Jul 28, 2013 / Community Pool

Community Pool

Community Pool

The Community Pool is for those of you looking for input, whether on post ideas, writing, blog design and layout, or anything else. If you have a post, page, or idea you want to bounce off someone, leave a comment. Your fellow bloggers can then click through and offer input either on your site, or in the comments here (feel free to indicate which you’d prefer).

Read on for the ground rules and to leave a comment . . .

  • You’ll get the best feedback if you can be as specific as possible about what you’d like people to respond to or where you’re struggling.
  • Please keep all comments civil and constructive. We’re here to help and support one another, not to beat anyone down.
  • If you haven’t looked at our Commenting Guidelines in a while, now might be a good time.
  • To keep from losing your place in the comment thread while you visit others’ blogs, right-click on a link to open it in a new tab or window.
  • No running on the deck.

Photo by t_a_i_s.

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    1. Your blog’s home page is an empty “About” page. I found your posts by clicking on the archives for July 2013, but that’s not the first place I looked. (And, honestly, few visitors will take the time to look.) If you want to keep the “About” page as your entry point, you need to add some information there and then rename the “home” link in your header to “Blog.” Or you could just have your blog as the home page.

      The page called “Shukriyah’s Cogitation’s” is also empty (and has an unnecessary apostrophe in the second word.)

      Also, I can decipher the tagline but it’s difficult.

      But the poetry is perfectly fine. (I wish I could see a larger view of that one picture, though.) Problem is, few people will find it on your blog without some changes.

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      1. Hi there
        firstly i would like to thank you for taking the time to read some of my work,it is very much appreciated 🙂

        you stated that ‘very few visitors will take the time to look’? is that because my blog is in archive? (which i had no knowledge of, im still quite new to this)
        if yes how would i be able to take it out of there?

        as for the about page and the empty page,thank you i fixed them both up.

        and as for the tagline,slightly confused..what do you mean?

        lastly still trying to make that picture bigger,lol bear with me

        once again thank you for your help and tips!

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      2. First off, I say that “few visitors will take the time to look” because people have lots of things to do with their time. If they can’t find your blog content immediately, they’ll move on. There’s nothing wrong with having the archive link; most blogs have one. I’d recommend making your blog content your home page; there’s not enough on your “About” page to have that be your blog’s entry point (like it is now).

        And let’s say that the tagline could be phrased better. Maybe just cut it to “I’m in the gray area.” Or, tell us what you’re in the gray area of; that might help readers know what your blog is about.

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      3. so i have gotten rid of the ”About Page’,but it looks strange to me.
        From someone viewing it from the outside in, is the blog content now my home page or?

        As for the extra bits of details i have missed,i understand i just prefer not to spread every little detail to do with me in it.i like to leave a little bit of anonymity

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      4. Your content is not on your home page. Right now, your home page is an error message.

        Go to your dashboard. Then, click on appearance —–> customize in the gray bar on the left. In the blue bar that appears on the right, you should see the option “Front.” Click that and select “Your latest posts” from the menu.

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      5. Okay sir i think i have finally done it.
        All appearing on the front page?
        i redid the picture one also and enlarged it
        bless you for your patience lol

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      7. Which i must give you all the credit!

        last but not least,i didnt want to write poetry pieces that only i could read so i added tags (so i think) lol could you please view one of my pieces and see if i have done it so correctly?

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      8. I don’t think you need the # in front of your tags, but it looks pretty good. For poetry, I suggest that you also include “poem” and “poetry” as tags. (WordPress recommends having 5-15 tags per post.)

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  6. Anyone have any ideas on how I can more actively engage my readers. I would like to spark more feedback with my posts and comments. thank you in advance.

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  9. I am beginning to love fictional stories but sometimes I feel as though I am going too slow with the plot. Or that I write too much unnecessary stuff about the character. I have written two parts of a short story im currently working on and it would be awesome to be evaluated by anyone. 🙂

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  10. I just started blogging again rather than just “tumbling”. I also found my old Blogger blog and merged everything together. Now I have the lovely task of going through and making tags and titles eliminating duplicates etc. I also am creating new posts.

    Can y’all give me some advise on my blog. I am one who does not want it seen on Facebook. Twitter is okay, that is a separate part of me. Facebook is one facet of me, Tumblr and Pinterest is another and my blog is the combo of all.

