Jan 12, 2014 / 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. Zero to Hero folks, head to today’s forum thread to chat about the assignment, but feel free to seek other feedback here!

  • 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. This is a good post, I didn’t actually know any of this stuff. I suggest, however, that you format it a little differently, with a snappier headline and sub headers instead of the bullet points.

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  7. i just started my first blog, problembarker.com, and would love some advice on how to increase readership. be in general advice or advice after viewing my blog, any guidance would be much appreciated! thanks all.

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    1. The best way I’ve found so far to build a readership is to interact with other bloggers, either on stuff like the community pool or their own blogs. Find yourself a regular posting schedule and stick to it. Make your headlines snappy to grab attention. Make sure you tag all of your posts correctly and always reply to any comments.

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    1. WordPress.com comes with hundreds of plugins as part of the website, but you can’t upload your own for security reasons. If there’s something specific you’d like to achieve, though, there may be a way.

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  10. Hello community pool, its the running lesbian here. I am two posts into my blog and would love to get some feedback, its doing quite well views wise but I would love some advice on how to maintain a following! Please check it out, its a little bit gay and a tad funny. Hope you enjoy: http://www.therunninglesbian.wordpress.com

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  13. I would appreciate it if you could look at my first post. I recently decided to start a blog and wasn’t sure if I had a knack or not. I’m a bit out of my element. Any pointers or thoughts would be appreciated.

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    1. I really love what you’re saying and you have a strong voice in your writing. My only critique would be that it is a little long. I have a journalist friend who told me that blog posts are best kept to between 150-500 words. If you have to go longer than that, trying breaking up the text so that they are in smaller chunks and less intimidating to readers!

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  14. Hi everyone. I also would love some feedback on my first blog post. I’ve never had a blog, but I’ve written a lot of academic essays, so I don’t know how readable it is. I would love some feedback, and will gladly give feedback in return!!

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  15. confessionsofateenintrovert.wordpress.com I’ve been struggling with how to find a voice that resonates throughout my blog. For example, my About page is humorous, while my first two posts are more reflective. Is this a good idea for a blog? Or is it more effective to have a specific voice remain constant throughout your posts?

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    1. I think that the voice in your posts is great! It might change in tone, but it still has a distinctive feel to it that must come from your personality, which is just what a blogger needs, in my opinion!

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  26. Hi there! I’m brand new to blogging and still not sure I have got the swing of it. Post content so far is focused on pregnancy/parenthood (as that’s been pretty all consuming lately) but I’m hoping to expand the topics and have some drafts in the works. Any feedback at all, positive and negative, areas to change, aspects you’d like to see more/less of would be hugely appreciated.
    Thank you!
    Rachel

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  27. Hello everyone! I just expanded my blog from just discussing art, to including current affairs, culture and politics as well. I was basically struggling to post frequently due to the practical barriers of seeing regular exhibitions, galleries etc. Also I have had an urge to write about other things that interest me! I would love feedback on whether anybody thinks my pages work; is it coherent, or should it be more focused? I don’t want it to appear scattered and disparate basically!
    http://www.abstractionsoflife.wordpress.com

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    1. Since your blog is brand new I don’t have too much feedback for the writing. I did like your about section. Good writing style, made me smile! Also, I find your background and fonts easy to read and your site easy to navigate. Best of luck to you!

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  29. My blog presents two books I am working on. These books are intended for my children and contain stories and music. Since the premise is Books for Children, they will be illustrated in some sense. These stories are intended to be read when they grow older. I would like feedback on themes and presentation to incorporate all this. Thanks

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    2. Hi I really enjoyed your writing but in my opinion I don’t think that the theme you chose truly fits your blog. I think the setting that you have now seems like it would be a website for spooky stories. It’s a simple theme that perhaps you could use in a lighter color. I noticed that you like to incorporate your personal life in to your writing, I really like that and I’m looking forward to more from you.

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      1. Thank you for your feedback. Originally, I selected the theme because I like the layout and I could change it to blue, but I was beginning to think it might be a bit too dark when I started to put images. (the banner, by the way, is part of the cover page for my short story on kindle. Since the topic of the story is campfire tales, I suppose a little spooky is a good way to put it.)

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