So you've bought an Alexa Dot and you want to create your own voice app - but you are wondering how difficult is it to build, how do you build the app and how much will it cost to run? If you have basic programming skills then building the application is really easy. If you have written a function or script in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets - then you can build an Alexa voice app. I'm providing all the basic stuff you need to get started ... Note: This post is not intended to give you an exhaustive guide to building a skill. Instead it aims to give you the overview to get up and running quickly. Amazon provides a build-it-yourself walkthrough ( here ), samples ( here ) and a free course on Udemy ( here ). I recommend starting with the free course then following the walkthrough. How much does it cost ? It costs nothing to build and run a simple Alexa app. $0 / £0 / €0. Zero. Furthermore the app is hosted on Amazon's cloud, it's secure, lo...