Integrating Obsidian with Your Blog Workflow

Obsidian has revolutionized how many of us take notes and manage knowledge. But what if you could seamlessly turn those notes into published blog posts? Let's explore how to create a powerful content creation workflow.

Why Obsidian for Blogging?

Obsidian offers unique advantages for bloggers:

• Bidirectional linking helps you discover connections between ideas
• Graph view visualizes your content relationships
• Templates streamline post creation
• Plugins extend functionality infinitely
• Local storage keeps your content under your control

Setting Up Your Obsidian Vault

Here's how I organize my Obsidian vault for blogging:

📁 Vault/
├── 📁 Blog/
│   ├── 📁 Published/
│   ├── 📁 Drafts/
│   └── 📁 Ideas/
├── 📁 Research/
├── 📁 Templates/
└── 📁 Archive/

Creating a Blog Post Template

Templates save time and ensure consistency. Here's my go-to blog post template:

---
title: "{{title}}"
date: {{date}}
tags: []
status: draft
---

## Introduction

## Main Points

### Point 1

### Point 2

### Point 3

## Conclusion

## References

The Publishing Workflow

Step 1: Write in Obsidian

Use Obsidian's powerful editing features to craft your post. Take advantage of:

• Live preview
• Vim mode (if that's your thing)
• Quick switcher for linking related notes

Step 2: Process Obsidian-Specific Syntax

Obsidian uses some special syntax that needs conversion:

• [[Internal Links]] → Regular markdown links
• ![[Embedded Notes]] → Inline content
• Tags: #blog #writing → Front matter tags

Step 3: Export to Your Blog

Simply copy your processed markdown file to your blog's content directory. The front matter transfers seamlessly!

Advanced Tips

Using Dataview for Content Management

The Dataview plugin can help you track your blog posts:

table title, date, status
from "Blog"
sort date desc

Automating with Templater

Create dynamic templates that auto-fill dates and generate slugs:

<%* 
const title = await tp.system.prompt("Post Title");
const slug = title.toLowerCase().replace(/\s+/g, '-');
const date = tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD");
-%>
---
title: "<% title %>"
slug: "<% slug %>"
date: <% date %>
---

Handling Images

For images in your Obsidian vault:

1. Store images in a dedicated folder
2. Use consistent naming conventions
3. Consider using Cloudinary or similar for hosting
4. Or reference images from Unsplash for quick placeholder images

Benefits I've Experienced

Since adopting this workflow:

• Writing speed increased 2x - No context switching
• Ideas flow naturally - Everything is interconnected
• Research is integrated - Notes become posts organically
• Version control - Git tracks everything

Challenges and Solutions

Challenge: Syncing Between Devices

Solution: Use Obsidian Sync or Git for version control

Challenge: Special Syntax Differences

Solution: Build a simple conversion script or use find-and-replace

Challenge: Image Management

Solution: Establish clear conventions and use cloud hosting

Conclusion

Integrating Obsidian into your blogging workflow transforms how you create content. Your notes naturally evolve into posts, your research feeds directly into your writing, and everything stays organized and searchable.

The key is starting simple and gradually adding complexity as you become comfortable with the workflow. Your blog becomes a natural extension of your thinking process.

What's your note-taking to blog workflow? I'd love to hear about your process!