Nov 10, 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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  4. hello to all the people out there.It would be great for me if I get to learn about where i am doing wrong in my blog.since i am a beginner i would really appreciate to get advice on whatever 2 -3 posts i have done.thank you:).my blog is exploringselfblog.wordpress.com

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  7. I too am a new blogger on WordPress (or any other site for that matter). I’m just blogging/writing for fun (not as a career). I would appreciate any suggestions. Also, I know this makes me look stupid, but how do I link my blog to the Community Pool/The Daily Post?

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    3. I really like your blog page a lot. I love your writing and the recipes you share. Great idea! For someone just starting out, it looks so great. I started following you as well. Looking forward to reading more!

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    4. Your lead photo is incredible and really sets the tone for your blog, however, I would like to see a little more art dropped around the copy, little pieces of clip art perhaps of boots, other western things to make things a little more visually interesting and to break up the type. Great blog

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    1. You’re off to a good start.

      Content:
      For gamers, I think your content is interesting and relevant. The deck-building article (Spirit deck) is your best post, with good value and interest for MTG players. Maybe you could post a regular feature like deck-of-the-week or similar, to help build a following.

      Writing:
      Your writing is informal and approachable, which is good, and I’d give you relatively high marks for accuracy, too. There were a few typos here and there, but not many.

      Design/layout:
      Regarding design and layout, it could use a little splash of color, and maybe an interesting header image, or other images.

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      1. Thanks for the feedback (: what would you recommend regarding the design/layout? A friend of mine is working on a header image for me, so that’s covered.

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      2. In my opinion, there’s too much that’s simply black-on-white, and navigation could use a little help.

        • A background image that more clearly identifies as ‘gaming’. I just saw your new header, which is already a big improvement. You could borrow a color from that for your background image/color, or use just the pattern that’s behind the larger letters as a your main background image.

        • Browse some themes for something with a few more visual details and/or colors, or change a few colors within your existing theme. Some themes show more articles per page on the home page, which makes it easier to select articles of interest. Whether you keep or change themes, use the ‘more’ tag effectively, so viewers can see more posts, instead of full-length posts on the homepage.

        For navigation, I would move categories onto the main menu instead of a sidebar, and omit the ‘introduction’ category.

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      3. I’ve changed the theme to something a bit more appealing and easier to navigate now. Unfortunately I can’t use a header image with this theme, but I think it still looks better.

        Do you think the new theme is better or should I keep the old theme with the added header and just change the background colour or image?

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      4. I did like that header, so it’s a tough call. With Sunspot, I’d recommend using a two-column layout for the home page. Whichever way you go, use your more tags effectively, and do have a featured image for each post if the theme supports it.

        Maybe you could have a sub-category under Magic: The Gathering for deck building, so you’d have MTG/Deck Building, and could then have other subcategories for other aspects of MTG.

        For featured images for MTG, you could have a graphic with MTG and “deck building”, or combine a spread of the cards in the deck mentioned in the post.

        Since I’ve looked at it a lot now, I have a few other ideas:
        I think the title and tagline are a little long, and the title reads more like a tagline. Could you have a shorter blog name, and then the tagline would be a slightly shorter version of your current title? As a rough example (title | tagline), “The Casual Player | A blog for not-so casual gamers”

        I don’t think you really need the tagline to say when and how often you’ll post. If you do expect to typically post on Mondays, you could work that into a series name, or a category, with alliteration like “Magic Mondays”.

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      5. Sounds like a good idea, I’ll make sure to try it all out when I have time today. Thanks for the feedback!

        Would it be okay if I came back to this post if I have any more questions?

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    1. I really like the personal angle of your blog! You might want to try pulling some of your more powerful quotes and placing them as block quotes to highlight them. Your photo is nice, but you might want to try something a little more moodier or close up where you are not looking right into the camera, something like looking off to the side like you are in a thoughtful moment. If you have a second, I would love your input on my blog.

      Liked by 1 person

  14. Hi WordPressers! I need some suggestions. I’m unable to fully access any of my blogs in China and want to change over to the WordPress.org platform. Can you give me suggestions on how to do this and keep all the content on my blogs “as is”?

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  17. Hi there, I would love some feedback on my blog. I started writing in January and would now like to take it to the next level. My blog page seems so dull in comparison to others. It seems to be lacking. Thank you for your help! momfeld.com

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    1. Wow, you know when I read this line “I basically don’t know what I’m doing,” I laughed because I feel that way a lot. Your content is so honest. If I landed on this site, the tagline a blog about a whole lot of nothing, would not pump me up because I think most blogs are about nothing. But, yours is about honest funny life. Your stories are the best parts. Maybe some juiced up design elements and some emboldened print so that the reader can jump right to the funniest parts will draw in a longer stay for your audience.

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      1. Thank you so much for your feedback, Meg! I will definitely take what you say into account. I definitely need better design elements, that’s for sure! I’ve been thinking of changing my name. It doesn’t feel right anymore. Do you think it’s too late for that?

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    2. I have gone through so many name changes, starting blogs over, etc so I understand that desire to start fresh. I do not know what your readership is per month, but If you change your blog URL name, you will have to set up 301 redirects to your old URLs, or you will have to start over with building an audience from scratch. The 301 redirects can be tricky to figure out, but are good for bloggers to understand. I will say that you do have a nice short .com. But, if you aren’t excited about your blog name, you may want to get one that you just love sharing and talking about. In other words I don’t know;) Cheers!

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  18. My main question is: Should I be using a blog format to simply share work from a mixed-media collection, and if so, how and what should I select to post?

    Secondarily: Are my posts with writing the better ones, or should I simply post my creations without writing? Are my images better than my songs?

    I started puncta lucis because I have a large-and-growing collection of artwork I wanted to publicly share (1000’s), including photos, designs and more. My thinking was that a blog could serve as an outlet and portfolio.

    When I have the time or inclination to post, I sit down in front of a huge collection, spending too much time and effort selecting something. I endlessly ponder over what kind of subject matter to post, and whether to post a single image, a gallery, a personal favorite from 2 years ago, or yesterday’s work.

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    1. I like the first one! It’s very simple and peaceful, whereas the reflection in the second one is distracting from the focal point of the droplet.

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      2. Nice blog. You know, I think that I would feel even more drawn in if I could tell what you are the expert at right off the bat from this blog. There are so many good topics here, and I want to know what is the thing this Blogger most loves of all of those topics. Thanks for sharing.

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      3. Meg, Thanks for the comment. I will have to think on this and figure how to present. I think I’m starting to get there, just need to go all the way 😉

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  24. I’d love for others to take a look at my blog and let me know their thoughts. I’m new on the scene of blogging. I treat my blog a bit like a journal, chronicling our journey as a family, me being a new mother, and actualizing our dreams.

    I just recently redesigned it to be less bland and more ‘memorable’ or spunky, while remaining simple and classy.

    So, please swing by and let me know what you think of my writing/journaling, and design. If there are any tips regarding layout or content, please share.

    Thanks in advance! Life Breath Present

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  25. Hello out there! I’m a new blogger looking to build my audience. My blog specializes in Comic Books, Entertainment, Movies and Games. Any suggestions on expanding my followers? Thank you and much appreciated!

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    1. I spent quite some time on your site this morning. I think it’s wonderful! It’s incredibly creative and has so much interest, it made me want to stick around to see what you had to offer. I love the idea of it as well. Very clever and well needed! Great site!

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    2. Hey, I loved your website and spent almost half my workday trawling for good things to read!
      You really know what you’re doing with your site. Well done!

      Would love to hear your thoughts about my blog too 🙂

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