🚀 NETLIFY DEPLOYMENT GUIDE - MTJ Data Analytics Website

Complete Step-by-Step Instructions for Deploying to Netlify

📋 Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have: - ✅ All website files downloaded (this folder) - ✅ Quarto installed on your computer (https://quarto.org) - ✅ A Netlify account (free - we’ll create one if you don’t have it) - ✅ Optional: GitHub account (for continuous deployment)

🎯 DEPLOYMENT METHOD 1: Drag & Drop (EASIEST - 5 MINUTES)

This is the fastest way to get your website online. Perfect for beginners!

Step 1: Build Your Website

Option A - Using Terminal/Command Prompt: 1. Open Terminal (Mac/Linux) or Command Prompt (Windows) 2. Navigate to your website folder: bash cd /path/to/MTJ_Website 3. Build the website: bash quarto render 4. Wait for it to complete. You’ll see a docs/ folder created.

Option B - Using RStudio: 1. Open RStudio 2. File → Open Project → Select the MTJ_Website folder 3. In the Build pane (top right), click “Render Website” 4. Wait for completion. A docs/ folder will be created.

Option C - Using the R Script: 1. Open R or RStudio 2. Set working directory to the website folder 3. Run: r source("build_website.R") 4. Choose option 1 (Build the website)

Step 2: Create Netlify Account (if you don’t have one)

  1. Go to: https://www.netlify.com/
  2. Click “Sign Up” (top right)
  3. Choose to sign up with:
    • Email (recommended)
    • GitHub
    • GitLab
    • Bitbucket
  4. Complete the registration
  5. Verify your email address

Step 3: Deploy via Drag & Drop

  1. Log into Netlify: https://app.netlify.com/
  2. Go to: https://app.netlify.com/drop
  3. Drag and drop the ENTIRE docs/ folder onto the page
  4. Wait for the upload to complete (usually 30-60 seconds)
  5. 🎉 Done! Your website is now live!

Step 4: Get Your Website URL

After deployment: 1. Netlify will show you a URL like: random-name-123456.netlify.app 2. Click on it to view your live website 3. Test all pages to make sure everything works

Step 5: Customize Your Site Name (Optional)

  1. On your Netlify dashboard, click on your site
  2. Go to “Site settings”
  3. Click “Change site name”
  4. Enter a better name like: mtjdataanalytics
  5. Your site will now be: mtjdataanalytics.netlify.app

🎯 DEPLOYMENT METHOD 2: GitHub + Netlify (BEST FOR UPDATES)

This method is better if you plan to update your website regularly. Changes automatically deploy when you push to GitHub.

Step 1: Create GitHub Repository

  1. Go to: https://github.com
  2. Sign in or create account
  3. Click “+” (top right) → “New repository”
  4. Repository name: mtj-data-analytics-website
  5. Description: “MTJ Data Analytics Official Website”
  6. Choose: Public (or Private if you prefer)
  7. ✅ Check “Add a README file”
  8. Click “Create repository”

Step 2: Upload Your Files to GitHub

Option A - Using GitHub Web Interface (Easiest): 1. In your new repository, click “Add file” → “Upload files” 2. Drag ALL files from your MTJ_Website folder (except docs/ folder) 3. Files to upload: - All .qmd files (index.qmd, services.qmd, etc.) - _quarto.yml - custom.scss - styles.css - netlify.toml - build_website.R - .gitignore - All .md documentation files - Your logo.png (if you have it) 4. Commit message: “Initial website commit” 5. Click “Commit changes”

Option B - Using Git Command Line:

# Navigate to your website folder
cd /path/to/MTJ_Website

# Initialize git
git init

# Add all files (docs folder is ignored by .gitignore)
git add .

# Commit
git commit -m "Initial website commit"

# Connect to GitHub (replace USERNAME with your GitHub username)
git remote add origin https://github.com/USERNAME/mtj-data-analytics-website.git

# Push to GitHub
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Step 3: Connect Netlify to GitHub

  1. Log into Netlify: https://app.netlify.com/
  2. Click “Add new site” → “Import an existing project”
  3. Choose “GitHub”
  4. Authorize Netlify to access your GitHub (first time only)
  5. Select your repository: mtj-data-analytics-website
  6. Configure build settings:
    • Base directory: Leave empty
    • Build command: quarto render
    • Publish directory: docs
  7. Click “Deploy site”

Step 4: Wait for Deployment

  1. Netlify will start building your site (usually 1-3 minutes)
  2. Watch the deploy log to see progress
  3. When done, you’ll see “Site is live” with a URL
  4. Click the URL to view your website

Step 5: Set Up Continuous Deployment

Now, whenever you push changes to GitHub, Netlify automatically rebuilds your site!