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  12. I started blogging in June, my first post being on How to start a Detox: The Basics, after having gone through a 60 day cleanse and finding great benefits of overcoming the difficulties of having an autoimmune disease. And although I originally started writing about health and eating well, sometimes I want to participate in the Daily Prompts or write journal entries without anything really instructive about health or food reviews, but I’m afraid I’ve carved myself into a niche/theme and if I start posting anything outside of that I feel like the visitors I get on my blog will think I’m all over the place. Does anyone feel the same way? Sometimes its nice to just post about a great book you’ve read or a crafty DIY. I mention this in my About Me page but I’m thinking of changing that too, any critiques out there for a new blogger? Any tips on the tone and my writing would be helpful as well. I’ll be happy to return the favor:)

    -Rakhi

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    1. First of all, health and food reviews sound like they’d fit your blog. (If anything, I’d say that your blog’s tagline needs to make your niche clearer. If you don’t, you’ve left yourself no reason not to go all over the place… just as long as your writing style remains recognizable as you.)

      Then, as someone who likes to participate in the weekly photo and writing challenges, I understand the issue of not feeling that a topic will fit the blog. My blog topic is “Things that insult my intelligence” and sometimes the challenge topics look like they’d never work. All I can suggest to you is some creativity and some extra time to reflect on how a topic might fit your blog.

      For instance, a weekly photo challenge topic was “curves,” so I ended up photographing a bar of soap and pointing out how the curvy shape reduces the quantity of soap I receive when I buy it. (And that packaging ploy insults my intelligence.) In some ways it’s more fun to do the challenges this way because they force you to stretch your ideas beyond the obvious; you then end up writing posts you would never have dreamed up on your own.

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      1. Thanks for the input I really liked the photo challenge topic tie-in, I’ll have to try that.

        As for the tagline, I’ve gone back and forth between changing it to something else. I was thinking maybe ‘Ventures in food, DIYs, and everyday fun’. But then I didn’t know if that sounded to cheesey. Thoughts?

        Oh by the way, love the titles of your posts. They gave me chuckles. Didn’t expect the picture of phlegm though :/

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      2. Thanks! And believe it or not, the phlegm pic isn’t the one I thought would generate a reaction. I thought it would be the cancer pic…

        Anyway, your idea does not sound cheesy at all. It’s a little all over the place because “everyday fun” could be almost anything. (My idea was “Health, Food, and Health Food” but that cuts out some of your proposed content.)

        Since you’re such a new blogger, you might also try waiting until you’ve written another 10-15 posts to make a change. You may find that you don’t like writing the DIY’s or that a broader uniting theme becomes apparent in all of your work. And by then, “everyday fun” will have been narrowed down to a few things you find fun enough to write about… and that will help too.

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      3. Thanks for the suggestions:

        And one would think a topic like cancer would generate more reaction, but it could be a desensitization factor. Phlegm is just not something that’s ever brought up, unless it’s your own;), let alone pictured.

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    2. Hi Rakhi. I’m a new blogger who also has an emphasis on health and nutrition and I like your content. If you wanted to write about more than nutrition you could make categories for your various topics. For example you have a DIY post, you could have a category for DIY or crafts, one for reviews, one for recipes and so forth. Hope this helps.
      -Ashley

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      1. Hi Ashley,
        I actually have categories set up on my blog. Did you mean different pages, kind of like tabs? I was thinking of creating pages for DIYS, Recipes, Motivation, Skin Care, Eczema, etc, but one thing about having Pages is you can’t assign tags or categories unfortunately, and I want my content to be found. So right now I’m putting them all on the Home Page until I can think of a better solution.

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      2. I was thinking more for your readers. If they specifically wanted to read about “food reviews” they can look for that category. I wouldn’t change to tabs for the same reason you mentioned. And your title doesn’t make people assume you only write about food, so I say write whatever’s in your heart.

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  13. Hello everyone, I’m a new blogger and will gladly take any feedback I can get. I’ve decided not to link to my Facebook until I get more familiar with the site and tweak my blog a little more. But I plan to link soon and open myself up to all my friends. I would like to be ready. Please help. Thanks

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    1. So far so good. My only suggestion would be to capitalize a few letters in your blog title. hearthealthybeats is kind of hard to read (hearth… what?) but HeartHealthyBeats would be easier.

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    2. I was going to suggest the same as what BUMBLEPUPPIES said, but he beat me to it. Great content so far 🙂 I’m not sure how I feel about the black and white color scheme though. Heart, health, and well being all radiate positive light colors to me so white or anything vibrant:)

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  14. Hi, I have started blogging not too long ago and would appreciate some advice and feedback. I have been wondering, as another poster had, about how to post more often. I always get the feeling that I need to do more research on tips I want to post, take the right (and beautiful/capturing/high resolution) pictures, pay attention to seo and all that good stuff, so I will have a few topics or posts drafted waiting for me to have time to go back to do the research to write them. Any advice on this? Am i being overly ambitious or over-thinking things? Would it happen organically?

