The New Notion Sites Feature: Everything You Need to Know

Notion, the comprehensive productivity and note-taking platform we all love, has evolved into an even more powerful tool with its latest feature: Notion Sites. This new addition allows us to publish websites directly from their Notion pages, offering a simple and efficient way to create web content.

In this article, we will delve deeply into Notion Sites, exploring its features, limitations, pricing, and the potential benefits of using a dedicated website builder like Simple.ink.

Notion is Officially a Website Builder

The launch of Notion Sites marks a significant expansion of Notion's capabilities.

Initially designed as a productivity and collaboration tool, Notion has now positioned itself as a versatile website builder.

This feature allows users to transform their Notion pages into fully functional websites, making it an ideal solution for personal portfolios, business websites, project hubs, and more​.

Basically Notion now is competing with the likes like Wordpress, Webflow, Wix, Squarespace and friends.

How to Publish a Notion Site

So let's see how we can create a Notion site.

But don't worry, publishing a site with Notion is remarkably user-friendly.

Here are the steps:

Step 1: Create Your Page:

First step first. If you want to publish a page to the web, first you must create it. Here you have two options:

1. Create the page/pages yourself
2. Use a Notion Website Template.

Browse the Simple.Ink Website Template Library Here.

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Step 2: Share & Publish

When your page is ready and you want to share it to the world, follow the following steps:

1. Select Share at the top right corner.
2. Open the Publish tab.
3. Select Publish.

After that you'll have a couple of different options that we'll discuss next.

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Step 3: Customize

While this new site feature from Notion is a really good step in the right direction, the customization options are still very limited. Let's see what you can do, what the features does Notion Sites have.

Notion Sites Features

Custom Domain Support

The first option you see is the domain selector. With a free account you can use one notion.site domain for your website. If you want to use your custom domain, it get's trickier, but we'll discuss this later at pricing.

Basic SEO Settings - Search Engine Indexing

This option allows you to decide if you want Google to crawl your website or not. Do you want your website to findable on Google and under search engines or not. If you turn on this setting, you'll be able to change your Site Title & Description for Google Search.

Link Expiration

If you want to share something only temporary, this feature can be very useful. You can set a date or period for how much time you want your website to be live and publicly available.

Share Preview

Now, moving on to the Site customization menu, the first thing you can do is changing the image that will show up when you share your website on Social Media, like Facebook, or Linkedin.

Theme

Next, you can choose how users can will see your webpage: Light, Dark or Auto (based on their systems preference)

Favicon

You can choose a Favicon image - The little icon that shows up in the bookmarks bar for the visitor

Header Options

If you go to the header menu you have a couple of more options there

1. Turn on/off breadcrumbs
2. Turn on/off Search
3. Turn on/off duplicate option
4. Build a Navigation: You can add multiple pages to your website, thus creating a complex site, with navigation

Google Analytics

You can add your Google Analytics code so that you can see advanced analytics of your website's traffic

Notion Sites Limitations

As previously mentioned, while Notion Sites is a big step in the right direction, it is still in an early stage and it is still very limited. Officially Notion is a website builder too, but if you want to create a quality website using Notion, you will still need a Notion Website Builder, like Simple.ink

Here is why Notion Sites are not ready (YET):

• Limited Design Customization: Compared to traditional website builders, Notion’s customization options are more limited. You may find it challenging to achieve highly unique designs. Things like aesthetic menus, site logo, dropdown menu are still missing.
• Performance Concerns: Notion Sites may experience slower load times because Notion is not optimized specifically for web hosting.
• Lack of Advanced Features: Advanced website features such as password or email protect a page, advanced SEO settings, and many more are missing. For sure Notion will come with more and more features in the future, but for now, you are still better off with a website builder like Simple.ink
• High Pricing: As you will see below, pricing for a Notion website is very steep if you want custom domain, that is no justified considering the features you'll get. Basically you'll need like $20/month for a very limited, basic website to operate.

These limitations suggest that while Notion Sites is powerful, it may not meet the needs of all users, particularly those requiring more sophisticated web functionalities.

If you feel like you would like to host your website in Notion, but the listed features are not enough, check out our Notion Website Builder: Simple.Ink

Notion Sites Pricing

Publishing a page on Notion is free, but if you want to create a proper website, the pricing gets out of control pretty quickly. Here are the different tiers you can choose from:

Free plan

Free plans include the ability to:

• Publish an unlimited number of Notion Sites.
• Claim one notion.site domain.
• Turn on search engine indexing for your Sites.

