Nov 24, 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. I’ve been at it for 2 months (49 posts), and I’m interested in feedback regarding categories, tags and navigation on punctalucis.com.

    I post different kinds of media and different subject matters. If I’m going to change categories and/or tags, I’d better do it now while the total number of posts is still low.

    Do you think it’s more important that categories reflect the kind of media or the subject matter? Same for tags? Can you find what you’re looking for quickly and easily?

    For example, should I have main categories for media and subcategories under that like:
    Photos
    – Nature
    – Macros
    – etc.
    Design/Illustration
    Writing
    Galleries
    Etc.

    Or, should ‘Nature’ be a top-level category and just forget about ‘Photos’?
    And, maybe I don’t need a category like ‘Galleries’ to separate groups from singles?

    Like

  2. Im absolutely new to blogging, I don’t understand the layout thing. As in, when anyone visits my blog they are first confronted with an a home page that states ” NOTHING FOUND”. What do I do about that?

    Like

    1. It’s because you haven’t published a post yet.
      By default, once you have made your first post, you’ll see a list of recent posts when visiting the home page.
      If you go to ‘settings’, then ‘reading’, you can set the home page to show either ‘recent posts’ (must have at least 1 post published), or a specific page (must have at least 1 page published).

      Posts are your blog’s entries, made on an ongoing basis. Pages are meant for stuff that stays more constant, like ‘about’ and ‘contact’ pages.

      Like

  6. Thank you WordPress Family. My team and I started 34 Kiwis website in order to extend our students learning time beyond the classroom. We’re having a great time engaging students in inquiry and writing. We learn so much from each other and your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

    How can 34 Kiwis be improve?

    http://34kiwis.org/

    Like

  7. fqdayib.wordpress.com

    Thank you for the opportunity. My blog, which is a mixture of a personal of professional, is almost two months old and is now attracting a bit of traffic.

    I would be grateful for feedback on the layout and contents (writing style etc).

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  17. Hi everybody! I’ve joined the club a week ago today and I really enjoy doing it. However, after all my input I only have a handful of followers. How do I get the ball rolling? What do I need to change on my blog? Thank for all your help! http://vivaciousmommy.wordpress.com

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    1. Good job for just being a week-old and you sure have good advice. The writing is natural too. I have started blogging a week ago as well and still figuring out how to get going. Good luck with yours 🙂

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    1. I like your writing and the design. one tip would be include a ‘about me’ page which tells a little about you and why you write. Second suggestion is to try to incorporate a contrasting colour for the headline area of your blog (You have now used black on blue background and text in blue).

      I’m new to blogging as well, but just took a look at blog and wanted to suggest. Good luck

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  23. Hey everybody, I’ve been pretty general with the things I have been writing, and I would appreciate some feedback, so could you maybe read a post or two, of mine, and maybe point out somewhere I am particularly good or bad at, and help me point down my writing to specific topics, please?

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      1. I want to encourage you, because at your age you are so aware and articulate. Please keep it going. Technically: Apart from the header picture, the others wouldn’t load for me. As for subjects: You might like to explore “political” websites like National Journal, National Review, New Republic, Slate, and Salon because although a lot of their articles are heavy and long, they do have shorter pieces and lifestyle pieces and book reviews that you might mine for ideas. Just a thought.

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      2. Thanks so much, that really means a lot x
        I DO LOVE POLITICAL SCIENCE, Thanks so much for that suggestion. I will definitely look to it x
        Thanks much, again.

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      3. You’re welcome! Great! Hope those sites give you lots of topics to write about on your blog (and of course there are plenty of other sites about political science or political philosophy).
        Here is a page with links to a few posts from my blog. I would love it if you visited.

        Best posts

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  25. I have been blogging for a few months now, and I would really appreciate constructive feedback on any of my posts, specifically letting me know what parts connect the most to an audience. Hopefully, by knowing this, I’ll be able to see what works and what doesn’t. Thank you!

    Like

    1. Hey I think your blog seems bold, which is GREAT and as far as your posts go, I think you should lighten up a little bit, be a little bit more sensitive to feelings, and connect with your readers 😀 But I’m looking forward to more posts from you, with your bold and to the point writing style. Cheers x
      And could you please see mine and give a feedback, I only started recently.
      liveinmymind.wordpress.com
      Thanks so much x 😀

      Like

      1. I value your input! Thank you for taking the time to reply to me. I have taken a look at your blog and made a comment on a post I found very interesting 🙂 I’ll continue to stay up to date with your blog as well!

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  26. Hi, I’ve been blogging for several months now and I am slowly getting more views and followers. One thing that I notice is that I usually only have, on average, less than 2 views per visitor and I’m wondering if there is a way I can make my blog layout most accessible and/or attractive to try and get people to possibly read more than one post. How can I change the layout to encourage more reading? Would I need to upgrade to professional?
    Thanks for looking!
    insidespacedesign.wordpress.com

    Like

    1. It might help if you found a way to move the “previous” and “next” pointers from the upper right of the page to the end of your page instead of the “related” pointers.

      Like

      1. Oh I see! You mean so when they get to the bottom of post they can click on “previous” or “next”? Ok, I’ll try that! I have no idea how to do that but I will work on it! Thanks so much for your comment.

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  28. Hi, I do a blog that curates creativity on the web. I’d love to hear your feedback on this blog! http://audiencewatch.me/category/creative-tours/ or on the site itself. Specifically, I’d love to know:
    1. What was the most memorable thing about this site?
    2. What would have inclined you to subscribe to the creative letter?
    3. What was the number 1 thing I need to improve here, in your opinion?

    Thank you so much in advance for your time!

    Like

    1. I checked out your site. It screamed “creativity is our business/focus” but I wasn’t really sure how. Like, the particulars of how the site works. That’s not necessarily bad – it took me a while to figure out twitter, for instance.

      I’m not really sure what you mean by #2. Creative letter?

      #3 – clarity, I suppose. Also, the charging for reviewing someone’s site, etc. seemed a little strange – sort of like you have to pay to be featured, which compromises neutrality. LIke, usually a newspaper’s articles and ads are separate for that reason.

      Still, I like creativity and am intrigued. Good luck!

      Like