My First Website: Mistakes and Lessons

Introduction: The desire to have my own space on the internet 🌐

I always wanted to have a space on the internet that was mine, like a kind of digital home 🛖 (my ruca for those who know), where I could show who I am, what I do, and what I know. A simple, functional page where I could share my portfolio and experiences. But like many who start in this world, I had no idea where to begin, what tools to use, or what I was getting myself into.

This is the story of how I went from impulsively buying my first domain to having a fully functional website without paying for hosting and with a personalized professional email. Along the way, I made wrong decisions but also discovered free tools that saved me time, money, and frustration. If you’re thinking about creating your digital presence or if you’ve already started and feel a bit lost, maybe this will help you avoid my mistakes. 🚀

1. The first attempt: lucaspalminio.cl and the reality check 💥

It was October 2021 when I decided to buy my first domain: lucaspalminio.cl. It cost me CLP $9,950, a fairly common price at the time. I was eager to apply what I had learned in networking classes, and the idea of having my own site with my name seemed fantastic. The excitement of seeing my name with a “.cl” was indescribable. 😍

But there was a small detail: I knew absolutely nothing about DNS or how to connect that domain to GitHub Pages. I thought it was just a matter of putting the URL somewhere, clicking “save,” and done. Spoiler: it wasn’t. 😅

At that moment, I discovered that NIC Chile, the organization that sells “.cl” domains, does not offer complete DNS services. That is, you can buy the domain, but you cannot manage A, CNAME, or MX records directly as you would with other services.

🧠 DNS (Domain Name System): The system that translates domain names (like palminio.cl) into IP addresses, which are like the coordinates browsers use to find your website.

What I wanted was to connect my GitHub Pages repository to the domain I had purchased. But without access to a DNS service that allowed me to modify those records, the only option was a temporary and ugly redirection that didn’t serve my purpose.

Frustrated, I didn’t understand why it wasn’t working. I didn’t know the difference between a domain registrar and a DNS service provider, and that lack of knowledge cost me time, energy… and more money. 💸

🧠 Registrar: The company where you buy your domain. They don’t always offer DNS services. Example: NIC Chile.

2. The impulse of the second domain: lucaspalminio.com 🌍

lucaspalminio.com, my first site with a custom domain and space to experiment.

After mentally wrestling with NIC Chile, I made an impulsive decision: to buy another domain, this time outside of Chile. I thought maybe it was a problem with the “.cl” extension and that if I bought a “.com,” things would be easier.

That’s how I discovered Porkbun, a cheap, user-friendly registrar with a pretty clear interface. I bought lucaspalminio.com for just USD $9.13, which at the time was about CLP $7,650. To my surprise, it was even cheaper than the Chilean domain. 🎉

The best part was that Porkbun not only sold the domain but also included free services like:

Full DNS (you can modify A, CNAME, MX records, etc.) 🛠️
URL redirection 🔗
Email forwarding 📧

At that time, I didn’t fully understand what all that was for, but I did know that I could do what NIC Chile hadn’t allowed me to do: point my domain directly to my site on GitHub Pages.

It was like opening a new toolbox 🧰, and now I was able to successfully launch my site. I was so happy that I let lucaspalminio.cl expire without a second thought. I didn’t even renew it the following year.

3. Three years of keeping a domain without direction ⏳

For the next three years, I kept lucaspalminio.com more out of affection than utility. I used it as a personal lab: one day I connected a Minecraft server 🎮, another day I tested email redirections, or set up small test sites. But the main site, the one that should showcase my portfolio or projects, was abandoned.

In September 2024, prices went up. What I used to pay (USD $10.37) increased to USD $11.06. It wasn’t much, but it made me think: is it worth continuing to pay for this if I don’t even update it?

It was a moment of brutal honesty. I wasn’t using the domain productively. I was paying annually for an experiment that wasn’t giving me any return.

So I made another decision: I let lucaspalminio.com expire in October. No drama, no nostalgia. I just let it go. ✌️

4. The awakening: the need for a personal brand 💡

A couple of months later, reality hit: I was in my final year of Computer Engineering and had to start looking for a job. And what’s one of the first things recruiters check nowadays? Exactly: your online presence. 👀

I needed to showcase my projects, skills, and experiences in a place that was mine. No limited profiles on platforms. I needed something personal that spoke for me.

That’s when, while browsing YouTube, I found a video that opened my eyes: it is possible to have a website with a custom domain without paying for hosting, using free tools like GitHub Pages and external DNS services.

But not only that. I also discovered that it was possible to have a professional email account with your custom domain, for free. 💌

My mind exploded. 🤯

🧠 GitHub Pages: A free GitHub service for hosting static websites directly from a repository.

🧠 Custom domain email account: An email address that uses your own domain, like “[email protected],” and doesn’t depend on Gmail or Yahoo.

5. The ultimate solution: palminio.cl and a free, professional system 🏆

Armed with new information, I decided to do things right from the start. Since .com domains had gone up in price and I wanted something with a local flavor, I bought a “.cl” domain again. This time it wasn’t a whim; it was a strategic decision: palminio.cl was born.

I chose it because it sounds professional, is easy to remember, and would allow me to create emails like [email protected]. I even thought about helping my family create their own pages using subdomains like name.palminio.cl.

I bought the domain again from NIC Chile for CLP $9,950, and this time I already knew how things worked:

I set up Cloudflare as my DNS provider. 🌩️
I published my site on GitHub Pages. 📂
I used Zoho Mail to have a free email account with my domain. 📬

All without paying for hosting, without complications, and above all, with full control over my digital presence. 💪

🧠 Cloudflare: A company that offers free DNS services with advanced features like DDoS protection and speed optimization.

🧠 Zoho Mail: A professional email service that lets you use your custom domain and offers a free account.

Conclusion: You don’t need a lot of money, just the right tools and the will to learn 🛤️

Looking back, I realize that the entire journey—with its mistakes, lessons, and impulsive decisions—was necessary to truly understand how the world of websites and digital presence works. It’s not just about having a pretty domain or a page with your name; it’s about knowing how to use the right tools to build something that represents you, without being driven by the impulse to overspend.

Today, with palminio.cl, I have a fully functional site, with a professional email, without paying for hosting, and with a system I completely control. The key? Learning to manage DNS, using GitHub Pages, trusting quality free services like Cloudflare and Zoho Mail, and—above all—not giving up on the first try. 💡

If you’re starting out or if you’ve already made one or two mistakes like I did, I assure you that you can learn along the way. The most important thing is to be curious, willing to research, and not afraid to make mistakes. 💪

What would you like to learn in future posts? 🤔

This blog is not just a space to share what I know but also to share what you need. Would you like me to talk more about GitHub Pages? Or maybe how to configure DNS step by step? Or how to get a custom domain email for free?

Leave your ideas in the comments or send me a direct message. I’d love to know what topics interest you for future posts. Thanks for reading to the end! 😁

See you in the next post.
Best regards,
Lucas Palminio

Between bits, volts, and frequencies