Next.js Blog with Markdown: Categories, Reading Time, and RSS Feed

Why this matters for small businesses

A fast, searchable blog helps attract customers, build trust, and convert visitors into leads. Using Markdown with Next.js gives you a simple authoring workflow (write in plain text), excellent performance (static pages served from a CDN), and SEO-friendly HTML that search engines love. This setup is ideal for founders and marketers who want a maintainable content system without a heavyweight CMS.

What you’ll get from this approach

When you build a blog with Markdown + Next.js you can achieve a clean, scalable content stack that’s easy to manage. Key benefits include: - Author-friendly writing in Markdown files. - Static Site Generation (SSG) for speed and SEO. - Category pages so visitors find related content fast. - Reading-time estimates to set expectations for readers. - An RSS feed so subscribers and aggregators pick up new posts.

If you want hands-on help making this happen, check out https://prateeksha.com and our resources at https://prateeksha.com/blog. There’s a detailed walkthrough available at https://prateeksha.com/blog/nextjs-blog-markdown-categories-reading-time-rss.

Organize content with a simple model

Keep your content in a content/posts folder and use YAML frontmatter for metadata: title, date, categories, description, slug, and draft flags. That small schema is enough to: - Generate index pages and feeds. - Build category archives. - Validate required fields at build time so nothing breaks in production.

Normalize categories (trim whitespace and slugify names) early to avoid duplicate archives like “Marketing” vs “marketing.” This small consistency step improves UX and SEO.

Parsing, SSG, and reading time

At build time, Next.js can read each Markdown file, parse frontmatter, and render pages to static HTML. Use a lightweight parser and generate: - Post pages under /posts/[slug] - Category pages under /category/[slug] - A blog index with excerpts and reading-time estimates

Reading time is a small trust-building feature that helps visitors decide whether to read now or save for later. You can use a tiny library or implement a simple algorithm that counts words and divides by 200–220 WPM. Many sites show “3 min read” beside the post date — a simple UX win.

Render safely and handle media

For rendering, the unified remark/rehype toolchain converts Markdown to sanitized HTML. If you need interactive widgets or React components inside posts, consider MDX — but be aware it adds client-side complexity and larger bundles. For images, map Markdown image tags to Next.js Image components when possible for automatic optimization. Also add rel="noopener noreferrer" and target="_blank" to external links to protect users.

Generate RSS and sitemap for discoverability

An RSS feed is low-effort and high-value: it lets followers subscribe and third-party services index your content. Generate feed.xml during build and write it to public/feed.xml so it’s served as a static file. Similarly, create sitemap.xml from your posts and category routes and write it to public/sitemap.xml. Both files improve indexing and make your content easier to find.

SEO basics you should implement

Create a reusable Meta/Head component that uses frontmatter (title, description, image, date, canonical) to emit: - title and meta description - Open Graph tags for social previews - Twitter Card tags for better sharing

Set NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL in production so canonical and og:url are consistent. Also add rel="next"/"prev" for paginated lists and unique meta descriptions for category pages to avoid thin content issues.

Deployment and maintenance tips

Deploy on platforms like Vercel for seamless Next.js support and optional ISR (Incremental Static Regeneration) if you want on-demand updates without full rebuilds. Add postbuild scripts to generate RSS and sitemap files. Automate builds via GitHub Actions or webhooks when content changes.

Quick checklist: - Set NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL in production - Generate sitemap.xml and feed.xml during build - Validate RSS and sitemap with online tools - Monitor social preview images and metadata

Next steps and how we can help

A Markdown + Next.js blog delivers speed, SEO, and a friendly authoring experience. If you’re a small business owner or marketer who wants a fast blog that attracts leads, start by structuring a few posts, defining your frontmatter schema, and automating sitemap/RSS generation. For help turning this into a polished site, visit https://prateeksha.com and explore practical guides at https://prateeksha.com/blog. The step-by-step case study at https://prateeksha.com/blog/nextjs-blog-markdown-categories-reading-time-rss walks through a full implementation.

Take one action today: pick three posts to convert into Markdown, define categories, and schedule a build. You’ll have a faster, more discoverable blog in days — not weeks.