otion is a great tool for managing content, writing articles, storing ideas, editing text and even hosting a blog.
In this article, I will explain how you can use Notion to organize, manage and create content in a CMS and who can benefit from hosting a blog on Notion. Although I use Webflow to design and host my blog, Notion as a CMS is far superior for researching, writing, and editing.
In the first part I will go through the content management system that I use in Notion for writing. The second part is about the blog post structure itself and how it makes the writing process easier. Bust first, let me give you an overview how Notion is fit for certain tasks.
Follow along and build the templates as we go through the guide. You can also support my work by purchasing the template on gumroad.
**You can use Notion for content creation in several ways.**
First, it's so good for **writing and editing**. Notion is very intuitive and a pleasure to use. It provides all the tools you'd ever need as a writer. What I value the most is that it works the way you expect it. It means that the developers use Notion in their work too and understand how to make the UX as smooth as possible.
Second, you can **manage and store** the content in a Notion database. The database is sortable, filterable, and also fast to search your query. In my workflow, the database allows me to keep the track of my content and reference it in different ways.
And last, but not least, **use templates** to make your work easier and more consistent. I use a predefined blog post template to make the writing process easier.
Next, I will show the content management system that I use to produce content for this blog. And after that, I'll share the blog post template that gives a predefined structure to how-to articles.
## Part 1: Notion content management system overview
The system consists of a database with several types of templates for the respective blog post types. I use the database in 3 ways.
### Manage content
Notion makes content management fun. In essence, management is about the creation process. Once you research, write, edit, create images and finally publish, you don't need to touch it unless you need to extract information.
The goal is to create a pipeline to produce high-quality material consistently. In Notion, it's convenient to research, write, and edit. All in one place and neatly organized with a proper template.
The kanban board gives a clear overview of the progress of the articles. The content is divided into several main categories: Idea, In Progress, Edit, Published, and Archive.
Content management is pretty simple and gives a lot of advantages down the line. Before, I used to keep the articles on my PC in folders. Now it's all stored in one cool database with all the information I need.
### Research, write and edit content in Notio
Notion is excellent with writing and editing. Notion covers everything: proper markdown formatting, comments for teammates, and most importantly, an intuitive and well-thought user experience.
Writing and editing in Notion feel intuitive.
It just works the way you expect it. There's no frustration over indentation, image position, lists, and overall formatting. These advantages make building a writing habit much easier. Less effort means stronger motivation. Motivation makes habits consistent and that, in turn, boosts your productivity.
Content creation starts with an idea. Once I come up with a good idea, I take a note and save it for later. When it's time to write, I've got plenty of them collected over time. I can choose one and start research or write.
Not having something to start with can be a good reason for procrastination. Try to make it a habit to write down and store your ideas. Otherwise, you'll forget them.
I do research and writing with a template. A predefined blog post template helps in a few ways: structures the text, makes the articles consistent, and helps me to learn writing. For instance, I outline the intro part of an article in the template so that I always remember the proper structure and write better intros. More on that in the next chapter.
### Content planner
The planning part is integrated with my tasks system. That's where I plan when I write and work on the next article. It's simpler to control all the tasks from one place to avoid redundancy. The calendar view of the CMS only shows the published and updated dates of the articles for future reference.
If you prefer to organize your creation time with a content planner, all you have to do is to add a date when you want to work on that piece. However, system-wise, I'd recommend integrating it with your task management.
## Part 2: Notion Blog Post Template
The second part of the system is the template of the article. There are many templates out there for blog posts. [Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/blog/blog-post-templates/) and [Backlinko](https://backlinko.com/hub/content/blog-post-templates) share several modern ways of writing blog posts with templates.
After many trials on the structure of the article, I developed a certain way of telling the story and adapted a famous blog post principle: the inverted pyramid.
When I started writing I tried a classic story with intro, climax, and outro but it didn't work out well. The second try was on the presentation and sales storytelling. That didn't work out either because I made a couple of mistakes.
My content was about sharing knowledge and experience, i.e. educational and informational. Classic storytelling, on the other hand, requires a hero, with a goal, a conflict, and resolution. Mismatch of the content and the framework.
