tools, the next about side projects, and the day after that about content creation tips.

You seem to be doing a bit of everything.

Yet readers still do not know who you are.

This is something I have come to believe more strongly:

Positioning is the real starting point for a personal brand.

02 Clear Positioning Gives AI Something to Build On

I am clear about this now:

I do not want to run an AI account that talks about a little of everything.

When people hear about Abin or Lingdian AI, I hope a few things will come to mind:

Practical work with AI tools
More efficient content creation
Bringing digital projects to life
Small, focused services and modest ways to earn

I want to go beyond passing along information.

I want to break down how things work in practice.

The goal is to help everyday people who get stuck when trying to put ideas into action, rather than to show off technical skills.

That is why I have always connected with this phrase:

Skip the showmanship. Focus on putting things into practice.

It expresses both my brand and the direction of my content.

I see many people struggling with the same problems:

They have plenty of tools but do not know where to begin
They have learned many prompts but struggle to apply them
They want to create content but their output is scattered and the process is inefficient
They want to start a side project but have no clear path

These are the problems I want to keep working on.

03 My Positioning Follows One Clear Thread

If someone asks what I am working on now, I introduce myself like this:

I am Abin, the person behind Lingdian AI.

I focus on practical work with AI tools, more efficient content creation, bringing digital projects to life, and earning through small, focused services.

My aim is to help everyday people use AI to create content, start side projects, and explore modest ways to earn at low cost.

Those three sentences describe my current positioning.

They also give the content I write a consistent focus, including:

How to get started with AI tools
How to put prompts into practice
How AI can make content creation more efficient
How to build AI workflows
How to bring digital projects to life
How to start offering small, focused services

The path I have been working to organize looks like this:

Understanding the tools
Applying prompts
Making content creation more efficient
Building workflows
Bringing projects to life
Exploring modest ways to earn

Once positioning is clear, the content, methods, and direction of the services can gradually come together.

04 Whom You Want to Help Shapes How You Write

When I write now, I have a fairly clear reader in mind:

Everyday people who want to start a side project but have no clear path yet
Creators who want to use AI to make content production more efficient
People who want to turn AI skills into services they can offer
People who want to build a personal AI workflow from scratch

That is why I do not deliberately make my content sound complicated.

My goal is not to prove how much I know. I want readers to understand it, get started, and actually use what they learn.

That is the direction Lingdian AI aims to keep following:

Turn complex AI capabilities into practical methods that everyday people can put to use directly.

05 Defining Your Positioning Early Makes What Follows Easier

One common mistake beginners make when building a personal brand is waiting too long to define its positioning.

They assume they should learn the tools, study prompts, and write a few articles first.

As they keep writing, the content becomes more scattered, the account loses focus, and they feel increasingly unsure of their direction.

Having even a basic positioning from the beginning makes things easier, even if it is not perfect yet.

At least you know:

Which topics are worth continuing to write about
Which topics fall outside your main focus
Who is likely to keep following your work
Which abilities could gradually develop into services

The same applies to building Lingdian AI.

I want to make my main direction clearer over time, rather than chase every trending topic:

Help everyday people actually put AI to use.

Specifically, that means focusing on:

Practical work with AI tools, more efficient content creation, bringing digital projects to life, and earning through small, focused services.

06 A Final Thought

Looking back on what I have been exploring, I am increasingly sure of this:

The first step in building a personal brand around AI is defining its positioning, before learning more complex prompts.

Prompts help with “how to express something.”

Positioning determines “what you actually want to express.”

If you have not worked out who you are, whom you want to help, and what problems you can solve, even powerful AI will struggle to help you build a personal brand.

I am Abin, the person behind Lingdian AI.

I want to build a platform that helps everyday people actually put AI to use,

rather than an AI account focused on showing off technical skills.

No empty concepts or selling anxiety about technology. Skip the showmanship and focus on putting things into practice.

This is the direction I intend to keep following.