Custom Notion Blog

Introduction

I have always wanted to create a blog where I can freely express my thoughts and ideas. Additionally, I sought to build a content management system that is intuitive and efficient, making it much easier to manage content compared to directly editing the project's source code. After careful consideration, I decided to name this project Custom Notion Blog.

Why Notion?

Notion is a platform I greatly value and use daily for a wide range of activities, including:
  • Planning my day-to-day tasks and routines
  • Writing in-depth book reviews
  • Organizing travel plans and itineraries
Its versatility and ease of use make it an indispensable tool in my personal and professional life. I thought it would be a brilliant idea to leverage Notion for managing blog content as well. Instead of traditional methods of editing or uploading blog posts directly in the codebase, integrating Notion into the blog allows me to write and edit posts in an environment I’m already familiar with.

The Vision

The goal of the Custom Notion Blog project is to create a seamless system where I can:
  1. Write and manage blog posts directly within Notion.
  1. Use Notion as the backend for content storage and organization.
  1. Automatically sync selected pages or posts to the blog without manual intervention in the code.

How It Works

To turn this vision into reality, I explored the Notion API, which provides developers with the tools to programmatically interact with Notion databases and pages. Using this API, I designed a workflow where:
  • A dedicated Notion database serves as the source of truth for all blog content.
  • Each row in the database represents an individual blog post with metadata such as title, category, tags, and publication status.
  • Pages are fetched and displayed dynamically on the blog based on the information stored in Notion.
This system ensures that any changes I make in Notion are instantly reflected on the blog, creating an efficient content pipeline.

Features of Custom Notion Blog

  1. Dynamic Content Management
      2. Blog posts can be created, updated, or deleted directly from Notion. This eliminates the need for updating code or deploying changes every time a new post is published.
  1. Category and Tag Organization
      2. Notion databases support rich properties, allowing me to categorize posts, assign tags, and even manage series of posts. These properties help in dynamically organizing blog pages by category or tag for better navigation.
  1. SEO-Friendly Structure
      2. The blog is structured to optimize discoverability on search engines like Google and Naver. URLs are dynamically generated based on Notion data, following a pattern of /[category]/[slug], which is both user-friendly and SEO-friendly.
  1. Design and Performance
      2. The blog leverages modern web development tools like Next.js to ensure high performance, fast loading times, and a visually appealing design. Custom fonts and preloading techniques are applied to enhance user experience.
  1. Flexibility and Scalability
      2. By decoupling content from the source code, the blog is highly flexible and scalable. New features or design changes can be implemented without disrupting the content flow.

Technical Stack

The Custom Notion Blog is built using the following technologies:
  • Next.js: A React framework for server-side rendering and static site generation, providing excellent performance and flexibility.
  • Notion API: Used to fetch and manage blog content from Notion databases.
  • Vercel: Hosting the blog for seamless deployment and fast performance.
  • React-Notion-X: A library to render Notion pages directly on the web.
  • Tailwind CSS: For styling the blog, ensuring a clean and modern design.

Challenges and Learning

One of the biggest challenges was designing a caching system to optimize performance. Since Notion's API has rate limits, fetching data for every user request would be inefficient. To address this, I implemented a caching mechanism that stores blog data locally and refreshes it periodically or upon specific actions like editing a post in Notion.
Another challenge was ensuring that the fonts and styles I used in the blog were consistent and loaded instantly. By preloading fonts and optimizing the design with Tailwind CSS, I was able to create a visually appealing experience without compromising performance.

Future Plans

This project is just the beginning. In the future, I plan to:
  • Add support for multi-language content to reach a broader audience.
  • Incorporate analytics to track blog performance and reader engagement.
  • Enable commenting and sharing features for better interactivity.
  • Experiment with AI-driven recommendations to suggest related posts to readers.

Conclusion

The Custom Notion Blog is a reflection of my love for both technology and self-expression. By combining the power of Notion and modern web technologies, I have created a system that is not only efficient but also enjoyable to use. This project has been a rewarding experience, and I am excited to continue enhancing it with new features and ideas.
Stay tuned for updates and new posts!