Running one blog is manageable. Running three or four simultaneously — each with its own domain, hosting setup, content calendar, ad revenue stream, and performance metrics — is a different kind of operational challenge. Most multi-blog operators end up with spreadsheets for each site, a calendar tool for scheduling, a separate analytics dashboard per platform, and a notes app where content ideas live until they are acted on or forgotten. Nothing connects. The picture of what is happening across the whole portfolio requires assembling from five different sources.
The Blogging Websites Business Management template consolidates all of that into one Notion workspace. This is a full walkthrough of how it works.
The Blogging Websites Business Management template is available at createdigitaltools.com. You need a free Notion account to duplicate it into your workspace.
The Multi-Blog Management Problem
The challenge with multiple blogs is not content creation — most multi-blog operators are experienced writers. The challenge is operational coherence. Which site is due for a new post this week? Which domain renewal is coming up next month? Which site’s ad revenue dipped last month and why? Which content idea belongs to which site’s niche? These questions require data from multiple sources to answer, and the time spent gathering that data accumulates into hours that should go toward writing and growing.
A centralised Notion workspace with connected databases answers all of those questions from one place — with data that is always current because it lives in the same system as the work being done, not in a separate reporting tool maintained sporadically.
The Domain and Site Inventory Database
The foundation of the template is the Sites database. One row per blog or website. Properties: Site Name, Domain, Niche (Select), Platform (Select: WordPress, Ghost, Webflow, Squarespace, Substack, Blogger, Custom), Hosting Provider, Domain Registrar, Domain Renewal Date, Hosting Renewal Date, Monthly Traffic (number — updated manually or via integration), Monetisation (Multi-Select: Display Ads, Affiliate, Sponsored Posts, Digital Products, Services), Status (Select: Active, Parked, In Development, For Sale), and a Monthly Revenue number.
The Renewal Alerts view — filtered to Domain Renewal Date or Hosting Renewal Date within the next sixty days — surfaces upcoming renewals before they become urgent. Domain expiry is the kind of operational failure that happens through oversight rather than intention. The filter makes it impossible to overlook.
Rollup properties on each Site record show total posts published, total revenue for the current period, and total ad impressions — all pulling from linked databases. Open any site and the full performance picture is already calculated.
The Content Ideas and Scheduling Database
One row per content piece per site. Properties: Title (working title), Site (Relation to the Sites database), Status (Select: Idea, Outline, Draft, Review, Published), Target Keyword (text), Target Publish Date, Word Count Goal, Actual Word Count, Author (Person), and Affiliate Opportunities (text — relevant affiliate programs to work into the post).
The Calendar view filtered by Site shows the publishing schedule for any specific blog as a visual calendar. Switch the filter to All Sites to see the combined publishing schedule across every blog you manage — immediately surfacing weeks where multiple sites need content versus weeks where one site dominates and others go quiet. The Board view grouped by Status shows the content pipeline across all sites in Kanban format — what is in draft, what is in review, what is scheduled.
The Ideas Bank view — filtered to Status equals Idea with no Publish Date — is where content ideas live before being scheduled. When planning a site’s content for the coming month, open the Ideas Bank filtered to that site and pull ideas into the calendar. Nothing gets lost and nothing expires unacted on.
The content calendar architecture inside the Blogging template is built on the same foundation described in Post 27 of this series — Build a Content Calendar in Notion. If you want to understand the underlying mechanics before exploring the template, that post covers every view and workflow in detail. The blogging template extends that foundation with site-specific filters, keyword tracking, and revenue attribution per post.
The Revenue and Ad Tracking Database
One row per revenue entry. Properties: Site (Relation), Revenue Type (Select: Display Ads, Affiliate Commission, Sponsored Post, Digital Product Sale, Service Fee), Amount, Month (date — set to the first of the relevant month for grouping), Network or Source (text — Google AdSense, Mediavine, specific affiliate program), and Notes.
The By Site view groups all revenue entries by Site with Sum calculations showing total revenue per site — making the revenue ranking of your portfolio visible at a glance. The By Month view groups entries by Month with Sum calculations showing total portfolio revenue per period — the metric that tells you whether the portfolio is growing. The By Revenue Type view shows which monetisation channels are performing — useful for deciding where to invest effort across the portfolio.
Rollup properties on the Sites database sum the current month’s revenue per site automatically. The Sites table with Monthly Revenue visible in a column becomes a live portfolio dashboard — sorted by revenue descending, the highest-earning sites always at the top, requiring no manual update.
The Hosting and Technical Tracker
A Hosting and Technical database tracks everything operational about each site: server performance issues, plugin update notes, SSL certificate status, CDN configuration, backup schedule, and uptime monitoring status. One row per site, updated when something changes. This database exists not for daily use but for the quarterly operational review — ensuring that the technical foundation of each site remains current and that nothing critical is being neglected because it is not visible in the day-to-day workflow.
The Affiliate and Sponsorship Tracker
One row per affiliate program or sponsorship relationship. Properties: Program Name, Commission Rate or Flat Fee, Payment Threshold, Payment Frequency, Sites it applies to (Relation to Sites), Total Earned to Date, and Status (Active, Paused, Terminated). A separate view filtered to programs approaching their payment threshold surfaces upcoming affiliate payouts — useful for cash flow planning and for ensuring payment details are current before payouts trigger.
For bloggers who also manage freelance writing or consulting work alongside their owned blogs, the Blogging template connects naturally to the Freelance Management System template. The two can sit alongside each other in the same Notion workspace — the blogging system managing owned content and revenue, the freelance system managing client work and invoicing — giving a complete picture of the writing business in one workspace.
Setting Up for the First Time
After duplicating the template, start with the Sites database — add one row per blog with the domain, platform, and renewal dates filled in immediately. Then add the three to five most important content ideas currently in your head to the Content database linked to the relevant sites. Then enter last month’s revenue per site into the Revenue database. After thirty minutes of setup, the dashboard already reflects a real version of your portfolio — and every day you use the system it becomes more accurate and more useful.
The Blogging Websites Business Management template is available at createdigitaltools.com. Start with a free Notion account, duplicate the template, and have your portfolio visible in one workspace within an hour of setup.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you sign up for Notion through the links in this post, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Blogging Websites Business Management template is our own product.
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