Paid plans

Plus, Business, and Enterprise plans include the ability to:

• Publish an unlimited number of Notion Sites.
• Claim up to five notion.site domains.
• Set a Homepage for your domains.
• Customize your Notion Sites.
• Integrate your Notion Sites with Google Analytics.
• Optionally connect up to 25 existing custom domains with Notion Sites.

This means that in order to have access to the Notion Sites features you'll need at least a Pro plan, that is $12/month.

Custom domain add-on pricing

Unfortunately for all of us, custom domains are a separate addon that needs to be purchased, and paid on a monthly basis. Only people on paid plans have access to buy custom domains, that will set you back $10/month/domain. That means that for each custom domain you want to use with Notion Sites, you’ll have to purchase a separate custom domain add-on.

Notion Sites are Not CHEAP

To sum up, if you want to create a proper website in Notion, you'll need a Pro plan for $12 and an extra $10 for your custom domain.

That means $22/month for your website to operate.

While that is not a big price point, for its limited customizability and functionality I guess it is a little steep.

Of course you can get a cheaper price by paying annually. This way your monthly cost would be $18 ($10 for Pro plan & $8 for the custom domain).

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Why Build a Website in Notion

So we discussed the features and the pricing of this new Notion Sites feature, but after all, why is it worth it to build your website in Notion.

You already know Notion

First of all, you probably already know and love Notion. It just makes sense to create a website in a tool that you are already familiar with, instead of learning a new tool just for that purpos.

Everything in One Place

Secondly, we all dream of managing everything in one place. If you already use Notion, why deal with yet another tool, when you can have your digital presence managed inside your Notion setup tool. If you already work in Notion all day long, why not publish your great new articles from inside your Notion too?

Why Use a Notion Website Builder

As I mentioned a couple of times already in this article, Notion Sites is a great new feature, but in my opinion is still not ready to be used on it's own. If you want to create a proper website in Notion, for less money, you can use a Notion website builder, like Simple.ink.

Simple.ink is all about ease of use and speed. You can literally publish your first simple.ink website in under a minute. All you need to do is to paste your shared Notion page link in to simple.ink, choose. your domain name, and you're live.

3 Reasons to Build Your Notion Site with Simple.Ink:

• Advanced Customization: Simple.ink provides more robust design tools, enabling users to create highly customized and professional-looking websites.
• Improved Performance: Optimized hosting ensures faster load times and better overall performance.
• Additional Features: Simple.ink offers features such as custom menus, password protection, email-protected pages, and advanced SEO tools, which are not available in basic Notion Sites​

Best Notion Website Templates

Now that we decided that building a website in Notion is a good idea, and using Simple.Ink alongside it is even better, let's see how you can create your dream Notion website. Instead of building your Notion page from scratch, you can start by trying out a template.

Whether you want to launch a simple blog, put your CV out there, create a portfolio or build a complex website for your business, for sure there is a template out there that can help you. (And for sure more and more will start popping out from now on)

You can browse Simple.Ink's template library here: simple.ink/notion-templates

You can also get Limitless Notion's Website template pack here: danielmarthi.gumroad.com/l/websitetemplatepack

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I create a website using Notion for free?

‍Yes, you can create and publish a website using Notion’s free plan. However, for additional customization and advanced features, a paid plan is required.

How do I enhance my Notion website’s appearance?

‍You can enhance your Notion website’s appearance by using services like Simple.ink which offers additional design tools and features.

What types of websites can I build with Notion?

‍Notion is versatile enough for personal portfolios, business sites, project hubs, and more. The limit is set only by your creativity.

Is Notion Sites suitable for e-commerce?

‍No, at least not yet. Notion Sites does not currently support e-commerce features. For e-commerce, you would need a more specialized platform.

Can I use a custom domain with Notion Sites?

‍Yes, you can use a custom domain, but it requires a Notion paid plan for $12 pe month, plus an additional fee of $10 per month.

How do I get started with a Notion Site?

‍Start by designing your page in Notion, then use the "Share to web" option to publish it. For enhanced features, consider using a service like Simple.ink​

Conclusion

Notion Sites offers an exciting new way to create and publish web content directly from Notion.

While it provides a user-friendly and integrated approach to website building, it does have some limitations.

For users seeking more advanced features and customization options, dedicated Notion website builders like Simple.ink are highly recommended.

Explore the possibilities of Notion Sites and decide which tool best suits your needs for your next web project.

For further details, refer to the official Notion help pages and recent tech news articles about Notion Sites

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