Why Notion?
Update April 2021: I have now migrated my blog from Notion to Ghost, because my blog and my commitment to it have grown. Ghost offers me more blog specific features without being too complex. Neverthless, I liked using Notion for my blog and would encourage you to try it for a small blog.
Why would I, a software developer, choose to move my blog from WordPress to Notion? Notion might seem like a strange choice for a blog. After all, Notion isn't a blogging platform, it's a notes app. Recently, however, I've become a huge fan of Notion for my notes and seen a few people using it for blogs, so I thought, why not?
Here's the two primary reasons for the switch:
- A recent switch of hosting services would require migrating my WordPress site
- Notion is an incredible tool that is much simpler and easier to maintain
Curious about Notion? Check them out here!
Hosting Service Switch
First off, yes, I recently moved my web hosting from Bluehost to DigitalOcean. Bluehost is a staple of web hosting, however after my initial three year contract expired the rate was going up to $8 a month, and while that doesn't really break the bank, it seemed like too much for the services I was getting. So I migrated everything to DigitalOcean, a cloud computing company, where I get dedicated server space for $5 a month. Not only is that cheaper, it also gives me much better admin tools and the ability to install and run whatever I want on my server space (read do more cool personal projects).
Moving a WordPress instance, however, turns out to be somewhat more difficult than it sounds, and creating a new installation takes time as well, so I was kind of putting it off. During that time I noticed a few people using public notes in Notion as blogs or websites and, since I already know and love Notion as an incredible notes app, that made a lot of sense.
Which brings us to simplicity.
Once you've created a blog on WordPress, which takes some doing, you have to sign on to the WordPress admin website, create a new post which often involves some fussing over styling, and publish it. On Notion, all you have to do is open the app, write a post, and then drag and drop it into my blog. It's already on all my devices and I already use it all the time. The team at Notion has already done all the work for layout and styling and they handle all the maintenance, which lets me focus on writing.
So yes, as a software developer I absolutely could use WordPress, or some other blogging platform, or make the blog from scratch. But when I'm writing the code for my blog or fiddling with the platform I'm taking time away from writing posts and as possibly the world's least consistent blogger that isn't exactly helping the situation.
There are some disadvantages, such as less control over the layout and not having custom URLs, but the advantages, not having to work to make the layout and significantly easier use seem to outweigh those. Hopefully this will lead to more content!
I’ve recently found and implemented a way of having custom URLs entirely for free, which I’ll be writing about soon!
The cover of this page is a screenshot from Notion's website, Notion.so, provided for the purpose of displaying their product for commentary, which is allowed under fair use even though I do not hold the copyright to that image. For more information, see my Fair Use Notice