    If you can also give me a little feedback on the look of my blog, that would be wonderful.
    http://www.lilhoneydreams.com

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    1. It’s hard to know what would happen organically for you, but I have a couple of thoughts:

      1- On doing more research: it depends on what kind of blog you want to have. If you want to be an authoritative resource, research is important. If you want to give informal advice based on your own experiences, you just need to make sure that your tips aren’t counterproductive for most people (or illegal).

      And there is something to be said for writing about what you know instead of going research-intensive. Remember that a lot of other people may be writing about the same topics you are and, to attract and keep readers, your blog needs to stand out. Odds are, someone’s knowledge base will exceed what you can research in a reasonable amount of time. It’s also a lot quicker to write about what you know. (Nevertheless, you should write about what excites you.)

      2- On photos: Unless you already have a photo that you want to present, use the Zemanta tool. It’s a lot easier. And high resolution photos should only be used when they’re a post’s focus because they load more slowly and don’t add much beyond what an average resolution photo does.

      3- On the appearance of your blog: Your profile photo is hard to make out. (That’s not necessarily a bad thing if you want to keep some anonymity.) Normally I would suggest adding a little color to your blog but I like the way your pink title pops against the rest of the screen. I wonder if changing the border (background color) from gray to black might add something. Maybe test it and see what you like better.

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      1. Thank you, bumblepuppies, for your feedback!

        1- On research: I will go with my own suggestions and perhaps post a few with more research when I have time. That would probably be more interesting (I hope). This will also enable me to “just write already!” rather than mulling over multiple topics with none completed

        2- On photos: I will get used to Zemanta. I have noticed that when I start writing, it offers either rather irrelevant photos, which was why I have not fully utilized it. I sometimes find/get stock photos with creative license from external sites as well, but that is more time-consuming. Adding photos to blog posts and the associated license to use or copyright issues still boggles me. Making me hesitant to add photos I did not take…

        3- On blog appearance: I will take your suggestion and give it a try! I was just thinking a few minutes ago if it looks a bit bland overall.

        What do you think about categorization? I have a feeling that I should keep it a bit more broad and general rather than go too specific to avoid over-categorizing. I am a bit Type A, so I can go overboard sometimes.

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      2. Categorization will be really important once you’ve been around longer. Having a lot of categories makes it easier for visitors to find the posts that interest them most. It’s a lot easier for them than wading through months (or years) of stuff.

        Also, there is a search box above the Zemanta pictures. Using it will get you better results.

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    1. A couple of thoughts:

      1- You need to write your “About” page because it is showing the default message.

      2- “I welcome all kinds of criticism” is somewhat good as a tagline because you’re inviting comments. However, it tells me nothing about what your blog is… and neither does your title. And neither does your pine cone picture (as far as I can tell… although it is interesting.) Your blog needs some information at the top that tells visitors what they’ve found.

      3- Assuming you keep the pine cone picture, you might want to change the background color. it doesn’t quite match the marble slab (although you could try to match the pine cone instead or try something completely different.) The gray color just doesn’t look quite right with the pine cone pic.

      4- You will want to add new categories as you continue blogging. Once you reach several dozen posts, people will want an easier way to find a particular kind of post. (There’s a limit to how far people will scroll.)

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      2. The easiest way: when you’re writing a new post, look at the right-hand column. Underneath the “publish” button, you’ll see a box with category listings. Under the list of your current categories, you’ll see “+ Add New Category.” Click on that and type in what you want.

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  17. Hi everyone!
    I just wondered if anyone else gets loads of pingbacks after posting the Daily Prompts or the Weekly Challenges? Are you supposed to approve the pingbacks as comments on your posts or not? It confuses me!
    Thanks!

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      2. Oh, I am SO glad it’s not just me! I got four pingbacks yesterday (have only been on here since last Tuesday) and got incredibly anxious about them. In the end, I read each of the pieces and sent replies. But I am not sure whether this is what I was mean to do, or whether a pingback is someone throwing your work back at you or what?!” Does anyone know what they mean? Is it a compliment, an insult, a self-publicising stunt? Alienora

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      3. Well, that’s my suspicion.. That it might be a way of self-publicizing. I have gone on some of these people’s blogs who have pinged me, and their posts seem to be full of lots of pingbacks. So it is hard to tell!

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      5. I certainly hope so! I’m not sure I want these pingbacks filling up my comment sections if they are of negative consequence/ connotation!

