Here’s what I use for the exact same goal:

Step 1: Convert to HTML

    mdToHtml {
        files=$(find blog -name "*.md")
        for f in $files; do
            pandoc -f markdown $f > blog/compiled/$(basename "${f%.*}").html
        done
    }

Step 2: Deploy locally

    python -m http.server

Step 2 will vary based on where the static files need to be served.