How to Build Your Own Free Website [Part 1]

Table of Contents

The big players in the website building space.

Today, there are plenty of options to build websites. Here are some of the options that pop regularly.

• Webflow
• Wix
• Squarespace

Another popular paid option is Wordpress. There are plenty of hosts out there who do specialized hosting for the popular platform but in today’s age I would highly recommend one of the first three mentioned earlier. All assuming you need something modern and robust. I won’t go into all the reasons why today. That really deserves its own post.

They all offer a wide range of features and if you decide to opt for a paid account, it unlocks many of features that can make your site unique. Like:

• A custom domain.
• Ecommerce features.
• A wider range of themes.

Is there a free way to build my website?

What if you don’t need all the bells and whistles? You could stay on a free plan. But, then you’ll have to put up advertising for them and be limited to a smaller set of features. What if you want to build a basic site like this one? You totally can. I’ll break up my process into several posts. But, it can be broken up two major parts:

1. Creating the work environment.
2. Creating the content on-going.

There is a third step but it’s optional. That’s adding additional features to make your site more performant and easier to navigate. I’ll make a separate post on this topic but for now let’s focus on getting started, so you can share your ideas with the world.

What you will need to build your first site?

I will be breaking up the process into several posts over the next few weeks. Today, I will share with you the first step. Getting the right software and platforms. You will need, at a minimum the three things below. First sign up for these two platforms below.

1. Cloudflare
   Cloudflare a cloud service that will help us do a number website related tasks. Setup our custom domain, host our free website, and automatically update your site on the internet as we add new content.
2. Github
   Github is where you will store all your working files for your website. Each time you make you make changes to the code, it will store a backup of the previous version. In case you ever blow everything up, you can rest assured that there’s a backup you can go back to.

Next, you will want to install some software on your machine.

1. Visual Studio Code
   Visual Studio Code (VSCode) is the tool you will use to write your new content and view all the code to your website. There are other options, but I’ve always preferred VSCode because it’s free and integrates nicely with Github. You can technically use any code editor but VSCode is what I use and what this guide will show.

What is the next step?

Congrats! You’ve finished the first step. In the next post, I will go through the roles Cloudflare and Github play to make your website work. You will learn about:

• Static Page Generators (SPG)
  This guide will go through using Jekyll as our SPG of choice.
• git Version Control
  Learn the basics to QA and up-to-date your site.
• Setup a Custom Domains
  If you have a custom domain we can apply it.
• Choosing Your Jekyll Site Theme
  Discovery free and paid themes to start your first site.

I’ll see you on the next step! (updated link when post is ready)