What you need to create a website
To make a website, you'll need the following things:
- A server to put your site on
- Some folders to put all your files in
- A text editor and file transfer software
Web server
This is the space you will put all your homepage content so that you can display it on the Internet.
If you want to try having a homepage out, you'll have to at least find a server to put everything on. If you're feeling serious, you're going to want to pay money to rent some server space for an easier experience. Paid server space can be very cheap, and for a small hobby website, five dollars a month or less is all you need.
There are many servers available to rent out there, from completely free shared hosting hosting to high-performance dedicated stuff.
If you feel serious enough to get paid hosting, a custom domain name is highly recommended. A domain name is something like Neocities.org or YouTube.com. It's worth considering.
For more information on rental servers, check Where to host your website?
Why a custom domain name is recommended
A custom domain is your very own web address. When you make a website, there might come a time when you want to try something your current server software doesn't allow, or you run out of space with the provider you are using. In this case, you may need to move to a new server, but if you're using a free subdomain or similar (on Neocities, this will be USERNAME.neocities.org) your home address will also change. You might think it's fine, but it's really very troublesome.
First off, if you change your address then your link will change, and then you have to let everyone who linked to you know about this. The more people who link to you—or even the more times you link to yourself offsite—the more links will need to be changed. It's almost certain that not everyone will know or bother.
Even if you go to the trouble of telling everyone who you know links to you, some might think, "that's too much work!" and unlink you altogether. Having many people link to you is one of the most important factors in running a successful website.
You can buy domain names for cheap. MOUSELING.net costs me only 13 US dollars per year, and picopico.org costs me only 11.