To update your website: 1. Edit files on your computer 2. Commit and push to GitHub: bash git add . git commit -m "Update content" git push 3. Netlify automatically rebuilds and deploys!

🌐 CONNECTING YOUR CUSTOM DOMAIN

If you have www.mtjdataanalytics.com or similar

Step 1: Add Domain to Netlify

  1. In your Netlify site dashboard
  2. Go to “Domain management” (in the menu)
  3. Click “Add custom domain”
  4. Enter your domain: mtjdataanalytics.com
  5. Click “Verify”
  6. If you own it, click “Yes, add domain”

Step 2: Configure DNS

Netlify will show you DNS records to add. You have two options:

Option A - Use Netlify DNS (Easiest): 1. Click “Set up Netlify DNS” 2. Netlify will show you nameservers (like ns1.netlify.com) 3. Go to your domain registrar (where you bought the domain) 4. Find DNS/Nameserver settings 5. Replace existing nameservers with Netlify’s nameservers 6. Save changes 7. Wait 24-48 hours for propagation 8. Netlify automatically handles SSL certificate

Option B - Keep Your Current DNS: 1. Go to your domain registrar’s DNS settings 2. Add these DNS records:

For apex domain (mtjdataanalytics.com):

Type: A
Name: @
Value: 75.2.60.5

For www subdomain (www.mtjdataanalytics.com):

Type: CNAME
Name: www
Value: [your-site].netlify.app
  1. Save changes
  2. Wait 1-24 hours for DNS propagation

Step 3: Enable HTTPS

  1. Once DNS is configured, go to “Domain settings”
  2. Scroll to “HTTPS”
  3. Click “Verify DNS configuration”
  4. Click “Provision certificate”
  5. Wait a few minutes
  6. ✅ Your site now has HTTPS (secure padlock)!

🔄 UPDATING YOUR WEBSITE

Method 1: If Using Drag & Drop

  1. Make changes to your .qmd files
  2. Run quarto render to rebuild
  3. Go to your Netlify site
  4. Click “Deploys” tab
  5. Drag and drop the NEW docs/ folder
  6. New version goes live immediately!

Method 2: If Using GitHub

  1. Make changes to your .qmd files

  2. Commit and push to GitHub:

    git add .
git commit -m "Updated services page"
git push

  3. Netlify automatically rebuilds and deploys!

  4. Check the “Deploys” tab to monitor progress

⚙️ NETLIFY CONFIGURATION OPTIONS

Your website includes a netlify.toml file with: - ✅ Build command configured - ✅ Publish directory set - ✅ Security headers - ✅ Caching rules for performance - ✅ Redirect rules

You don’t need to change anything - it’s ready to go!

🎨 CUSTOMIZATION AFTER DEPLOYMENT

Change Site Name

  1. Site settings → General → Site details
  2. Click “Change site name”
  3. Enter new name (e.g., mtjdataanalytics)
  4. URL becomes: mtjdataanalytics.netlify.app

Environment Variables

If you need to add environment variables later: 1. Site settings → Build & deploy → Environment 2. Click “Edit variables” 3. Add your variables

Deploy Notifications

Get notified when your site deploys: 1. Site settings → Build & deploy → Deploy notifications 2. Add notification (Email, Slack, webhook, etc.)

