Building a Static Blog with Cloudflare Pages

Static site generation has become increasingly popular for blogs and content sites. When combined with Cloudflare Pages, you get a powerful, fast, and globally distributed platform for your content.

#Why Choose Static Generation?

Static sites offer several advantages:

• Performance: Pre-generated HTML loads instantly
• Security: No server-side code means fewer attack vectors
• Scalability: CDNs can handle massive traffic spikes
• Cost-effective: Many platforms offer generous free tiers

#Next.js Static Export

To generate a static version of your Next.js app, configure your next.config.js:

/** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
const nextConfig = {
  output: 'export',
  trailingSlash: true,
  images: {
    unoptimized: true,
  },
}

export default nextConfig

Then build your static site:

npm run build

This creates an out directory with all your static files.

#Deploying to Cloudflare Pages

1. Connect your repository to Cloudflare Pages
2. Configure build settings:
   • Build command: npm run build
   • Build output directory: out
3. Deploy automatically on every git push

#Optimizing for Performance

#Image Optimization

Since we're using static export, we need to handle images carefully:

import Image from 'next/image'

// Use unoptimized images for static export
;<Image src="/blog-image.jpg" alt="Blog image" width={800} height={400} unoptimized />

#Bundle Analysis

Monitor your bundle size to keep your site fast:

npm install -D @next/bundle-analyzer

Add to your next.config.js:

import bundleAnalyzer from '@next/bundle-analyzer'

const withBundleAnalyzer = bundleAnalyzer({
  enabled: process.env.ANALYZE === 'true',
})

export default withBundleAnalyzer(nextConfig)

#Best Practices

#Content Structure

Organize your content logically:

content/
├── posts/
│   ├── 2024/
│   │   ├── getting-started.mdx
│   │   └── advanced-tips.mdx
│   └── drafts/
│       └── upcoming-post.mdx
└── pages/
    ├── about.mdx
    └── contact.mdx

#SEO Optimization

Generate proper metadata for each post:

export async function generateMetadata({ params }): Promise<Metadata> {
  const post = await getPost(params.slug)

  return {
    title: post.title,
    description: post.description,
    openGraph: {
      title: post.title,
      description: post.description,
      type: 'article',
      publishedTime: post.date,
    },
  }
}

#Conclusion

Combining Next.js static export with Cloudflare Pages creates a robust, fast, and reliable blog platform. The setup is straightforward, and the performance benefits are significant.

Your readers will appreciate the fast loading times, and you'll love the simple deployment workflow!