Aug 25, 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. HELLO WORDPRESS!! I’d like your feedback on my blog: http://missvplam.wordpress.com

    I am a singer and piano player, and I also love writing and photography, and I currently am studying abroad, the 7th semester of my marketing career, what I try, is to combine all I am, in my blog.

    So I’d like your opinion about it, and what you would change, specially about the design and the organization of the widgets, and naturally, about the content, I practically am new to being a blogger (though I’ve always had a blog… XD) so on a scale from 1 to 10(being 10 the best), how well do you think I’m doing so far?

    Thank you! ❤

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  6. Hi. I’d like some feedback on the look and feel of my blog, as well as its functionality. I love the theme I chose (Vintage Camera) since it relates so much to the topic of my blog. What I don’t like about it though, is how it lacks a sidebar and all of my widgets have to be displayed at the bottom of the page, where I fear few people venture. I had my site display only the 3 most recent posts hoping this will allow readers to quickly get to the widgets section at the bottom but I fear this won’t keep visitors around as longs as having an endless scroll, for instance. Should I switch to a more conventional theme with a clearly visible sidebar and an endless scroll? Thanks in advance for your feedback. http://dadspixels.com/

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    2. I like the theme but I feel like something is lacking. I feel like it would look alot better with a theme like Fontfolio. Since you’re a photographer, you need to let the pictures speak and Fontfolio does the job.

      But then again, it depends on whether you want to use the blog to display your work or teach people how to take better photographs.

      I hope that helped.

      I like what you have done so far. 🙂

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  7. Hello, fellow bloggers! Total newbie here, and I need some help, please. I don’t even know if this is the right place to ask for it, so if not, please let me know. That being said, my first post went up fine. My second post, in which I did the exact same thing as the first (wrote text in Word, selected “Text” for the blog entry, then just cut and pasted) has a bunch of code at the beginning. I don’t know how it got there, nor (more importantly) how to post without it appearing. Any and all help greatly appreciated. Post can be found here: http://reflectionsofsunrise.wordpress.com/2013/08/26/removing-the-wedge/ Thank you!

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    1. Maybe you should delete this post and recreate it. I never had a problem before. I open MS Word and copy it to my draft on WordPress. However, there could be a problem with the format. When you try to edit the post, on the right hand side you will see a box that says format on it. Make sure you have selected the standard format and not any others.

      I hope this helped. 🙂

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  9. Hi, everyone! Coming to you from http://www.bohemianonrye.com

    The biggest problem I am dealing with is my lack of focus. I’m a bit of a Renaissance soul and I dabble in a lot of different things. Recently I have been using my blog to post creative things (short stories, mini essays, lists and the like) but I’m afraid I’m not meeting my full potential by not focusing on one thing. Thoughts?

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    1. Just stay in the topics you feel comfortable. Your “nitch”. If you ever feel bored or feel like doing something new, switch it up!

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    2. I agree with onlywithwords. Also, make sure you use categories since you have so many topics. It will make it easier for the viewer who are only there for certain type of content. 🙂

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  10. HI guys I would appreciate any feedback on my blog, my posts, any suggestions for improving my poems or subject matter or any comments at all. I am dying for more readers, so check it out. Thanks

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  11. Hey y’all! I’m starting a new challenge for writers. It’s seven days a week. I call it genre porn because you take one subject and dress it up in seven different ways before the week is through. You can check it out here: http://genrepornchallenge.wordpress.com/ Let me know what y’all think of the idea and if you’d be interested in doing something like this! Thanks!

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  12. I would love some feedback on whether or not my posts are too long and if the layout should be a little choppier. Are my paragraphs too long? Is it easy to get through / do you get bored?

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    1. I like the look of your blog and enjoy the content, your doing a great job. As far as tips go, personally I really like it when blogs have a descriptive tagline so I can can a gist of the content without having to search. You could also think of putting a case-study or testimonial on about your work to give an extra insight into what you do. Hope that is helpful. Best of luck, Maddy.

      Like

  15. Hi
    My dog KoKo , who is only seven years old, writes a blog about his daily life in Subiaco WA. He would love to get some feedback as he seems to have lots of readers but very few leave any comments. Thank you

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    1. Hi there, I am only new to blogging so please just ignore me if i am way off track. I read a few of your posts bearing in mind that you were after more comments. Perhaps if you added a little ‘final thought’ or ‘thought of the day’ to your posts it might provoke so reader input.

      For example when you write a post about going to the park with your family your final thought could be something like ‘these sundays out with my family are the best times of my life’. In this way people will translate your day to day experience with a broader experience which they can translate to their own story. Hopefully with this personalisation readers will be inspired to give their two cents on the matter, i.e.. ‘some of my best childhood memories are of being in the park with my sister chasing our dog, thanks for reminding me KoKo!’.

      hope that makes sense is helpful.

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    3. Somehow I screwed up the text–it disappeared, leaving only that fine photo. Was that guy drinking a beer? How deliciously politically incorrect. Now I’m gonna try to get the text back. Just read dePaola’s book about the visiting uncle from Paris who happens to be a cat from Montmartre. Bonjour, Mr. Saitie. Very cool.
      Cheers

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  16. Hello all, I am super nervous about asking for some feedback on my first blog which is only a few weeks old. I have decided that if I want to bet better at this then I need to toughen up and get some advice.My blog is spiritual in nature if your interested in that type of thing. I also have a lot of others areas I would like to write about such as fiction writing, family and politics but am not sure if I should change the blog a little to mesh all of these things together or just stick to the one thing as it stands now. Thank you in advance for your time and effort.

    http://beautifyinsideandout.wordpress.com

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    1. I like it! You write well and it’ll only improve as you (as well as everyone) continues. With regards to being nervous, I’m sure that everyone felt the same at some point. I’ve only been doing this for nearly a month but before that I kept on putting it off in fear that no one would like it. So you’re not alone in that area of things.

