Building a Simple Blog CRM

I recently built my own blog content management system using Next.js, Supabase, and React Quill. Here's how I did it and what I learned.

What I Built

My blog CRM includes:

• Content creation with React Quill
• Content management (publish, unpublish, edit)
• Database storage with Supabase
• User authentication
• Responsive design

Tech Stack Overview

Next.js provided an excellent foundation with built-in routing and server-side rendering.

Supabase simplified database management with its user-friendly interface and JavaScript SDK. I created tables for posts and users.

React Quill offered a clean rich text editor with extensive formatting options.

Key Implementation Steps

• Project Setup

npx create-next-app@latest my-blog-crm
cd my-blog-crm
npm run dev

• Supabase Integration

// lib/supabaseClient.js
import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js'
const supabase = createClient(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL, process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY)

• Editor Component

// Using React Quill for rich text editing
const ReactQuill = dynamic(() => import('react-quill'), { ssr: false })

• Content Management
• Created forms for post creation and editing
• Implemented publish/unpublish functionality
• Added image upload capabilities using Supabase Storage

Challenges and Solutions

• Rich Text Storage: Stored HTML output directly in Supabase
• Image Uploads: Used Supabase Storage for handling images
• Authentication: Implemented using Supabase's auth system

Lessons Learned

• Start with core features before adding extras
• Build reusable components
• Focus on error handling
• Design for mobile first

Future Improvements

I plan to add scheduled publishing, SEO fields, analytics, and multi-user permissions.

Building this CRM taught me that modern web development tools make it possible for beginners to create powerful applications with relatively little experience.