Act 1 – The Roadblock and the Rescue

After wrestling with Hugo and AWS Amplify for days—only to hit dead ends on DNS, templates, and custom domains—I threw in the towel and switched to Hostinger. In this post I break down what went wrong, what I learned about static site generators and hosting, and why I’ll never look back.

ACTS

Manuel Lugo

6/13/20242 min read

Roadblock
Roadblock

I started out excited to build my own site, trying different tools and learning as I go. Here’s how it went:

  1. Hugo (Static Site Generator)

    • It promised fast builds and plenty of themes. I got a basic page up, but every time I wanted to tweak something—like adding a looping video background or customizing layouts—I hit dead ends. The community was small, and there just weren’t clear answers.

  2. Next.js (Modern Framework)

    • Everyone raves about it. The community is huge and the docs are great… but you need to know React, server-side rendering, routing, and a bunch more. As a total newbie on a tight schedule, I didn’t have the time to climb that learning curve.

  3. AWS Amplify + Route 53 (Hosting & DNS)

    • I tried hosting on Amplify and pointing my domain through Route 53. SSL kept failing, CNAMEs wouldn’t verify, and my site stayed offline while I spent hours staring at DNS settings. It just wasn’t worth the headache.

  4. Hostinger (All-in-One Solution)

    • Then I found Hostinger. In under 10 minutes, I had a live, fully customizable site. Hosting, SSL, CDN, domain management—it’s all baked in for $4/month. The only catch is transferring my domain from AWS, which takes 4–7 business days. But that actually works in my favor, since it gives me time to perfect every page.

What I Learned & What I’d Recommend

  • Go with the simplest tool that actually lets you build what you want—especially when you’re starting out.

  • Don’t waste weeks wrestling with DNS or config files. Use a managed platform so you can focus on your content.

  • If you need real customization later, you can always migrate to Hugo or Next.js once you’ve got the basics nailed.

Switching to Hostinger saved me days of frustration. Now I can spend my time growing my cybersecurity skills and sharing my projects—rather than battling SSL errors.

“And no, Hostinger didn’t pay me to say this—although if they want to, I’ll take the deal. 😂 They’ve officially earned my vote.”

yellow and red plastic chair
yellow and red plastic chair

Act 1 – The Roadblock and the Rescue