As we wrap up Blogging 101, set yourself up for good blogging habits and engaged readers with a regular feature.
One of the best ways to inspire loyalty is to publish regularly. And the best ways to make sure you publish regularly is with a recurring feature — it’s like making a pact with yourself and your audience.
Today’s assignment: develop a regular feature for your blog.
Why do this?
- Creating a regular feature means your readers have something specific to wait for at regular intervals — it gives your blog a hook.
- It’s always a good idea to work on healthy blogging habits, and regular features help you stay on track.
We’re all creatures of habit, bloggers and readers. Adding a recurring feature — or simply planning posts at regular intervals — helps your writing stay sustainable. Even a purely personal blog of random musings benefits from a hint of structure. When you go serial, you ensure a steady stream of content.
Not sure what kind of feature will work for you? Look at previous posts to see what resonates with readers. Dip your toes into your stats page — some posts are like-magnets, others generate lively discussion, others get shared on Facebook, and some are unicorns that get all three. Choose one you find meaningful, and spin that into a feature.
Some of you are already toying with the idea of publishing a regular post rounding up your favorite reads of the week. That’s fantastic — and a smart, time-efficient feature idea to boot. What other options do you have? We’re glad you asked.
- A weekly photo post (or even better: a weekly photo gallery post).
- A monthly Q & A with one of your blogging buddies.
- A Music Monday, featuring the song that rocked your weekend.
- A Flavor Friday dedicated to the recipe you experimented with over the previous week.
Your features don’t have to alliterate: a Tuesday Rant is just as good as Snarky Sunday. If a weekly commitment is too much, that’s fine: a monthly book review or current events-inspired reflection works just fine. Or devote a day — weekly, bi-weekly, monthly — to unleash the latest installment in your long-term fiction project (or senior thesis, or memoir).
Unless you want to, in which case: shoehorn away!
Whatever feature you decide on, it should fit into your blog. We’re not asking you to shoehorn a weekly photo into your poetry blog, or a post about food into your book review site. The topic and type of feature should be something that makes sense giving your blog’s focus and your blogging goals.
Once you decide on a feature, publish (or schedule) the first installment. If you’re not ready, publish a post announcing the feature to let your readers know what to expect, when. Once you’ve got a few installments in the bag, add a menu item or widget to highlight your feature.
Not sure about your feature idea? Head to The Commons to chat.
Hey, everyone — Blogging 101 is almost done! We’ll have a weekend post tomorrow for folks who want to do more, and a final task on Monday.
After the final task, The Commons will remain open for one week, until Monday, October 13. At that point, we’ll turn off the ability to post or comment, but the site will remain up as a continual reference for you.
If you’re ready to keep going, Blogging 201 starts on Monday, October 20. Sign up is now open!
I am definitely going to incorporate this idea! As my blog does not cover a specific topic I think it’s a great idea to have at least one recurring theme. Hmmmm, now to figure out what it will be… 🙂
http://fillyourownglass.wordpress.com
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Looks like I’m going to have a Friday message each week for my followers! Drop on by and exchanges follows 🙂
http://www.LongMondays.wordpress.com
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WAHHHhooo mister. I love your blogs layout/theme. Feels so official and fancy. But your “LongMonday” site name is what got me to click 🙂
P.S. Your “Keep Me Updated” Button for followers is hidden, so I can’t see it unless I hover over it. But i’m now following!
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This seems like a good idea to me! I would have written something there, but can’t find your Friday messages?? Anyway, I follow you too now. Do stop by and maybe follow back. 🙂
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My site is based on FEATURES. Great topic! check it out.
http://www.featuredemagazine.com
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You’ve got a pretty good website, looks like you’ve been blogging for awhile! great job!!
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Have been thinking all day about this and then came on here and what do ya know! Right here like a sign that I should totally do it! 🙂
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Your header with the photos in the name is awesome! I commented on your makeup post- thanks for the tips. You could probably incorporate that into your regular feature. You are off to a great start! 🙂
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Thank you so much! It took me forever to figure out how to create it, but I am very happy with it! I have been looking through your blog and the content is great! So interesting and making me self reflect haha! I will be visiting !
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make a point of posting something daily until the repetitive function becomes a habit
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The twelve of the month was hard for the first ten months after our son died. But then I decided to be thankful on the twelve for getting to be his mom for 20 years. So now I post “12 Things I am Thankful for on the 12th” each month. I also post about praying scripture on the first of each month.
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That sounds like a beautiful tribute to your son’s memory.
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That is a very amazing one – very very thoughtful.
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I am thinking of a food for friday post. I am thinking of sharing wordpress food blog posts because they have photos, if you can let me know of any good food blogs to follow that would be awesome!
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You can try food as a tag on your reader?
