Sep 29, 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. Thanks for sharing! I appreciate the background pattern and otherwise simple layout of your blog. My only feedback is that it’s hard to search for posts, since the reader has to scroll all the way down to the bottom for the categories/archives widgets. If you’d be open to moving those widgets to the sidebar (if your theme allows it), I’d recommend doing that. Otherwise, nice work!

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  9. Hey everyone. So I don’t know how many people will find this interesting, but it’s something that pops up quite often with me: the subject of Christians with tattoos. Please feel free to share your opinion if you have one.

    Inked Christians

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  10. Hello fellow bloggers! I am fairly new to blogging. I would love some feedback on my blog. I hate my design, I know I need to work on that. I’m still trying to figure out some of the layout options, etc. I’m hoping to post an entry soon so people can ask questions about how 911 works. I have a million ideas in my head and many posts started, but I seem to lose focus and hit “save draft” before finishing. Seriously, I have 15 entries started. Any hoo…. If you have a chance, stop by ~ if you like what you see, please follow! http://www.confessionsofa911dispatcher.com

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  21. Hi! I’m from the Philippines and have been blogging for barely a month. I really appreciate the support of other bloggers (less than a dozen of followers) as 90% of them are not Filipinos, thanks for that!

    If anyone would bother to look at my blog and maybe type a few comments of constructive criticism, I’d be very greatful. Thank you guys!

    http://angmamangenhinyero.wordpress.com/

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  22. Hey, just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a better choice of layout. I’d originally picked the Clean Theme because it was malleable enough to make my own, but I’m now in two minds about whether it’s suitable anymore. For me, it seems a bit too wordy to navigate for a first impression.

    Any suggestions would be great!

    http://laidigsbroadway.wordpress.com/

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    1. Hi, thanks for sharing your site! I see what you mean about the theme–between the words, pictures, and the background image, it’s a little cluttered. I just quickly scanned some of the free themes, and have a couple of ideas you could try. If you like the journal-style blog format (like you have now), something like Bold Life or Yoko could work, since it has visual elements that keep each post separate from the others. You could add your own background image, or you could try a custom header image instead, which won’t interfere with your text. Or, you could go for a magazine-style layout theme, like I did with Oxygen. I like this style because it’s typically more visual, and you can display thumbnails of your posts instead of having people scroll down to see them all. Hope that helps! –D., thebodyconnected.com

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  24. Please check out my blog 🙂 I’m not sure yet how to design it but I have a layout for now. I don’t understand how I gain followers that would be interested, I have used tags and gained a few likes but not sure on what else to do!

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  25. Please check out my blog michaelatornaritis.wordpress.com I’ve only recently started it and I’m not too sure how to get followers that would be interested. I’ve used tags and got a few likes but not sure on how to get more followers.

    michaelatornaritis.wordpress.com

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    1. I checked out your blog and I think my first reaction was that your background theme was a little boring. The plain sea foam green color just wasn’t doing it for me and it was a bit distracting from your photos. That being said, your photos are wonderful! You want to do everything you can to make sure that they stand out. Your tags are fairly decent, but you might want to add more to them. For instance, I noticed that you have “fashion photography” as a tag, but you don’t have “photography” by itself as a tag. A little tweaking in that area will do a world of good. You also might want to have your links and other information as a sidebar so people don’t have to scroll all the way to the bottom of your page to find these. Anyway, I hope this helps. You have some wonderful talent!

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      1. Thank you so much, I’m not so sure how to put my links on the side because I didn’t like it at the bottom either! I’m still trying to get used to WordPress and the layout is only temporary! Thanks a lot though 🙂

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      2. If you go to your Dashboard, there are editing options on there. I wish I could be of more help, but I’m not overly computer savvy and my daughter actually did my theme for me. 🙂

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      3. Have a look at my new theme, I realised my old theme didn’t support the widgets on the sidebar! I tried to change the polkadot background but it just didn’t save for some reason but I’m still working on it 🙂 also the about page still needs work to be done so yeah. Let me know what you think 🙂

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      4. I like the new theme. A couple of other notes that I would make: Add more to your “About” page. Sometimes that’s the first thing we see and you want to be able to grab the reader’s/viewer’s attention from there. Also, consider adding an Archive list to your sidebar so readers/viewers can click through each post. Hope this helps.

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  28. Hi everyone, I’m a poet and essayist with a relatively new WordPress site, and I’d love some new visitors. If you have any thoughts about the site’s readability or visual elements, please share them with me on this thread; if you have comments on specific pages or posts, I welcome your feedback on the site itself. Thank you! –D. Allen, http://thebodyconnected.com

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  29. Hi everyone, I’m brand new to blogging and just put up my first post…

    I’m not new to the internet at all but new to using a blog!

    I’m an internet marketer, and my blog will be about how to generate traffic toward your website, blog, whatever

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