Boosting productivity is an essential goal for many ecommerce businesses and online entrepreneurs. Many of us know that by keeping it simple and focusing all our efforts on one thing at a time, we will streamline our outputs and achieve great results. 

But how many of us actually do this?  In reality, probably not many of us!

However, one of the amazing productivity and business growth hacks we love to use consistently in our business is - creating content in batches.

So why does batching content work?

Multitasking is not always the best thing

Multitasking can be great in other areas of life, like when you sit on a train and read at the same time. However, when it comes to creating content and any form of creative marketing and sales copy, multitasking can be distracting and results in a lot of down time.

 Just think how long it takes you to switch between programmes and internet pages, or get up from your desk and move to the next area in which you have to work.

Often, when we switch our attention from task to task, our creative mindset ends up getting distracted or interrupted, whether it's answering the phone or scrolling back through social media. This is particularly true for most entrepreneurs during hard-going content production tasks like creating a written blog post.

This downtime experienced when we swap between tasks is so real that is has a name - it is called "the cost of switching". 

There have been numerous scientific studies which prove that there is a genuine time impact experienced when we switch from task to task.  Estimates are that it takes between 15 minutes to 30 minutes for entrepreneurs to re-focus back onto the task they were originally working on - that's how long it takes to get back into our "flow" state. 

Can you imagine the compound effect of that if you are constantly "switching" tasks throughout the day? Exactly. This has an even bigger impact on your business if you ARE the business and you have a tiny team. 

Focusing on ONE thing at a time accelerates progress

When you sit and focus on ONE thing, it is simply more efficient. With your attention focused, naturally, you will be achieving your best results, quicker.

So when it comes to batch creating content - the time and accelerator benefits become clear.  You can use this knowledge in a number of ways. For example why not;

• batch create all your blog article titles for the next month in a 1 hour session (set a timer!)
• batch create all your outlines for those articles in another session
• set aside a day when it's all about creating the written content for your blog articles or podcast or other creative endeavour. 
• set aside time when you schedule the release of all your content over the next month.

No distractions. No fuss.  Just simple, focused time dedicated to achieving your content creation goals. 

Batching allows you to become ultra focused on the messages that will resonate with your audience, focused on quality content production and will help you stay in full entrepreneurial flow. 

Creating content consistently over time is challenging

When you need to consistently publish new content, it can prove difficult to think of and create new content on time, to a set schedule. Even more so when you are already pushed for time - most entrepreneurs struggle to release new content on a consistent basis whether that is daily, weekly or monthly.

But achieving consistency in content production for an online business, is fundamental to success.

When you do rush content, your audience will be the first to tell you in open rates and site visit stats.  Keeping to a regular drumbeat of content production becomes even more challenging when you haven’t planned ahead and are just winging it each week. The pressure builds.

So content creation should always be carefully planned and thought of ahead of time. It also needs to be released in a regular drum beat pattern, so your audience can keep pace with you.  That's where the real power of batching content comes in to save you!

Batching your content means production can get ahead

When you batch create your content, you are also clearly getting ahead. 

You can set up and schedule in advance when that content gets released over the next month or few months, and you are not constantly having to cover that work off each day.  Your time suddenly becomes free for you to focus on other, more strategic, business-building activities.  

When you sit and focus on content creation in one go, you also end up producing well thought out, high quality content, which will inevitably propel your business forward. Quality matters if you want to become an authority in your field and quality takes time. 

When you batch create your content, it reduces the pressure on you as the originator of that content.  You will always have a batch happily prepared in advance and you can avoid the stress that comes with last minute creation.

Make It Happen In Your Business

Now you can see why not only does batch content work, but it helps to accelerate your business and boost your overall productivity.  You serve your audience better when your content is created consistently and with a quality standard you are proud to share. Give it a go; it will change your business’ life for the better.

Next Steps:

• Take some time at the beginning of each month and block out a unit of time where you can batch create your content for the rest of the month.
• Make an effort to identify and focus on the ONE task each day that will help to accelerate your business and boost productivity. 
• Read The ONE Thing by Gary Keller from our recommended reading list for entrepreneurs - it's all about focusing on ONE thing at a time to improve your productivity and success results.