How to Build a Blog Using a Static Site Generator and a CDN

Are you looking to start a blog but want something faster, more secure, and easier to manage than a traditional CMS like WordPress? A great option is using a static site generator to build your blog, and delivering it via a content delivery network (CDN).

In this in-depth tutorial, we‘ll walk through how to create a fully-functional blog using the Hugo static site generator and Netlify for continuous deployment and CDN hosting. By the end, you‘ll have a performant, secure blog that‘s a breeze to update.

What is a Static Site Generator?

A static site generator is a tool that generates a full static HTML website based on raw data and a set of templates. Essentially, a static site generator automates the task of coding individual HTML pages and gets those pages ready to serve to users ahead of time. Because these HTML pages are pre-built, they can load very quickly in users‘ browsers.

Some popular static site generators include:

• Hugo (written in Go)
• Jekyll (Ruby)
• Gatsby (JavaScript/React)
• Next.js (JavaScript/React)
• Nuxt (JavaScript/Vue)
• Eleventy (JavaScript)

Static site generators are an alternative to content management systems (CMS) like WordPress that render pages dynamically on a server using a database.

Why Use a Static Site Generator for a Blog?

There are several advantages to using a static site generator for a blog:

Performance. Static sites are very fast because the HTML pages are generated ahead of time rather than on-demand. There are no database queries or template rendering to slow requests down.

Scalability. Because static sites are just collections of HTML files, they are very easy to scale. There‘s no complex infrastructure to manage. Just serve the files from a CDN and let it handle the scaling.

Security. With a static site, there‘s no server-side functionality, backend database, or user input to attack. This significantly reduces the surface area for potential vulnerabilities.

Simplicity. Static sites are very easy to set up compared to dynamic sites with databases and server-side processing. There‘s no need to manage a complex CMS. And with automated deployment, publishing is a matter of pushing to Git.

While not the best fit for large, complex sites that need a lot of dynamic functionality, static site generators are a great choice for blogs, documentation, and other content-centric websites.

Building a Blog with Hugo and Netlify

To demonstrate how to build a static blog, we‘ll use Hugo, one of the most popular static site generators. Hugo is known for its speed and flexibility. It‘s written in Go and is very portable, with precompiled binaries available.

We‘ll use Netlify for deploying and hosting the blog. Netlify is a platform that offers continuous deployment, HTTPS, a CDN, and other features for managing static websites. Every time we push to Git, Netlify will automatically rebuild and redeploy the blog.

Here‘s an overview of the process:

1. Install Hugo
2. Create a new Hugo site
3. Add a theme
4. Create content
5. Run the Hugo server locally to preview
6. Push the code to GitHub
7. Connect the GitHub repository to Netlify
8. Configure the Netlify build
9. Add a custom domain
10. Set up HTTPS

Step 1: Install Hugo

First, install the Hugo static site generator. On macOS, you can install it with Homebrew:

brew install hugo

On Windows, you can install the Hugo executable from the releases page.

Verify the installation by running:

hugo version

Step 2: Create a New Hugo Site

Next, create a new directory for your blog and initialize a new Hugo site:

hugo new site my-blog
cd my-blog

This creates a my-blog directory with the basic structure for a Hugo site.

Step 3: Add a Theme

To give the blog a nice look and feel, you can install a pre-made Hugo theme. One popular theme is Ananke:

git init
git submodule add https://github.com/theNewDynamic/gohugo-theme-ananke.git themes/ananke
echo theme = \"ananke\" >> config.toml

This initializes a Git repository, adds the Ananke theme as a Git submodule, and sets it as the theme in the Hugo configuration file.

Step 4: Create Content

Now you can start adding content to your blog. To create a new post:

hugo new posts/my-first-post.md

This creates a new Markdown file in the content/posts directory with some boilerplate front matter:

---
title: "My First Post"
date: 2023-02-12T10:57:57-08:00
draft: true
---

You can edit this file and add your post content in Markdown format below the front matter.

Step 5: Preview Locally

To preview your blog locally, run the Hugo server:

hugo server -D

The -D flag includes content marked as draft. Browse to http://localhost:1313 to see your blog.

Step 6: Push to GitHub

Once you‘re happy with your blog, push the code to GitHub. Create a new repository on GitHub, and push your code:

git remote add origin https://github.com/yourusername/my-blog.git  
git push -u origin main

Replace the URL with your repository‘s URL.

