How to Deploy Your Website with Netlify: A Beginner’s Guide

How to Deploy Your Website with Netlify: A Beginner’s Guide

Hey there, budding web developer! 🎉 So you’ve built your website and it’s all shiny and ready to go. But now you’re wondering, “How do I actually get this thing on the internet?” Fear not! Today, I’m going to walk you through deploying your website using Netlify, one of the easiest platforms out there for getting your site online fast. Think of Netlify as your invisible digital butler, effortlessly serving up your web creation to the world.

Why Choose Netlify?

Before we dive into the “how,” let’s briefly talk about the “why.” Netlify has become super popular for a bunch of reasons:

• User-Friendly: Its interface is clean and intuitive, perfect for beginners.
• Free Tier Available: You can host your site for free while learning.
• Continuous Deployment: Changes in your code repo can automatically update your live site.
• Speed: It uses a global CDN to ensure your site loads quickly no matter where your visitors are.

Sounds pretty cool, right? Let’s get started!

Prerequisites

Before deploying your site with Netlify, you’ll need a few things prepared:

• A completed website: Whether it’s a static HTML site or built with a modern JavaScript framework, Netlify handles it all.
• GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket Account: Netlify connects with these services to deploy your site.
• Netlify Account: If you don’t have one, [sign up here](https://app.netlify.com/signup).

Step 1: Connect Your Repository

The easiest way to deploy your site is to connect your code repository to Netlify. We’ll use GitHub for this example, but Netlify supports other services too.

1. Go to [Netlify](https://www.netlify.com) and log in.

2. Click on “New site from Git”. This will allow you to connect your GitHub repository directly.

3. Choose GitHub, and authorize Netlify if it’s your first time.

4. Select the repository containing your website project.


Step 2: Configure Your Build Settings

Don’t let those settings intimidate you! Even as a beginner, you can manage these with ease.

• Branch to Deploy: For most, this will be main or master, whichever branch is your primary branch.
• Build Command (if using a framework): If you’re using a static site generator like Jekyll or a front-end framework like React, enter the appropriate command (npm run build, hugo, etc.).
• Directory to Deploy: This is the directory Netlify will take and serve on the web. For most static sites, this is usually dist or build.

Don’t worry if you’re unsure about the last two—Netlify often auto-detects the settings for popular tools!

Step 3: Deploy the Site

With your settings ready, it’s time to deploy!

1. Click on the “Deploy Site” button.

2. Netlify will automatically start building your site from the repo.

3. Wait a few moments while it does its magic. 🚀

Keep an eye on the logs if you’re curious—or if something isn’t quite right, they’re a great place to start debugging.

Step 4: Your Site is Live!

Hooray, your site should be live now! 🎊 You can share your shiny new URL, which would look something like lovely-unicorn-12345.netlify.app. Netlify generates random names, so yours will likely be unique and fun.

But what if you want to use a custom domain? Keep reading!

Step 5: Adding a Custom Domain (Optional)

Using a custom domain gives your site that professional touch. Here’s how you can add one:

1. Under the “Domain settings” on your site dashboard, select “Add a custom domain.”

2. Enter the domain name you’ve registered elsewhere (like Namecheap or GoDaddy).

3. Update your DNS settings with your domain registrar to point to Netlify’s servers:

• dns1.p01.nsone.net
• dns2.p01.nsone.net
• dns3.p01.nsone.net
• dns4.p01.nsone.net

4. Wait a little while for DNS changes to propagate—this can take from a few minutes to a few hours.

And, voila! Your site is now live on your custom domain.

Conclusion & Practice

And there you have it—your website is online, thanks to the magic of Netlify! Whether it’s showcasing your portfolio or launching a blog, Netlify makes the process super smooth.

Practice Ideas:

• Try a New Feature: Explore Netlify’s other features like Forms or Identity for user authentication.
• Continuous Deployment Experiment: Make a small change in your code and push it to your repository. Watch how netlify handles the update seamlessly.
• Experiment with Other Frameworks: Deploy a site using Jekyll, Gatsby, or any other supported framework to broaden your skills.

Remember, like all new things, the more you practice, the more comfortable you’ll become. Happy deploying, and here’s to many more successful projects! 😊