Time Travel: 2014

Usually the website format we are familiar with:

——WWW.（）.COM.

COM is the top-level domain name.

The part in brackets is the second-level domain name.

The domain name Lin Hui wants to buy is a second-level domain name.

It's not that Lin Hui doesn't want to buy a top-level domain name, but his strength doesn't allow it.

The reason why Lin Hui wanted to buy a domain name first and then build a website.

This is because some good domain names come with their own advertising effects.

It can save you a lot of trouble in publicity.

Some domain names can bring convenience in addition to publicity.

It will also be entrusted with special cultural connotations.

…

Although it is a cross-border transaction, domain name transactions (in this time and space) are easier than Lin Hui imagined.

By the afternoon of the 17th, he had purchased a bunch of domain names.

Yes, that’s right, a bunch of domain names.

Although Lin Hui only needs one.

But there was no way, it was hard not to chop my hands.

After all, the price of these domain names is too good a deal in Lin Hui's opinion.

For example, take the domain name BTC ().

Lin Hui remembered that the transaction price of this domain name in August 2014 was US$1 million.

But in this time and space, Lin Hui only spent $500,000 (including tax and ten years of additional fees) to win it.

As for why you should buy this domain name?

it is more than words.

There is also the domain name TM ().

In the previous life, this domain name was sold for US$1.25 million in 2019.

And now he has won it for only $700,000 (including tax and ten years of additional fees).

As for why you should buy this domain name.

Of course it’s because the domain name “TM” is so catchy [funny].

Anyway, Lin Hui felt that this domain name was domineering.

Moreover, there are only 676 domain names in the form of "two-letter .COM" in the world.

This form of domain name is rare and short, easy to remember.

Therefore, it is very popular in the market.

As for why such domain name sellers want to take action.

Lin Hui guessed that it was because he was eager to cash out.

If not forced, few companies/individuals would sell such high-quality domain names.

After all, it won’t cost too much money to operate these domain names if they are stored in your hands.

And as long as there is a suitable company that takes a fancy to such a domain name.

That's the perfect rhythm of picking up money.

For example, "MI", a domain name that was originally unremarkable, was spotted by Lei # this year.

The original owner directly received US$3.6 million.

…

Compared to the above two domain names.

Lin Hui’s biggest gain from purchasing domain names this time is undoubtedly——“”

It is different from the two-letter domain name just now.

The second-level domain name of WWW.Z.COM has only one letter: - "Z"

This is a single letter domain name.

A single-letter domain name is composed of a single English letter (a-z) + suffix.

Compared with two-letter domain names, these single-letter domain names are simpler and easier to remember.

The commercial value will be higher.

Although in theory there should be quite a few single-letter domain names.

After all, English has 26 single letters.

Various suffixes can also be added to these single letters.

But the reality is otherwise.

.

The corresponding single-letter domain names for COM and .NET are mostly reserved by registries.

There are very few single-letter domain names actually circulating in the market.

Single-letter .COM domain names are even rarer.

In terms of current global circulation quantities.

There have been only three single-letter .COM domain names.

They are: Z.COM, X.COM, Q.COM.

To a certain extent, it is not an exaggeration to call single-letter domain names “the best of the aristocracy.”

And single-letter .COM domain names are the best of the best.

Needless to say, the value of such a domain name goes without saying.

It just so happens that he will encounter the online auction of a top-quality domain name like Z.COM.

Lin Hui will naturally not let it go.

In the end, after some competition, Lin Hui bought it for US$6.5 million.

That is, the domain name "Z.COM" cost Lin Hui US$6.5 million (including tax and ten years of additional fees).

The four letters of Z.COM cost an average of 1.625 million US dollars per letter.

It is approximately converted into RMB 10 million.

It can be said that a word means a thousand pieces of gold in the true sense.

Even so, Lin Hui did not spend his money in vain.

In the previous life, RB Internet giant GMO also spent US$6.784 million to buy this domain name at the end of 2014.

As for what Z.COM should do, Lin Hui has no idea for the time being.

It doesn't matter if you have no idea.

This thing won’t depreciate anyway.

After all, there are only three companies in the world as popular as Z.COM (Z.COM, X.COM, Q.COM).

In fact, if you have a choice.

Among the several single-letter domain names, Lin Hui prefers X.COM.

However, this domain name obviously has nothing to do with Lin Hui.

The domain name X.COM was registered in 1993.

It was once used by Tesla CEO Musk to build a financial services platform.

Later X.COM was enabled by the online payment service provider PayPal.

In the previous life, in 2017, X.COM was sold by PayPal before returning to Musk's name again.

In this way, wouldn't it be at this time?

Musk doesn't have a single-letter domain name.

I, Lin Hui, have a single-letter domain name.

So, I am better than Musk.

(…by Rebus contrast method)

…

Of course, in addition to these domain names that can easily cost hundreds of thousands or millions.

Lin Hui also spent $300,000 to buy more than a dozen domain names that he thought had pretty good meanings.

After purchasing these domain names, the balance on Lin Hui0010's card dropped sharply from US$18,521,500 to US$10,521,500.