      You could do a few things with the focus of you blog. 1) Write about whatever you want and separate them as categories or 2) create a new blog where you write about everything that doesn’t relate to spirituality. You could always experiment a little. It is your blog after all 🙂

      Keep it up. Your post on chasing a healthy mind is a good one.

      Like

    2. I like they layout and format, the posts are clear and concise to your objective as far as I can discern. Am looking forward to sharing your experiences with you through the blogosphere .

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      1. Thank you so much for your feedback and support! I have read a few of your post and they are very captivating, I dont want to stop reading and miss the end.

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    3. I enjoyed looking through your blog! I love the topic of spirituality, so it drew me in by that.

      From what I saw, the tone of the blog has to do with spirituality and one’s quest to find it. Therefore, the movie review of the Intouchables seemed out of place (although it was a great review).

      My advice would be to have spirituality as the focal point, and everything else can revolve around that. For instance, you can discuss movies and books pertaining to this theme so that everything will mesh better.

      I am a fairly new blogger as well, and I was given some good advice when I started: It takes a while to find one’s voice, so don’t worry at first. After a couple dozen posts, the direction you should take will become clearer.

      Keep up the great work!

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      1. Thank you so much, I definitely feel as thoughI haven’t found ‘my voice’ thus far so I’ll keep plugging away and hopefully it will turn up :). The points you have made are very useful, thanks again!

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    4. Hi Maddy.
      I really like the layout of your blog. Your entries are thoughtful and interesting. You use white space well to break up long entries. I like that you use pictures too, to break up lots of texts (that’s one of my favorite techniques too). Overall I’m impressed! If you wouldn’t mind taking a look at mine? I’m really new to blogging as well and would love any feedback at all. I’m mostly worried that my entries don’t really have an umbrella theme, they’re kind of all over the place but this could be because I’ve only put up 6 posts? Anyways you’ve been really active on these comments and you give good feedback so I’d really appreciate it! Thanks so much! http://itsmejesss.wordpress.com/

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      1. HI jess thanks for your feedback it was great to hear from you, and I would be honoured to share some ideas with you about ‘its me jess’.

        Firstly I really like the look of your blog, the note pad style background really sets the tone for the personal ‘lifey’ theme of your blog.

        A tip I just learnt today about using the ‘more tag’ in your posts could be really great for you I think. It will help break all you posts up and push people to click on the post itself where they might then click ‘like’. As it stands I can read you entire post without actually clicking on it and there is no like button on the home page version for me to show my support!. Check out this weeks writing challenge to learn about how to use this feature and they also give some good examples and clear instructions.

        I would also considered adding the ‘follow me’ widget and ‘archive’ widget to your sidebar. This will make it easier for people to keep up to date with your posts and hopefully become long term fans.

        I liked your latest post, it was really interesting and funny! With regards to your writing in general you provide a lot of personal nuanced information which is great but perhaps you might balance this out a little by giving a insight into the bigger point or picture of the post early on in the piece to keep people reading.

        I hope that is helpful and constructive for you, once again I am just a beginner too and am by no means an expert blogger or writer!

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  17. If anyone has time to read a few of my posts and leave a comment, I’d appreciate it. I’m new to this and you always just wonder if your writing has any effect on others. Thanks, and I can return the favor.

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    3. I read some of your posts but really enjoyed the Girl Down the Street post. Well wrtten as it can be related to by many people. But as a story, it was engaging and just enought suspense to makew you want to keep reading and find out the ending. Will look in from time to time.

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    4. Your post on the girl down the street made me tear up. I felt like somehow I got to know that girl as well while reading the post. It’s wonderful!

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      1. Tanya, thank you for the feedback on The Girl Down the Street. It is one of my favorite posts so far. I’m glad that you “liked” our girl.

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    1. Ah cooking… it’s pretty fun learning and soon I’ll have to actually do it when I move into university. I just end up watching too many cooking videos and not actually doing much about it.

      I’d just recommend that you centre your image or put it within the text so it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of unnecessary white space around it. But that might be me being pedantic. Keep it up 🙂

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      1. Hope you enjoy university, I would recommend learning a bit of cooking before you get out there! Depending on the field you go into, you may never end up having time to learn!

        With the picture in the post, it was late and I spent 3 seconds trying to find the tool for it….I couldn’t so I gave up accordingly 😀

        Thanks for the input though!

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    1. You can do all of those! It’s your blog, you don’t have to limit it to one subject matter. However, if you do decide to go ahead with that, make sure you use categories or different pages to separate your content. It will make it easier for you and your viewers.

      Good Luck! 🙂

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      2. LOL! I’m the worst person to ask for advice on that.

        I usually do creative writing so when I’m having a writer’s block, I watch my favourite movie or a movie that inspires me. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it really doesn’t.

        Or, you can just write about whatever comes to your mind and edit it later.

        Sorry I couldn’t be more of a help. :/

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      2. You are very welcome, can I ask a favor? Can you visit my website and give me some feedback on how easy or not it is to send a video or audio message to someone? This service is free.

        Thank you
        William

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  25. Hello!!!!!
    I recently (well maybe not recently) started a blog . The whole blogging thing is still kinda new to me so I’d really like you to just check out my blog and give me some tips and feedback on stuff (almost anything actually).
    You can find my blog at: midnightbutterfly7.wordpress.com

    Thanks in advance 🙂

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    1. Hi!

      I’ve looked at it and I enjoyed the post you did on the weekly writing challenge 🙂

      I’d personally remove the ‘miscellaneous’ part in the tag line since it’s unnecessary (and could be seen as redundant).

      Good luck with your IGCSEs too 🙂

      Like