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Check out my foodblog out if you’d like 🙂 Didn’t really know how to say it slyly, so I thought I’d just be blunt!
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Here are some places to start:
https://wordpress.com/blog/2014/03/28/great-food-blogs/
https://wordpress.com/blog/2013/11/27/food-blogs-roundup/
https://wordpress.com/dailypost/2012/06/06/focus-on-food-blogs/
https://wordpress.com/dailypost/2013/07/02/food-photography-1/
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I love this idea, thank you for sharing!
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Thank you for the tips!! Very helpful!
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I’ve had a regular posting schedule — twice a week — for a while now. I think that’s enough to be going on with at the moment. Here’s the Friday post: http://rhodainmanila.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/small-changes/
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I forgot to mention the schedule is every Tuesday and Friday. 😉
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Thanks for the great suggestion! Just posted an image gallery. Much appreciated!
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Great idea! I will work on it and try to incorporate something into my blog. Tips like this help us new bloggers to learn more about this blogging world. Thanks again.
–Ruchi
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I love this! My blog is random, but I began a featured titled “Faces”, which are photos of inanimate objects that resemble the human face. It keeps the blog fun and light, and represents the lighter side of my personality.
http://optimisticmisfit.com/category/photo-fridays/faces/
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Fun idea! 🙂
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Indeed a fun idea! Hope you find a lot of interesting “faces”.
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Such a great idea! I’m always noticing these things and chuckling to myself. I like it.
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I already try to post the Weekly Photo Challenge on Friday but I think a Tasty Tuesday might be on order now. Just a little feature about cooking and ingredients. Good idea , thanks!
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a new blogger…. wrote my first post yesterday.. would definitely incorporate the recurring stuff 🙂
https://knowyourselfwidpri.wordpress.com
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Welcome 🙂
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My weekly feature is “I Love Series” – sharing of all pretty things I find online with a central theme every Friday. This brings upon my blog name, The Friday Rejoicer. Today is a Friday and my “I Love Series” is on Seashells. Check it up at http://alittletypical.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/i-love-seashells-part-ii/
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Perfect idea! Ever since I started my blog, I’ve been thinking about doing something like this, but I never knew what I could do it about… This post has given me some great ideas! Check out my blog to see what’s going to be new real soon! 😀 Thanks!
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Great tips!!
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I have never had a consistent feature because I never knew what I should write about consistently. But then I realised my blog is about self-improvement, so I should really do a monthly post showing how I improved. It’s taken a while but eventually the inspiration comes along.
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This post raises a good point on how to keep things interesting. It has motivated me to continue expressing myself and updating new writing every week. To all who are curious stop by and read a piece or two. Cheers
http://titusandfire.wordpress.com
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I decided to make a weekly photogalleries, as the first my venetian attempt was very successful. Today it’s all about street art http://tantoverde.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/clet-abraham-signs-across-rome-milan-and-brussels/
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I’ve started a My Week in Pictures? I thought not only would it give the blog some structure but that it would make the blog more personable. What do you think?
http://supperinthesuburbs.wordpress.com/?s=my+week+in+pictures
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thanks so much!! this post was helpful!
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This is very topical. I have an alternative-music review blog and decided this morning that I’d make a weekly playlist entry to share my favourite songs of the week.
http://testwood.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/weekly-playlist-october-10th-2014/
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i like that
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Hi All,
I’ve instated a TED Talk Thursday within which I embed a TED talk that relates to happiness, purpose, goals or growth and write a bit about it. Let me know what you think:
http://thegirlinlongshorts.com/2014/10/02/ted-talk-thursday-i-am-enough/
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Such a great idea and aligns nicely with your blog topic! There are so many TED talks out that there it can be overwhelming. It’s quite useful to have someone break it down. I’m following. 🙂
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I’d been racking my brain trying to come up with a feature that felt authentic to my site. I think I finally came up with something I’ll debut next week. It’s something I’d been wanting to do and this just gave me the push I needed. I’m excited!
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I’ve been having so much fun with my first blog, I started a second. @.@ I have no idea what kind of regular feature would work on my primary blog http://writeoutofthedarkness.wordpress.com/
but… I am going to try “Five Minute Fiction Fridays” on my 2nd blog “All of the Earth” (Creating something out of nothing reference.)http://allthisearth.wordpress.com/category/the-most-powerful-force-available-to-humanity/five-minute-fiction-friday/
Criticism, critiques and suggestions are very welcome!
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I am going to try a weekly Friday event of sorts. If you love adorable dogs you might like Furry Baby Friday.
http://angielizandre.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/furry-baby-friday/
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Awesome! This is something that i’m definitely going to take into consideration. 🙂 Also, check out my new post. It’s hot and fresh so handle with caution. 😉 http://wp.me/p4R0u1-aM
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