One of the most viewed and commented on posts I create are my weekly Sunday Morning Coffee roundups. I started the column on whim, as a way to share posts I loved throughout the week with all of you, and push myself to connect with and read other blogs. Through the SMC column, my blog has grown, a community has developed through comments and social media, and I think I’ve gotten to shine light on so many amazing bloggers that I love.
Featured columns, ones that you create on a consistent basis, are great ways to develop your content and give your readers something to look forward too. It’s one less post idea that you have to struggle with coming up with, which gives you one more day to find new creative posts to add in between columns.
Before you decide to create a new column, here are some things you’ll have to consider:
– How often will you feature your column?
– How much planning ahead will you have to do, and do you have time to do it? (For Sunday Morning Coffee, I gather links from Monday-Saturday, and write the post Saturday evening.)
– Will you collaborate with other bloggers? I love the Between Lenses column collaboration between Latrina and Tara.
Your column can focus on anything: links you’ve bookmarked over the week, trends your loving or photos you’ve snapped. I’m most drawn to the features that give me a peek into the way the blogger sees the world.
There are two new columns I am working to add to the blog. Coming up with the ideas for them was simple enough, I just pulled from things I’m interested in and know that I can create posts around for an extended period of time. Forming them and preparing them for launch has been different. This is how I’m working on bringing these two columns to life, and how you can work to create your own feature columns!
01 / Give it a name!
Rather than call it your ‘Weekly ‘X’ Column,’ come up with a creative name that readers can recognize and that you can make your own. When you go to share you post, having a bold and different name will allow your post to stand out even among similar features.
02 / Schedule it out.
Like I mentioned before, you will have to decide how often you will feature your column. Sunday Morning Coffee is weekly, but one of the other features I’m creating will likely be bi-weekly and the other just a few times per month. Other bloggers feature their columns only monthly. You will want to be conscious of how often you plan to post your feature so that you have time to gather information, create and promote it.
03 / Create a visual
Just as you brand yourself and your blog, you can brand your feature as well. Create some sort of template for the fonts and imagery that you will use to 1) save yourself time and 2) create consistency for when your post is shared over social media -especially Pinterest!
04 / Post and share it!
Once you’ve laid out all of the foundational steps, go ahead and post and share your new column. Don’t worry about how many page views or shares you’re getting at first, just remain consistent and be confident in what you create!
[Tweet “Create and build community on your blog through creating feature columns”]
If you’re stuck on creating an idea for a feature column, here are a few ideas! [one-half-first]- Create a roundup of your favorite links from the week
– Interview other bloggers or creatives
– Showcase your favorite Instagrams
– Create a post of your favorite Pins
[/one-half-first] [one-half]- Some favorite products or tools you’ve used
– Your favorite apps or blogging tools
– A list of your latest finds (clothes, tech, beauty)
– A creative collaboration with another blogger or creative!
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Do you have any featured columns on your blog? What steps did you take in creating them?
I used to do Font Friday for like 3 years and just stopped a few months ago. I like things like this, but I try to not do it the same day because I tend to think expecting something to happen always gets boring, but I LOVE your coffee sundays never stop 🙂 and yea the name rocks.
I’ve gone through your old Font Friday posts before and found some amazing finds! I’m so glad that you enjoy Sunday Morning Coffee posts, I love them too and don’t think I’ll stop doing them anytime soon 🙂
You know, I’m just now actually seeing the potential of these types of posts. I’ve been doing weekend reading off and on for a while, but I’ve been thinking about doing it a little more often. It’s not only great because it’s one less post to worry about, but promoting others’ posts is a really great way to build relationships!
I never realized how impactful they could be until I really took note of the sky rocket of page views I’d get after my Sunday Morning Coffee posts went up! And I agree, I’ve met so many awesome bloggers through sharing links on Sundays 🙂
This is such an interesting blog post. I can totally see why these featured posts would be a big hit. Even just the name of Sunday Morning Coffee sounds so calming and relaxing. I’ve been thinking about doing something with the same essence of this so this might be the push to do it.
Oh no! I really enjoyed this post, but when I clicked on the “Sunday Morning Coffee” link, it took me to an error page. 🙁 I love the name for your featured column, though! Sounds so relaxing!
I love this because I am really thinking about doing a column so this was perfect.
Hi Amber, I was on the #ellechat (yesterday) and you tweeted about creating a feature column for blogs. I found your post about feature columns, great post I love this idea and think this would be perfect to implement on my blog. Thanks for sharing.