I had just recently started again with blogging. Yep, I have been blogging since 2009. I’ve made all the mistakes in the past, and now that I’m back at it, I equipped myself with the right tools and researched how to blog the right way. So, I am starting it off with a good blog planner. Notion daily planner is what I prefer.
For a little back story:
I had several blogs back in 2009 that I needed help to keep up with posting; I needed to figure out exactly what I was doing, leading to all my blogs expiring and being abandoned. I needed more consistency and energy to focus on them. They only lasted for a few years. I’m thankful I’ve earned from those blogs by accepting blog post opportunities that helped sustain paying for my domains and hosting until 2013.
Blogging is work, especially if you want to earn from it. And so, planning content and having a good blogging routine with schedules and to-do lists is necessary if you wish for your blog to succeed. I am done with my mistakes in the past. So starting with a good blog planner is the best decision ever!
Now back to the main topic:
HOW I USE NOTION AS MY BLOG PLANNER
As you can see, the above screenshot is my Notion.so dashboard (blog planner). I call it my Notion Blog Planner.
If you have yet to try Notion, I suggest you try it. Just go to www.notion.so and sign up. It’s totally free! Also, I got this notion template from Erin of Little Sips of Tea. She inspired this, but I made some changes and tweaked it to suit my needs.
I love how you can customize Notion in any way you want. Although, I have to be honest. Notion could be more user-friendly, for beginners at least. You will find it challenging to use when you’re starting. Some say that Notion is overwhelming. But with a bit of research from google or youtube, you are good to go. Plus, there are templates available that you can easily customize from scratch! I use these templates all the time.
How I Set Up my Notion
Notion Header Image
Don’t you love that you can make your notion header as customized as you want it to be? I used the same header image on my website to correspond to my blog planner. Just upload the image to the cover image, and bam! It’s there, for crying out loud.
Page Icon
This is not really necessary. You can choose not to have an icon or a header if you want to be minimalist and focus on your planning system. But for me, I like to put an icon. In my case, a woman icon is good enough.
Notion Title Name
I named it after my blog, “THE PRODUCTIVE MOM BLOG”. Simple as that.
Quick Links in Notion Daily Planner
I have those 2 columns that serve as the main dashboard of all my blog planner content. I made a snippet over at the top, giving me motivation at first sight! And then, once I click on it, it immediately opens another tab on my browser to my website.
This is what’s cool with Notion. You can link all your websites or social media accounts in one place! The organization system is up to you, and Notion allows you to manage everything. You can also link to your google drive if you have important files on there. It’s fun to plan everything in Notion while conveniently storing all your online links and stuff.
My Blog Content Planner Template
This is where the work happens!
I made a table of my blog posts as they are published on the website. The columns are self-explanatory. Doing this is easy on Notion. You just have to click the (+) and then hover on “Table” then you can set up your columns however you want.
Right under the Content Calendar section is this. This is where I do my brainstorming. I write down every possible blog post idea in this table and get the low competition keywords on Semrush to rank on google search, along with everything else I need before I write a blog post.
I also did this checklist of my work process for writing blog posts! I love how I can have this available right in Notion for reference while I work. I used the notion to-do list for this one.
Conclusion
I can say that Notion is my current favorite online digital planner! I basically plan everything in my life on Notion’s daily planner, such as the home planner, budget planner, and health & fitness planner. You name it! It’s just the best among all the ones that I’ve tested before. With Notion being an online digital planner, I can easily access it on all my devices. I can plan on my phone, iPad, and laptop and have this autosave feature. However, I enjoy it most on my computer. I have finally found ‘planner peace’ with Notion.
Do you also use Notion as your daily planner?
If not, what is it that you use?