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      8. On the weekly challenges, some participants copy and paste a pile of links to previous entries into their posts… whether they’ve read the posts or not. When that happens, you get a pingback. If anything, it’s a slight positive for you because links to your blog improve your ranking on search engines.

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    2. @Laura @retired2travel @alienorajt I wrote a huge response and then had trouble logging in- now its lost! Best idea is to search wp help for a great pingbacks explanation. But in general they are good and free advertising for your blog in the form of “Related Articles” or hyperlinks on someone else’s page. But do be aware they can masquarade as spam to a totally unrelated topic or a fake page. Pingbacks are not limited to wordpress blog’s and should be checked out before approved. They are also forms of linking back to your own blog’s past other page’s/posts to the one you are currently writing.

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      2. Thank you very much for that, Christina. It sounds as if the best bet is to go onto the person’s page and see if it is, indeed, bona fide. I am much relieved!

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  19. Prevention is better than cure but most of the doctors stay in their clinic/hospital and work on just cure….My Blog Your Well Wisher Program attempts to solve commonly known problems with the strategy to bring clarity to well educated people…Welcome…

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  21. Hi! I just joined wordpress tonight. Since I am a newborn in the blogging world, I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips to get myself out there, so as to not just be speaking to myself? Thank you 🙂

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    1. Well I think you’re going the right way about it already by getting involved with the community. Participating in the weekly and daily writing and photo challenges posted on the Daily Post are a good way to get yourself out there also. Just immerse yourself in the experience. Comment on other’s blogs and use appropriate tags on your own (though no more than a dozen or so tags for one post) and you will find people turning up. Best of luck!

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  23. Hi, I don’t know if I’ve missed the boat or not but seeing I’m fairly new to this, I was wondering if I could have some feedback about my blog.
    Mine is about travel and whilst my aim is to inspire people to go and see new places, at the moment I feel that people might think it’s a show off blog. What else can I add to it to inspire people and hear them say, ‘I’d like to go and see… ‘
    I also would like to write some posts but am at a loss as to what to write about. Any constructive feedback will be more than welcome.
    Thank you.

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    1. First thing it says the photos on your front page are random? As in you don’t own them? If you use photos that are not your own you must cite them to their original source for integrity purposes. So I would fix that first with either no photos or your own, its very misleading. I love that own photo posts but what I don’t love is that its a “travel blog” with no focused writing on travel, just a bunch of daily prompts.

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      1. Sorry. Got cut off. I wanted to continue to say I am missing the posts that include your experiences in your travels. Pictures are fun but its the personal experiences that keep people coming back when it comes to travel

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      2. Hi Christina, thanks for your reply. First things first. All the photos on my site are my own except for one that I’ve stated it’s source. What I meant by random is that they are not grouped in any particular theme or location. You are right about the only other thing on my blog being Daily Prompts. I do like to write but don’t know from what aspect to write about travelling. There is my quandary. Any angles in mind? That’s my missing link.
        Thank you again for your reply. Any further feedback will be most welcome.

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      3. OK, now that you’ve clarified the photo collection, I feel safe to say I like the randomness on the home page. I still wish it said something like, Check out a variety of photos from my travels: (show them) and then maybe you could have the photos linked to something, a post about that spot, a collection of posts about that place, something so its all interactive.

        The best angle to write from would be your own! I love reading stories about places to travel, small insights that the only way to find out about them is to read a travel journal. Your photos are absolutely marvelous that I think you could do a strictly photo blog and it would be wonderful. I honestly think your Daily Prompts are holding you back, its not very focused. I also think the Weekly Photo Challenge, centered around your photography style, is more in your niche. Daily Prompts can be so random that your readers might not be clear what your original focus is, and from what I gather by your name and what you’ve said, you want to showcase traveling!

        Hmmm either you changed some things, or I didn’t think to hover over the images, I love the pop-up that says where they are! How awesome would it be to click on the image and be transferred to another page [on your blog] that highlights some of the tourist sites, or favorite local hangouts??

        Just some ideas.
        http://christinadesignsart.wordpress.com/

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      4. Thank you so much for your comments, time and ideas.

        I see now that I need to home in more on what I want the blog to be. I’ll have to think about how to execute your suggestions or think of a way around it if I can’t.

        I have unsubscribed from the Daily Post as I agree with you it’s not aiding my objective. The writing that I do want to continue with would be put to better use writing about travel. I do subscribe to the Weekly Photo Challenge but somehow, have contributed very little towards it. I shall see to it that I make the effort to participate 🙂

        The pop up names were always there on the Home page. To follow your suggestion, I’ll have to think of how to tie everything together before I start and shall work on that for a solution.

