How We Built Our Web App Using Next.js and MongoDB (Step-by-Step Guide)

Creating a website or web app is more than just writing some code — it’s about solving real problems in a way that’s fast, easy to use, and scalable. In this blog post, I’ll explain how we built a web app using Next.js (for the frontend) and MongoDB (for the database). I’ll share what we did, why we chose certain tools, and what we learned along the way.

💡 What Was Our Goal?

We wanted to build a web app that is:

• Fast and easy to use
• Works well on both desktop and mobile
• Can grow as more users start using it
• Simple to update and manage

So, we started with two powerful technologies:

• Next.js for building the website
• MongoDB for storing the data

🚀 Why We Chose Next.js

Next.js is a React-based framework that makes building websites easier and faster. It helps with:

• Fast loading pages (thanks to server-side rendering)
• Easy navigation (through built-in routing)
• Better SEO (because content can be rendered before the page loads)
• Reusable components (so we don’t repeat code)

We also liked that it works great with modern tools like Vercel, where we deployed the site.

🗃️ Why We Used MongoDB

MongoDB is a NoSQL database, which means we don’t need to define a fixed structure for our data like in SQL databases. This was useful because:

• We could store different types of data easily (users, messages, product info, etc.)
• It works well with JavaScript
• It’s cloud-friendly — we used MongoDB Atlas, which lets us store data online securely

🔧 How We Built It – Step-by-Step

1. Planning the Structure

Before we started coding, we listed out:

• What pages we needed (Home, About, Contact, etc.)
• What components we could reuse (Header, Footer, Cards, Forms)
• What kind of data we would store (like user messages or quotes)

2. Creating the Frontend with Next.js

We built different pages inside the /pages folder. For example:

• index.js → Home Page
• about.js → About Page
• contact.js → Contact Page

Each page had a layout that included a header, some content, and a footer.

We created components like:

• Navbar — for navigation
• TestimonialCard — to display user reviews
• QuoteBox — to show quotes from the database

We used CSS Modules to style each component in a clean and organized way.

3. Adding the Backend (API)

We used a separate Node.js server with Express.js for backend tasks:

• Handling form submissions
• Fetching data from MongoDB
• Storing new entries in the database

Using Mongoose, we defined data models like this:

const QuoteSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
  author: String,
  text: String,
  createdAt: { type: Date, default: Date.now }
});

4. Connecting Frontend and Backend

We used Axios to send and receive data. For example, submitting a contact form or loading quotes from the database.

🌐 Deployment: Putting It Live

We deployed everything as follows:

• Frontend (Next.js): Hosted on Vercel
• Backend (Node.js + MongoDB): Hosted on AWS EC2
• MongoDB: Stored in the cloud with MongoDB Atlas
• Domain: Managed via GoDaddy and Hostinger

🧱 Challenges We Faced

• Mobile Responsiveness: Fixed using media queries and mobile testing tools
• CORS Issues: Solved by configuring backend middleware properly
• Form Validation: Added checks before allowing form submissions
• Data Structure Control: Used Mongoose for consistent data handling

🎓 What We Learned

• Plan before coding
• Break big tasks into smaller steps
• Reuse components to keep code clean
• Use Git and version control for teamwork
• Test with real users to find hidden problems

✅ Final Result

We now have a fully working web app that is:

• Fast
• Mobile-friendly
• Easy to maintain
• Ready to scale

We’re continuing to improve it and add features like a user dashboard, search filters, and login functionality.

🙌 Thank You!

We hope this post was helpful. If you’re building your own app or have questions about the tools we used, feel free to comment or connect with us!