The second mistake was to stretch the intro and introduce the topic from the grounds. It turns out, people usually want to find the answer to their question quickly.
I get it, I do that all the time. Sometimes Google even thinks I am a spam robot after so many searches. I quickly scan the pages to see if it's worth reading and investing time. If I can't see the answer immediately, I switch to other Google search results.
That's why the inverted pyramid structure works so well: modern problems require modern solutions.
### The inverted pyramid
Hence, the concept of the inverted pyramid for structuring your content. The most successful structure I've tried so far for writing articles.
It aligns well with the content I produce. I don't pour water, as people in Russia say, and therefore it's pretty easy to find the relevant info and take away the information.
Inverted pyramid: 1. Answer to the question. 2. Explain. 3. Add good to know info.
The main principle of the inverted pyramid for content creation is this: place the most valuable information in the upper part of the article to help the reader find their answer quickly. The main body follows next. After providing an answer, you can further develop the topic for those interested in your article more. The conclusion draws the insights again and motivates the reader to take action.
Let's go through each chapter where I can share a few tips on how to organize them.
### The intro
I quickly introduce the article, the problems, and a quick solution with a tease for additional content.
In the template, I outline a specific predefined structure as a backbone. Later I can change a bit here or there, but the template helps to get you going.
Answering questions makes you think about the topic and even proves the viability of the idea.
Writing a title of a blog post is also an important aspect of blogging. I prefer to write 10-ish options and choosing one that sounds right but also follows best practices.
### The main chapter
Then comes the main chapter of the blog post template: the information that the user came to find. If it's a how-to post, then my main content is a step-by-step guide. If it's a post about a template, such as this one, I explain it right after the intro.
In fact, affiliate marketing websites that earn by writing listicles of the products that they did not use, follow the same principle. They are structured similarly: a quick intro and then immediately the list. If it takes time to find the answer, the user will simply prefer to close the tab and open another website.
### Good to know
Once the main question is covered, you can add other subtopics to better understand the solution. Topics that are not essential, but are nice to know about. I usually expand on things I write about and provide additional information that can be useful to my audience.
### The conclusion
Final words are a good place to draw a summary, repeat the insights, and call to action. Summary along with the intro provide a good opportunity to be snippeted by Google to answer the question.
### Acknowledgment
The content management system I built was inspired by [August Bradley's](https://www.yearzero.io/about) PPV system for producing consistent high-quality output. A big thanks for sharing his knowledge with the community.
### Is Notion good for blogging as well?
Notion can be a good option as a blog. I believe it can be done even on the free plan. The cheapest plan costs only 4 euros. Totally worth it. I am not affiliate in any way. It's a personal recommendation.
If you don't care about customization and want to focus on the content and build healthy habits — Notion would be one of your best options. There are many people in the community with blogs on Notion.
While Notion is a good choice for blogging in the beginning of your journey, I prefer a bit more customization. That's why Webflow is still the favourite for my blog, regardless the limitations it has. Notion covers that gap and provides an excellent addition to the content management system.
I have a few pages on Notion that show the templates I create and share with the community. There's a big community building around Notion so much that you call it a social network. Every person has a page and they can be related in different person's database for meet-ups and team-ups.
It's more than a Facebook or LinkedIn profile page. It's a resume, a portfolio, a knowledge database. The pages are interactive and it is curious to lurk around and see who are they and how they build templates and systems.
To summarize, blogging with Notion, together with a CMS, could be a prolific experience. Focus on the content, let it build here and later design a custom website to host your ranking content. It's more important to build certain habits and learn things like SEO, writing, and consistency.
## Final thoughts
A content management system in Notion serves a multitude of functions. First, it helps to manage your creative output. Second, it promotes writing and editing with an intuitive user experience. And last but not least, templates save you time, make you learn and structure the content.
You can support my work by purchasing the template on gumroad.
Feel free to get in touch to discuss or propose an idea to make it more useful and productive. If you are enthusiastic about systems and productivity, please join maray discord server. See you there!