        I have had a look at your Blog and I can see where mine was lacking. Yours is dedicated to your art in various way, but always points to your art. I get it now!

        I can’t thank you enough for your suggestions and I wish you every success with your venture.

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  24. Hello everyone. Being so new to WordPress and the art of blogging, I’m not entirely sure on how tagging and pingbacks work. Anyone care to explain? Please reply to this comment if you can help me out…

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    1. Any ‘tag’ you apply to your post will basically bring your post up in the site’s Search when that tag word is the one searched for. But make sure you do not apply more than 15 tags, including your post category, to one post or it may not show up in the Search.

      As for pingbacks, it is basically someone linking your blog in a post of theirs. Generally a good thing and will mean more people may gain access to your blog.

      I hope that cleared some things up, but feel free to ask away if I’ve left something out. Best of luck!

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  25. Hi. Me again. I have this Gravatar with guff about.me that automatically appears at the end of each post and I don’t know not only how it gets there but how to get rid of it. Is it part of my ‘theme’? I’ve had a newie’s look and can’t seem to find where to deactivate it. Any leads would be more than welcome. Thank you 🙂

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  26. I feel like my blog is really boring and basic and my posts are a little hard to relate to and dull. I’ve only posted 2 possibly a little more once you read this but some tips to a noob might be helpful.

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    1. Not at all boring or basic, OCDRAVENCLAW18: I like your energy and the way you are telling it the way it is. What I would say, however, is this: you have let quite a few punctuation and other errors through the net! I think your posts could do with editing. But the buzz and the spark are all there for you to play around with! In terms of relating to your posts, I am sure most teens would – but, really, what you are saying can be applied to any age: I am fifty five and I was interested in what you had to say! Good luck! Alienora

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  27. Good Morning Bloggers,

    I am a newbie to the blogging world – I just started this journey yesterday. I am curious as to what are the best tips, ideas, and advice that you all have to offer. I initially decided to start this blog to use as my own personal everyday online journal; but after spending some time looking at other people’s blogs, I see that this can really become many other things. How does everyone else decide what to write about? Or how do you decide what you want your blog to be about?

    Any advice is greatly appreciated.
    E.

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    1. Two thoughts:

      1- Write what you enjoy writing about or, if there’s an issue close to your heart, what you think needs to be written about.

      2- Before you narrow you blog to a specific topic, remember that you’ll be writing a lot of posts. It’s good to reflect on how many you’re capable of writing because you don’t want to run out of ideas. Another option is to start your blog as an “anything goes” enterprise and then retroactively decide on a blog topic that encompasses what you tend to write about.

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      1. Thank you. I really appreciate the advice, and I will take it to heart while I figure out what the message of my blog should be.

        Thanks
        E.

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    1. Did you submit a question via the support forums? If all you did was write that post, they won’t find it. And if they did find it while hunting for Freshly Pressed candidates, the phrasing of the question in your post title probably didn’t make them want to make an exception.

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    1. Hi, I really like the layout itself of your site. It is very neat and therefore in my opinion will attract readers. I like the header image too, however some advice would be to add some more colour to your site in general. You could have the same header image, but with more colours. The pictures on your front page aren’t really full of colour, so to me it seems a little dull. But other than that it’s good – hope i could help 🙂

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    1. Hi CCHICANERY: I love the name of your blog! I also like your style – have found a few errors, which I shall detail below:

      Line 4: I think ‘our minds’ would be better than ‘our mind’
      Line 5: I was taught only to use & in Maths; I always write ‘and’ out in full.
      ‘any idea’ – ‘some idea’ might have sounded better.
      ‘new addition of late’ – the second part is not necessary.
      P.3, final line, you have written the word ‘ends’ twice in the same sentence. Could you, perhaps, get rid of one of them?
      P.4, ‘suffice me’ – I think you have mixed up ‘suffice’ and satisfy me’
      Final paragraph, ‘tend too’ – the ‘to’ only needs one ‘o’
      ‘crave for’ – I think you may have mixed up ‘crave’ and longed for’

      Good luck with your blogging journey!

      Alienora

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      4. Sure! You can, of course, use both words – but they work by themselves and do not need the ‘me’ or the ‘for’.

        So, you would say either, ‘suffice’ or ‘satisfy me’ and not, ‘suffice me’

        Similarly, you would say either, ‘I crave…’ or ‘I long for…’ and not ‘I crave for…’

        English is such a complicated language, isn’t it?! I have no idea how any of us ever manage to learn it!

        Hope that’s a bit clearer.

        Alienora

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