The internet does not care for original content. Nor well-written content. Nor accurate content for that matter. The purpose of this entry is to create a reference for anyone that might ask me how to create a website. I recently created a website for my 7 year old daughter to encourage her entrepreneurial muscle. The most relevant audience for this has nominal frontend skills and is just looking to get something basic up and running.

I suggest the following steps, which will get you a website for less than $20 and a few hours of your time:

  1. Buy the url. You can try GoDaddy, although there are alternatives. This step is where all the cost is. It ranges depending on the popularity of the url. Don't plan on owning google.com for small price.
    • Cost: Allocate $20-50 for owning something reasonable for a couple of years.
    • Time: <10 mins if you know what you want.
  2. Create the website locally. Download a free template: here for a one-pager or here front end that is involved. Edit it using PyCharm (free).
    • Cost: Free.
    • Time: 1-2 hours.
  3. Push the website to github. Not completely necessary, but convenient. If you don't know how, This is 10 years old but still good, or use this.. I have my own write-up that I will upload one day.
    • Cost: Free.
    • Time: A few minutes if you've done this before, ~30 minutes if doing for the first time.
  4. Host website with AWS Amplify. Seamless if your files are on Github because it connects directly. Follow these steps, which assumes you have an AWS account and have your website files.
    • Cost: Pennies.
    • Time: 30 minutes.
  5. Map purchased url to Amplify host. This is an error prone step. Follow step 1-7 here and then this.
    • Cost: Free
    • Time: 5 minutes to 1 hour if things go wrong