Markdown : A Simple Blog Workflow That Just Works

How to Leverage NextJs to create your own Blog Website

Blogging doesn’t need to be complicated. You don’t need a WordPress install, a paid CMS, or a cluttered editor with endless toolbars. If you can open a text file and write a few lines, you already have everything you need.

This is a guide for anyone, developer or writer, who wants a simple, fast, clean, distraction-free blogging setup. It's based on Markdown. And for extension if you want your own website using Next.js, it's easier than you think.

You’ll learn why Markdown is ideal for writing. You’ll see how to use it with Next.js to create your own personal blog. You’ll understand how this stack gives you control, flexibility, and speed - without losing simplicity.

Let’s start with the writing.

Why Markdown Works So Well for Writing

Markdown is a plain-text markup language. In simple terms, you can write as well as decide how it'll look on the web all from comfort of your lightweight text editor run on your computer or smartphone. Here’s what makes Markdown worth your time.

It's Easy to Learn

You can learn the basics in five minutes. It's simple. This will get you started:

• # is a heading
• ## is a subheading
• **bold** makes bold text
• *italic* makes italic text
• - starts a bullet list
• > makes a quoted text
• [Text](https://example.com) adds a link
• ![Alt text](image.jpg) adds an image
• Backticks (`) wrap inline code
• Triple backticks () create code blocks

That’s almost all you need. If you can write a normal text message, you can write Markdown.

It’s Distraction-Free

For the first ten minutes maybe you won't remeber how to make text bold so you'll probably want to select the text and press CTRL + B. But you'll start appreciating the fluidity of the writing process without the distraction of your mouse. You see markdown ages like fine wine and you acquire a taste for it. At this point it is impossible for me to hide my love for MD MA god.

You can write Markdown in any text editor. Notepad, VS Code, Obsidian, default Notes app. It works offline, on old devices, and without internet access. It’s light, fast. I prefer Notepad++ with Markdown Panel for live preview so I can easily see the preview of how it'd look like on a webpage right there in my text editor. There is also a MarkdownViewer++ plugin. It has an option to export markdown as HTML and PDF.

It's Clean and Portable

Markdown files are just .md text files. They work anywhere. You can sync them with Git, edit them on your phone. Once you are done with your draft, just copy paste wherever you want to publish. A lot of publication sites allows uploading markdown content directly. If the markdown upload option is unavailable, there is a very simple fix:

1. Export the markdown as an html.
2. Open it on a browser.
3. Copy text from the browser.
4. Paste in your publication interface.

Basically, the browser is rendering the html as rich text, so when you copy it from there, it retains all the design and aesthetics.

My workflow is slightly different. Since I already use Visual Studio Code Editor, I preview my markdown in my VS code, and copy it from there. I followed the exact same workflow while writing this article too.

How AI Fits in

As we all know, the internet is becoming a dumping ground of all kinds of AI crap. Every moron with an internet connection is writing articles on concepts they barely understand. Markdown fits in their workflow too.

Instead of asking chatGPT to just write a medium article, ask it to write the article in a single markdown panel without anything getting out of it. If you get your prompting right, you can just copy the entire blog as a single markdown text, without even needing to edit it stylistically.

Think about it, that means your headings, links, lists, and code blocks are already structured. You copy and paste one block, in one go. Further increasing your efficiency and contribution to enshittification. The best thing is you moron won't read this full article, so you will keep continuing copy pasting the only way you can imagine, like a Baby.

Seriously though, this is helpful even if you don’t code. The output is clean and readable. You don’t need to manually bold text or click the "H2" button in a rich editor. It’s all there in one go. This makes workflow fast and smooth for serious writers.

An Idea

When it comes to choosing what platform to publish your material on, there is a lot of confusion. I am not the one with the answers but I have seen a general trend. Once writers on medium or any other platform get traction, the next logical step is to create a substack or a dedicated website to monetise your work directly. There are a lot options in the market. There is the OG wordpress, relied upon by many.

Why Next.js Makes Sense for Publishing

But being a developer myself, I've found Next.js to be just the right fit.

Next.js is a React framework. You can use it to build static sites that are fast, SEO-friendly, and easy to host. It works great for blogs, especially when paired with Markdown. I can control SSR and SSG, customise themes all I want, control search and recommended articles, track activity and analyse what is working and why. Now, I don't have great ideas for blog so I still haven't gotten down that road but I have set up a similar website for a friend of mine and their business is booming.

Ok not quite so, but it is seeing reasonable growth over time.

The Core Idea

Here’s what that setup looks like. You write each blog post as a .md file. You keep all your posts in a /posts folder. You read those files in Next.js at build time and generate static pages and metadata for each one. Using build cache the recurrent builds scale nicely for blogs.

Next.js uses file-based routing and supports static generation. That means your site builds once and serves instantly. There’s no server needed. You can deploy to Vercel or Netlify for free.

This directly integrates with your basic writing workflow. So you are basically benefitting on two fronts by making a simple change. You simplify your writing workflow now. If and when you decide to port your content to your own content, you just have to copy/move your markdown files to your websites.

What You Need

For the Developer

1. A folder of Markdown files
2. A function to read those files (fs in Node)
3. A parser like gray-matter to extract metadata
4. A renderer like remark or next-mdx-remote to convert Markdown to HTML
5. Basic components for layout, post display, and navigation

This stack doesn’t need a database, plugin, or admin panel. You edit Markdown, commit to Git, and your site updates.

Frontmatter Makes Metadata Easy

Each Markdown file can include frontmatter. This is a block at the top of the file that holds info like the title, date, or tags.

Here’s an example:

---
title: "How Markdown Changed My Writing"
date: "2025-07-12"
tags: ["writing", "tools"]
excerpt: "Markdown is the easiest way to write without distractions."
---

You can read this metadata in Next.js and use it to generate the blog index or SEO meta tags.

SEO Is in Your Hands

Next.js gives you full control over metadata. You can set <title>, <meta name="description">, Open Graph tags, and more per page.

To each their own, but in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, the SEO on wordpress is far more jarring. But hey if it works for you who am I to disagree.

You can also add a sitemap with a tool like next-sitemap. It reads your routes and builds a sitemap automatically.

A Simple Workflow for Blogging

Here’s how this all comes together.

1. Write your blog post in Markdown.
2. Save it as a .md file in your /posts folder.
3. If you are publishing on a platform, you preview your work in a broswer or previwer and copy paste, so you don't need to format it separately on that platform.
4. If you want to publish on your own platform you go for nextjs flow.
5. Add frontmatter at the top with title, date, and optional tags.
6. Commit and push your changes to Git.
7. Let Vercel or another host rebuild the site.
8. Your blog post is live.

You don’t open a CMS. You don’t click "Publish". You write, save, and push.

If you use GitHub, your blog becomes part of your portfolio. Others can see how you write and structure your work.

Who This Is For

This setup works well for developers who want a personal blog. But it also works for writers who are tired of cluttered editors and slow dashboards.

If you write long-form content, tutorials, guides, or personal essays, Markdown and Next.js will serve you well in the long run.

It’s also great for hybrid creators who use ChatGPT to assist with drafting. You can turn AI output into polished Markdown in seconds, without reformatting.

Final Thoughts

You don’t need complex tools to publish good writing.

You need a place to write that keeps you focused. You need a site that’s fast, simple, and yours. Markdown and Next.js give you that.

Start small. Write one post. Put it in a folder. Push it to GitHub. Watch it go live.

Once you feel that workflow click, you won’t want to go back.