Build & Host Your Personal Website in Under 1 Hour

In this Beginner-Friendly guide, you'll learn how to build and deploy your personal website without writing much code yourself, using the power of AI (ChatGPT), no-code tools (Bolt.new), and free hosting (Netlify). Perfect for students starting out!

Step 1: Generate Your PRD Using ChatGPT

Before building a website, you need a Product Requirement Document (PRD). This helps AI tools like Bolt understand what kind of website you want.

Prompt to use in ChatGPT:

Create a PRD for a personal portfolio website. It should include a homepage, about section, projects section, contact form, and be responsive with a clean design.

Sample Output:

Title: Personal Portfolio Website
Sections:

• Home: Name, photo, short intro

• About: Brief background, education

• Projects: Three project cards with title, image, and description

• Contact: Email, LinkedIn, GitHub

• Design: Minimal, responsive layout with smooth navigation

Copy this PRD to your clipboard.

Step 2: Generate the Website Code using Bolt.New

Bolt uses AI to generate website code from your PRD.

Steps:

1. Go to https://bolt.new

2. Paste the PRD into the editor.

3. Click on “Generate Project.”

4. Once the build is complete, click “Download Project.”

This will download a .zip file containing the website’s HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files.

Step 3: Extract the Project

1. Locate the downloaded ZIP file (e.g., portfolio.zip).

2. Right-click > Extract All.

3. Save it in a location you can access easily (e.g., Desktop or Documents).

This folder contains your website files ready to be published.

Step 4: Install Git and Set Up GitHub

You’ll now set up version control and get ready to host your code on GitHub.

Install Git:

• Download Git from https://git-scm.com/downloads

• Run the installer and keep default settings

• After installation, open your terminal or command prompt and verify:

git --version

Create a GitHub Account:

1. Go to https://github.com

2. Sign up and verify your email

3. Click “+” > New Repository

4. Name the repo personal-website and keep it public

5. Do not initialize with a README — leave it blank

Step 5: Open the Project in VS Code and Push to GitHub

Open VS Code:

• Download it from https://code.visualstudio.com

• Open the extracted folder using File > Open Folder

Initialize Git in the VS Code Terminal:

Use the terminal in VS Code (shortcut: Ctrl + `) and run:

git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git branch -M main
git remote add origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/personal-website.git
git push -u origin main

Replace YOUR_USERNAME with your actual GitHub username.

Your code is now live on GitHub.

Step 6 : Deploy Your Website on Netlify

Netlify is a platform that lets you deploy static websites for free.

Set Up:

1. Visit https://www.netlify.com

2. Sign up using your GitHub account and authorize it

3. Click “Add New Site” > Import from Git

4. Select your personal-website repository

5. Leave build settings as default (Netlify auto-detects them)

6. Click Deploy

After a few seconds, your website will be live at a .netlify.app domain.

You can change this domain in Site Settings > Domain Management.

Step 7: Improve Your Site

• Update content inside index.html or about.tsx

• Customize the design with CSS in the style.css file

• Attach your resume as a PDF download

Conclusion

This project is designed as a beginner-friendly pathway to learn Git and cloud deployment without needing to write code from scratch. By leveraging tools like ChatGPT, Bolt.new, GitHub, and Netlify, students can focus purely on understanding version control, repository management, and cloud hosting workflows.

If your goal is to learn Git commands, GitHub workflow, and deploy projects on platforms like Netlify this is the perfect hands-on project. You can skip the coding part and still walk away with real-world DevOps and cloud deployment experience. Use this as a stepping stone to build confidence in modern developer tools.

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By Abimel S B kulumala