Step 7: Connect to Netlify

Log in to Netlify and click "New site from Git". Choose GitHub, and authorize Netlify to access your repositories if prompted. Select the repository you pushed to.

Step 8: Configure the Netlify Build

Under Basic build settings, set the Build command to hugo and the Publish directory to public. This tells Netlify to run the hugo command to build the site and publish the generated files in the public directory.

Step 9: Add a Custom Domain (Optional)

By default, your site will have a Netlify subdomain. You can add a custom domain in the Domain settings.

Step 10: Set Up HTTPS

Netlify offers free HTTPS using Let‘s Encrypt certificates. In the HTTPS section, click "Verify DNS configuration" to set up HTTPS for your custom domain.

With that, your blog is now live! Every time you push to GitHub, Netlify will rebuild and redeploy your blog automatically.

Using a CDN for Your Blog

By default, Netlify serves your site via its global CDN powered by AWS. This ensures your blog loads quickly for visitors around the world.

However, you can also use a third-party CDN like Cloudflare in front of Netlify for additional performance and security benefits. Cloudflare offers features like auto-minification, image optimization, and DDoS mitigation.

To set up Cloudflare:

1. Sign up for a Cloudflare account
2. Add your site to Cloudflare
3. Update your domain‘s nameservers to point to Cloudflare
4. Enable any desired Cloudflare features

With Cloudflare in front of Netlify, your blog will be served from Cloudflare‘s global edge network for optimal performance and availability.

Adding a CMS

One potential downside of a static site is that non-technical content authors may find it difficult to create and edit content. One solution is to use a headless CMS that integrates with your static site generator.

Netlify CMS is an open-source CMS designed to work with static site generators. It provides a user-friendly interface for authoring content and can be accessed via your site‘s /admin URL.

To set up Netlify CMS with your Hugo blog:

1. Create an admin/index.html file to host the Netlify CMS admin interface
2. Add a config.yml file to configure Netlify CMS
3. Set up authentication (e.g., using Netlify Identity)
4. Start writing content!

When content is saved in Netlify CMS, it automatically commits the changes to your Git repository, triggering a new build and deployment on Netlify.

This setup gives you the best of both worlds—the performance and simplicity of a static site, with the ease of use of a CMS for content management.

Optimizing Your Blog

To ensure your static blog built with Hugo is as fast as possible, here are some tips for optimization:

Minify and Concatenate Assets. Hugo has built-in support for minification and bundling of CSS and JavaScript files. Configure the –minify flag to enable this.

Optimize Images. Use responsive images and modern formats like WebP to minimize image file sizes. You can automate image optimization using a tool like Cloudflare Polish.

Lazy Load Images and Videos. Defer loading of below-the-fold images and videos until they are needed to improve initial page load times. You can enable native lazy loading in supported browsers or use a JavaScript library for older browsers.

Inline Critical CSS. Inline the critical CSS needed for above-the-fold content in the of your pages so it can load immediately without blocking rendering. Hugo has a critical CSS feature to make this easy.

Preload Key Resources. Use to hint to the browser that certain critical resources should be loaded sooner. This can include key JavaScript files, images, and fonts.

By following these best practices, you can maximize the performance of your static blog.

SEO and Accessibility

In addition to performance, don‘t forget about SEO and accessibility when building your blog.

Some tips for SEO:

• Use descriptive, keyword-rich titles and meta descriptions
• Optimize your URL structure and use descriptive permalinks
• Add structured data to help search engines understand your content
• Create an XML sitemap and submit it to search engines
• Set up robots.txt and canonical URLs to control crawling and indexing
• Build high-quality backlinks to your content

For accessibility, make sure to:

• Use semantic HTML elements
• Provide alt text for images
• Ensure sufficient color contrast
• Make your site keyboard-navigable
• Use ARIA attributes where needed

By building with SEO and accessibility in mind, you can ensure your blog is able to reach the widest possible audience.

Conclusion

Static site generators like Hugo offer a fast, secure, and scalable way to build a blog or content-heavy website. When combined with modern platforms and services like GitHub, Netlify, and Cloudflare, you can create a powerful blog that‘s easy to manage and update.

In this tutorial, we walked through:

• Setting up Hugo and creating a new blog
• Deploying and hosting on Netlify
• Using Cloudflare as a CDN
• Adding Netlify CMS for content management
• Optimizing your blog‘s performance
• Considering SEO and accessibility best practices

I hope this in-depth guide gives you all the information you need to get started building your own static blog. The power and simplicity of the static site stack make it a great choice for content-focused websites. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start blogging!