Change the Notion of Your Website

Why I switched to Notion for my website as a consultant

Inspired by the awesome-looking, jaw-dropping websites I often see here on LinkedIn - many crafted by fellow consultants showcasing their A-game - I took a bold step into the WordPress world. Armed with a "can do!" attitude and zero prior experience, I decided to learn the ropes from scratch and build it all myself. Why not? WordPress is a powerhouse.

But here’s the thing: If mastering WordPress isn’t your primary skill or job, you simply don’t have the time. I quickly found myself tangled in an overwhelming mess of tools, add-ons, and endless hours trying to piece together an idea and vision I had in my mind. Thousands of dollars in potential costs and countless hours wasted later, I had to ask myself: Was this worth it?

As fun as getting frustrated was, I needed something simple and easy to manage - a way to share my work online, give potential clients an easy way to connect, and that’s it. Spending money on unnecessary subscriptions or hiring developers just didn’t align with my priorities. I like simplicity, saving money, and focusing on what truly matters.

I’m a one-man band. Writing about myself as "we"? Feels fake. Writing about myself in third person? Equally weird and not my style. I'm direct and like to get my hands dirty and get into the weeds of a problem. So, I ditched the norms. I stopped chasing the dream of a picture-perfect website and embraced what was only essential.

Instead of battling WordPress, add-ons, and my sanity, I opted for something simpler. A clean, functional website that works without breaking the bank—or my patience. Turns out, scrapping the “perfect” for the practical was the best decision I made.

Welcome To My Work Home

I've been a die-hard Notion fan for years - personally and professionally. I organized and over-organized pretty much anything I got my hands on. From shopping lists to templates, freebies, products, organizing processes, and databases - I did it all with a smile!

Having a website to represent my working environment seemed like a good idea, so I dropped everything I've been doing on the web and simply published a Notion page.

This past weekend, I turned that idea into reality.

This is how you do it.

I'm realizing this reads like sponsor content. It's not - just one crazy Notion lady in her element, sharing her journey. 'Tho having a free pro version would be neat...

The setup? Super simple, especially if you’re already a Notion user. You’ll need any paid plan (mine is $48/year). While you probably don’t need a guide, I skimmed the FAQs so you don’t have to. If you’re after a quick-and-dirty speed run, here’s the gist:

1. Pick or create a Notion page: Decide what you want to share—your workspace, portfolio, or anything else. Add your services, a portfolio using Gallery view, short description, maybe an email or a contact form, and you’re golden.?

Adjust the permissions: Make the page public by clicking "Share" button in the top right corner. You'll get something like this:

3. Recommendations (Here is the part where I stop you from spending any of your precious time. Speed run!)

• Turn ON Search engine indexing - do this if you want your site to be visible on search engines
• Set Link expiration to None - For your site to be published until you decide to remove it.
• Turn OFF Duplicate as a template - We don't want that here. It’s your page, not a template.

...and under Site customization

• Favicon - that little logo you see on web sites - add a logo if you have one. You can add anything you like, such as a photo of yourself if you’re going for a portfolio vibe.
• Header - the top part of the website, also known as “navigation”. Explore options and set whatever seems right for you. Don't overthink it. All of this is optional.

• Add your Google Analytics tag - it's free and easy to do. It's a small price to pay to be able to stalk your website visitors at 1 a.m. while drinking hot cocoa because you were sucked into the YouTube wormhole of "What did Lindsey Lohan do with her face to look normal again" type of videos. You can add this later on.
• Save, click Publish Changes and refresh your Notion page. (Ctrl+R or Cmd+R)
• Congratulations! You saved yourself from the trauma that comes from learning WordPress.

4. Using a custom domain: You can also connect your domain if you have an additional $96 lying around. A great option to have, make it official and professional.

I love that they've added the option to connect your domain, however, the price feels a bit high for what you actually get right now. I’m holding out for future features that might make me eager to part with my money. For now, I'm sticking to my cheap guns and keeping the OG notion.site domain. I’ve made a redirect from my consultancy domain for visitors with a bookmark.

What I Like

Creating a website in Notion is ridiculously easy - especially if you already feel at home in it. It’s quick to publish and even quicker to unpublish if you mess something up (goodbye, mistakes!). You always have a real-time preview of what your page looks like, and editing or moving things around is easy-peasy.

What I love the most is that my website now lives alongside the rest of my work-home in Notion ecosystem - my tasks, products, client notes, calendar, and more. Everything is in one place, which feels natural and organized. It’s an extension of how I already work which hits all sorts of spots in my book.

What I'm missing

Notion’s greatest strength - its structured simplicity - is also its limitation. I couldn’t do everything I envisioned, but honestly, I’m okay with that. The restrictions kept me focused and helped me stick to the Functionality > aesthetics mantra.

That said, there were a couple of pain points:

• Contact Form: Ideally, I wanted an embedded form, but that’s not possible (yet). I worked around it by linking an external form behind a "Contact Me" button. Functional, but not perfect.
• Social Media Previews: While Notion lets you customize how your page looks when shared on social media, it doesn’t display well when embedded. Fingers crossed for future updates on this front.

In the end, the simplicity of Notion is what keeps me hooked. Sure, it’s not as flashy as other website tools, but it works for me - and that’s all I need.

Wrap Up

I am happy with how it turned out. I already have a list of improvements I want to make, but for now, it does exactly what I need it to: it works. It feels like me. It’s functional, adaptable, and completely relevant to how I work.

Websites don’t have to be fancy and pricey to get the job done. They just need to work for you. If you are a startup, a small company, or a freelancer of any kind, I think this is a great option to consider. If you use Notion professionally, this is a clever way to showcase your skills.

Resources:

• Here is Notion's guide to their sites. You will find additional ideas on what you can use the sites for, internally or externally.
• This icon archive is my go-to place for pimpin' up my Notion pages. I like this fruit pack. I assign a fruit to each client and mark anything related to them with the same fruit. I also love this office pack for organizing client's in-house processes and databases.

Thanks for reading! You can also find me on Substack. If you feel inspired and decide to make your website using Notion, share it with me! I’d love to see it.