In other words, Lin Hui spent a total of US$8 million to purchase these domain names.

Although the expenses are not small.

But Lin Hui believes these sites will be worth every penny in the future.

Moreover, Lin Hui has now found new sources of income besides software income.

Although it is difficult for Lin Hui to earn US$8 million quickly by relying solely on online article subscriptions.

(After all, by 2019, Wuxiaworld’s annual revenue was only more than 36 million yuan)

But the problem is not big. Compared with the traditional online writing operation model, Lin Hui has his own thinking.

Lin Hui prefers to generate revenue through membership fees after establishing a complete membership system.

Rather than relying on the traditional subscription model.

Once the membership system is constructed.

Lin Hui feels that it is not particularly difficult to raise 10 million US dollars or even 20 million US dollars in a short period of time.

Of course, although the idea is beautiful, the actual implementation is still difficult.

The most critical issue is the establishment of the membership system.

"Equity design" is a very important factor in the process of establishing a membership system.

A good rights design can make users feel more involved in the platform's membership system.

The more energy and financial resources users invest, the harder it is to give up the value of membership on the platform.

Although Lin Hui has never done any specific equity design before.

But he knows a lot about how to design equity.

After all, he has been tortured by various Internet trainings.

Moreover, the experts who have given several Internet training courses are Mr. Ma, known as the "Fox of Zhongguancun".

The ups and downs and strange accents made Lin Hui unforgettable for the rest of his life.

Even after being reborn, Lin Hui could still recall a lot of the training content at that time.

When it comes to equity design, it mainly involves equity stratification.

The stratification of rights and interests must be clear.

The differences are controlled within a reasonable range, which highlights the differences without making them too big.

To put it bluntly, it is to give users a way: if they move up to another membership level, they can really enjoy more valuable benefits, but this step up is not too troublesome.

When designing rights, it is very taboo that the rights enjoyed by the highest level and the levels below appear to be the same;

In addition, it is also taboo to make users feel that it is difficult to upgrade from the existing level to the sky.

Furthermore, equity must have a fixed part and a non-fixed part.

Fixed rights and interests are the basic rights and interests of the membership system and must be unified across the platform and basically unchanged;

Non-fixed rights and interests are policy rights in the membership system. They are generally closely integrated with marketing policies and launched from time to time.

…

Although Lin Hui can speak clearly and logically.

But this does not mean that Lin Hui can be used directly.

Regarding the establishment of the membership system, Lin Hui only has a rough outline in his mind.

But Lin Hui also had time to think slowly.

After all, the membership system must rely on a new novel website to be realized.

It is a bit nonsense to rely on the current two-tier system of web-based websites to achieve this.

Speaking of building a novel website.

Naturally, Lin Hui would not use those domain names bought for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.

Among the more than ten domain names that Lin Hui later bought, one of them was "GREYFOREST".

Lin Hui decided to build the website on this domain name.

After all, this domain name is only one letter different from the name "GRAY FOREST" used by Lin Hui when he developed several small games.

And both GREY and GRAY have the same meaning of "gray".

It can be said that these two names are almost the same, which may be a coincidence.

Because of this coincidence.

Lin Hui decided to build a brand new novel website on the domain name grayforest.

As for the specific construction work.

Still relying on outsourcing/outsourcing.

Lin Hui registered an account on Freelancer, posted a website building task and filled in the corresponding Party A requirements.

In Party A's requirements, Lin Hui highlighted that the task deadline was 3 days.

Lin Hui also made a website and knew that the 3-day deadline was a bit tricky.

But there was no way, Lin Hui was in a hurry.

time is money.

In order to rush for time, Lin Hui promised in the project notes that he was willing to pay an extra 20% premium as long as it could be completed within 3 days.

For each day completed in advance, the premium will be increased by 5%.

The time limit wasn't entirely because Lin Hui was in a hurry.

It was also because Lin Hui was afraid of being cheated when he was looking for an outsourcer.

You don't set a tight outsourcing/outsourcing deadline.

The outsourcing team will dare to outsource layer by layer for you.

This layer of outsourcing/packaging will not only make the task/project inefficient.

Moreover, the actual money paid/packaged was not actually spent.

In the end, don’t say you get what you pay for, if you can get what you pay for, that’s pretty good.

After all these layers of outsourcing, the victim is still the one looking for the outsourcing.

The money was spent, but the results were mediocre.

It might even be better for the employer to show up in person.

Subcontracting is almost likely to occur in China.

Lin Hui can't say whether there will be subcontracting abroad.

But I guess there is a high probability that the world is as dark as a crow.

In order to avoid such a situation of being cheated, Lin Hui could only restrict his time.

Maybe it's the power of money.

Not long after the mission was released, the mission was taken over by an American team called AZUREOCEAN.

After privately discussing many details with the leader of the AZUREOCEAN team.

The price was then negotiated and the base amount was agreed upon at US$50,000.

This price is still within Lin Hui’s acceptable range.

Lin Hui and the AZUREOCEAN team have reached a clear outsourcing agreement.