🐛 TROUBLESHOOTING

Problem: Build fails

Check the build log: 1. Go to “Deploys” tab 2. Click on the failed deploy 3. Read the error message

Common solutions: - Make sure netlify.toml is in your repository - Verify all .qmd files are uploaded - Check that _quarto.yml is present - Ensure Quarto can find all required files

Manual fix: 1. Delete the site in Netlify 2. Fix the issue locally 3. Re-deploy

Problem: Site shows 404 error

Solution: - Make sure you uploaded the docs/ folder (for drag & drop) - Verify publish directory is set to docs (for GitHub) - Check that quarto render completed successfully

Problem: CSS/styling not working

Solution: - Ensure styles.css is in the repository - Check custom.scss is present - Make sure all files in docs/ folder were uploaded - Clear your browser cache (Ctrl+Shift+R)

Problem: Images not showing

Solution: - Verify image files were uploaded - Check image paths in .qmd files - Ensure logo.png is in the root directory - Image filenames are case-sensitive!

Problem: DNS not working

Solution: - Wait 24-48 hours for DNS propagation - Use https://dnschecker.org to check propagation - Verify DNS records are correct - Try different nameservers if using Netlify DNS

Problem: SSL certificate not provisioning

Solution: - Verify DNS is pointing to Netlify - Wait up to 24 hours - Try “Renew certificate” in Netlify - Check that domain is verified

📊 MONITORING YOUR SITE

Analytics

Netlify provides basic analytics: 1. Go to your site dashboard 2. Click “Analytics” tab 3. See pageviews, bandwidth, etc.

For more detailed analytics: - Add Google Analytics code to your pages - Use Netlify Analytics (paid add-on)

Performance

Check your site speed: 1. Use Google PageSpeed Insights: https://pagespeed.web.dev/ 2. Use GTmetrix: https://gtmetrix.com/ 3. Netlify automatically optimizes images and assets

💰 PRICING

Free Plan (Perfect for you!)

  • ✅ Unlimited personal and commercial projects
  • ✅ 100 GB bandwidth/month
  • ✅ Automatic HTTPS
  • ✅ Continuous deployment
  • ✅ Deploy previews
  • ✅ 300 build minutes/month

Your website will easily fit in the free plan!

When to Upgrade (probably never needed)

  • If you exceed 100 GB bandwidth/month
  • If you need more than 300 build minutes/month
  • If you want analytics and form handling

🎯 DEPLOYMENT CHECKLIST

Before going live, check:

🎉 POST-DEPLOYMENT

After your site is live:

  1. ✅ Test all pages thoroughly
  2. ✅ Share the URL with colleagues
  3. ✅ Update your email signature
  4. ✅ Post on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn)
  5. ✅ Update Google My Business listing
  6. ✅ Add to WhatsApp status
  7. ✅ Tell your clients!

Share Your Success!

Social media posts ideas: - “Excited to launch our new website! Visit us at [URL]” - “Check out our new online home: [URL]” - “New website, same great service! [URL]”

📞 SUPPORT RESOURCES

Netlify Help

  • Documentation: https://docs.netlify.com/
  • Community Forum: https://answers.netlify.com/
  • Status: https://www.netlifystatus.com/

MTJ Data Analytics

  • Email: info@mtjdataanalytics.com
  • WhatsApp: +234 901 944 1200
  • Phone: +234 802 247 4330

Quarto Help

  • Documentation: https://quarto.org/docs/
  • Community: https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/discussions

🚀 QUICK COMMAND REFERENCE

# Build website
quarto render

# Preview locally
quarto preview

# Git commands (for GitHub method)
git add .
git commit -m "Your message"
git push

# Check git status
git status

# View git log
git log --oneline

📝 MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE

Weekly

  • Check site is loading
  • Test contact forms/links

Monthly

  • Update webinar information
  • Check and update prices if needed
  • Add new content/blog posts

Quarterly

  • Review all content for accuracy
  • Update services if changed
  • Refresh testimonials

Yearly

  • Major content review
  • Redesign if needed
  • Check and renew domain

✅ FINAL CHECKLIST

Before announcing your website:

🎊 CONGRATULATIONS!

You’re now ready to deploy your professional website to Netlify!

Remember: - Drag & Drop: 5 minutes, perfect for beginners - GitHub: 15 minutes, best for regular updates

Your website will be: - ✅ Fast and reliable - ✅ Automatically backed up - ✅ Easy to update - ✅ Professional and secure

Need help? We’re here for you!

📧 info@mtjdataanalytics.com 📱 +234 901 944 1200

Good luck with your website launch! 🚀

© 2025 MTJ Data Analytics. All Rights Reserved.