How I Use Notion

Notion (https://notion.so) is a great tool for organizing information in a semi-structured way. I learned about it when I left Evernote and was looking for a wiki-type of application. I started using it to handle my blog stuff – I kept my ideas and articles tucked into Notion. Today I will talk about how I use Notion.

What Notion Is

Notion is a highly customizable software package that you can use to store notes, documents, tasks, calendars are more.

Notion is a wiki. It’s a tool used for organizing information and linking it together. To put it in 20th century terms, it is an encyclopedic software that allows jumping between subjects.

I’ve used wikis for years for doing everything from managing projects to documenting my work life to writing.

Notion is available on my pc, through a web interface and on my tablet. It is free for individual users.

Why I Chose Notion

After the demise of Notestudio and the Palm OS, I searched for a replacement wiki tool. I thought I found it in Evernote, but Evernote had its problems, and I lost confidence in the software.

At that time I was looking at a lot of replacements for Evernote, I stumbled across Notion. It was limited at the time, but I thought it could be useful to write blog articles – one of the things I struggled with in Evernote.

I chose Notion for blog writing for the following reason:

• Native markdown formatting, which can easily be translated into HTML
• The ability to have categories and statuses on the entries
• The ability to link between articles (this is particularly helpful when I am putting together newsletters)
• Multiple-platform support (web, pc, iOS)
• A distraction-free interface
• Single article/single file in the software

My Blog Writing Process Using Notion

I’ve been using Notion for blog writing since 2022. I have a process that is well-defined and tested.

1. At the beginning of the month, I open up the calendar view and make documents for the articles that will be written. This allows me to have an editorial calendar that I can visualize. I fill in the blog articles on Mondays, the paid Patreon articles on the 2nd and 4th Fridays, and the newsletter on the last day of month.
2. As I am creating these documents, I am using templates that I have set up for each type. This fills in the status (Not Started), the type (Blog, Patron, Newsletter) and a basic structure for each.
3. With the documents created, I can then go into a table view and see the list with the statuses for each article.
4. When I am ready to outline and article or set up the points, I open the document and make bullet points. I then switch the status to “Write”
5. When I write the article, I write much like I would in a word processor, using headings and numbered/bulleted lists. If I need to make a link that will refer to something, I highlight it and set the link in the article. The status gets switched to “Proof”
6. Once I have written the article and let it sit for a few days, I go back through and proof it. When I am done the status becomes “Summarize”
7. Here is where I let my one paid feature of Notion kick in. I pay $10 per month for the Notion AI Core feature. I use AI to generate the summaries for both SEO and the blog. It’s the only thing I use AI for – everything else is purely out of my brain. Once I note the summaries on the page, I change the status to “Image”
8. I create the image using Unsplash and Canva. The status becomes “Post”
9. From Notion, I can paste the formatted article into the Visual tab of WordPress. I set my summaries and my image, and I schedule the article.

Blog Ideas

Up until a couple of months ago, I also had all my blog ideas inside Notion. It wasn’t particularly useful in this format. I had a huge list of topics, and it was difficult to see what was there. This is more a result of my not cleaning it out than a problem with Notion, though.

As part of moving data that I don’t want to lose out of native software, I extracted all of those ideas. Notion gave me a spreadsheet list as well as all the documents, so with some work in Excel I now have all of the ideas in text documents on my hard drive.

Other Usage

With the flexibility of notion, I could definitely find other ways to use it. But having Notion focused on my blog provides me with a compartmentalization. When I am in Notion, I am blogging. I find that helpful.

In Conclusion

Notion has become an integral part of my blogging workflow. Its flexibility, markdown support, and organizational features have streamlined my writing process from outlines to publication. While I’ve moved my blog ideas to a different system, Notion continues to serve me well as my dedicated blogging writing platform. The compartmentalization it provides helps me stay focused when I’m in “blog mode.” The free version offers more than enough functionality for most users. If you’re looking for a versatile tool to organize your writing projects, Notion might be worth exploring.