Save Time with Content Batching

We all have big dreams, yet a limited amount of time. What if I told you there was a way to maximize your time and your content? Well there is, and it’s called Content Batching.

What is content batching?

Content batching is the practice of doing a month’s worth of content (or more) in a shorter period of time such as within a day or within a week. Content batching can be done with written, video graphed, or photographed content. For example, I tend to write several blog posts in one day and schedule them to post throughout the month.

Why is it important?

Content batching is important because it allows you to stay consistent when you otherwise wouldn’t feel like it. Imagine after a long day of work you had to force yourself to write a blog post to stay on schedule. You’re much less likely to stay consistent because there’s an extreme amount of resistance towards writing that post. Now on the other hand, imagine after a long day of work you got to relax and do nothing because you already wrote and scheduled the post to come out at a certain day and time. There’s no resistance there and you’re much more likely to continue with your blog. That being said, content batching has its pros and cons.

Pros

Minimal effort towards consistency
Easier link building (Unfamiliar with Link Building? Check out this blog post.)
Planned partnerships
More free time

Cons

More effort upfront
Non flexible content schedule

Steps for batching content efficiently:

Before I go over the steps it’s vital I tell you to finish each step completely before moving on to the next! This makes everything extremely efficient and you don’t have to waste energy going back and forward between steps.

Step 1: Brainstorm

This step is a lot easier to do if you use the “A year’s worth of content” template from the Small Business Toolbox, but if you don’t like easy free resources here’s what you do. Take a sheet of paper and write topics that have similar keywords. (Pro tip: When you create content with similar keywords it increases your rankings on Google, because it shows you have authority over the topic. This also works with YouTube!) Pick 5 topics, preferably 1 that you can have an affiliate product for and 4 supporting articles, then move to the next step.

Step 2: Outline

When outlining your content make sure you’re answering commonly asked questions. For example, if you’re creating content about iPhone film making. You would answer things such as: Is there a special way to film? How would I set it up? What settings are best?

You get the point. Write out the questions and make sure you answer them in your content.

Step 3: Create

The fun part! Write the post, film the video, or take the photos. Whatever you do, do it in bulk without editing until the next step.

Step 4: Edit

Look at your content and make edits until it’s what you want it to be. (Pro tip: have someone else look over it to make sure things aren’t misspelled or put together weird.)

Step 5: Schedule

Schedule your content based on your content calendar. There’s a resource in the Small Business Toolbox that can help you do this if you don’t currently have a content schedule yet.

Key Takeaways