Apr 13, 2014 / Community Pool

Community Pool

Looking for feedback on your latest draft or your new header? Find critique and camaraderie in the 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). A few guidelines:

TIP: 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.

  • 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. If you simply leave a link to your blog, it’s likely to be overlooked.
  • 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.
  • No running on the deck.

Photo by t_a_i_s.

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  1. I just asked this question but I don’t see in on here anywhere. I noticed in the Photo blog there is an option to click through the pics. How do I utilize that?

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    2. Hi Desiree. I like your blog and your style of writing. My take is that it is about the craft of writing, and found myself nodding at some truisms you mentioned. As for wanting to come back, I just followed you, so perhaps that answers the question 😉

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      2. Your blog is….not very developed. An obvious piece of advice would be to start preparing it for a public audience, especially by writing about your novel and explaining what it is, and then try to publicize your blog.
        Aul

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  4. This is a really wonderful idea for a newbie blogger to get some advice. Have been blogging for about 2 months now, focusing primarily on various art mediums, travel, basically anything that piques my interest. Am I going in too many directions? Should I have more of a primary focus.? Would love to hear from you all

    Tonightatdawn.wordpress.com

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    1. I say, dont change your content at all! My blog is also a little all over the place (Nursing, cooking, and style) but that is what I like to write about! Your blog tells a little about yourself 🙂

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    2. Not at all. I had the intention of posting everyday on mine so I named it “Brandtastic’s Daily Ramblings”-even if I haven’t kept up with posting everyday as of lately, but it’s my ramblings. I include anything and everything…I can’t just limit my life to one topic, so why my blog? I write a lot about my experiences with pharmacy school, but also some other topics. I would say the best way to pick up new followers is to tag your posts appropriately and try categorizing them. If a new reader comes across your blog from a tag you used they can always read similar blogs of yours with the same tag instead of having to skim through all.

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    3. I suppose the million dollar question is: What are you hoping to achieve? If this is simply a forum to share yourself with others then don’t change a thing, after all it is YOU that you are sharing, with all the facets that come along with your particular brand of you. Personally, I seek to create my own brand through my travel blog and establish myself as an expert, so I keep the focus rather tight on travel-related issues. So in short, when you don’t know which way you should go, ask yourself where it is you’re looking to get to 😉

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      1. Excellent viewpoint!! In my case, everything I am writing about is an extension of my interests, and maybe I will focus in on one specific area of discussion. But for now, I am having a blast attempting to tackle any and all subjects that interests me.

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    1. Blog looks great! I’m one that goes into the wood panel background look. Your posts seem to be a good length. I’ve always tried to keep mine within the 500-600 word range. Good luck!

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    2. Hi Madeline. Your blog looks nice, but I am left wondering what the wood pattern has to do with the tractor and grain. Perhaps a more consistent theme? Just an opinion since you asked 😉

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  7. Hi, if you could check out my blog and give it some feedback, that would be great. I’d say I’m new to this, but I’ve been doing it for a year I think! Though I still feel like I have no idea what I’m doing. I just post when something pops into my head. Thanks

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    1. Posting whenever anything comes into your head is a great way to blog. If its versatility that you seek, participate in a writing challenge, daily prompt or create a writing event to engage others.

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      1. Great. Thanks. I’m going to be studying for exams in the next few weeks but once they’re over I’ll participate in some writing challenges. Thanks for the advice

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  8. I’m having trouble getting my new blog off the ground. I’ve got so many thoughts and ideas i want to share, I’m not sure where to begin. I’ve got several drafts I’ve not published yet, as i’m afraid of how an audience might respond to it. Any tips or advice on getting over this ‘stage fright’ would be helpful, i guess.

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    1. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” — Wayne Gretsky, Canadian hockey legend
      Seriously, it gets easier after the first few posts. The best thing about starting a blog is that you can experiment with your voice and style as you find out what people like. And, if all else fails, there’s an ‘edit’ button — but you can’t fix it if you don’t know what’s wrong. Know what I’m saying?
      Good Luck!
      –TheAnsible
      http://jperez600aday.wordpress.com/

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      1. I tend to have second thoughts about everything, and i guess that’s why i started this in the first place. An encouraging word is always good, and i appreciate Yours! I’ll start writing and just learn from the experience. Thanks!

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      2. Hello TheAnsible — we’re delighted you’re so active within the Community Pool. Please don’t leave a link to your blog beneath your comments. That’s considered spammy and we delete them. Folks can click on your gravatar to arrive at your blog.

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    2. Dont allow fear to stop you. You dont know unless you try. Release a post and see how it goes. Write whats in your head then go back and organize the piece. If its several different topics, break them up and expand on a paragraph. Create tags and visits blogs with similar topics. Engage with them, perhaps it will peak their curiosity and they will visit your blog. If you are looking to write on something that will allow you to get your feet wet, participate in a writing prompt of photo challenge. This will bring together like minded individuals.

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    3. I feel you ! I have the similar ‘blog fright’ when I first started. So far i only have 2 or 3 post on my blog after i created the site more than 4 months ago.

      I think to it helps when you frame your blog around a theme (eg: if you like cats, or photography) and write around those theme.

      Or if you are really unsure what to write, just write about anything that comes into your head. Usually this freestyle writing process helps unblock your mind so your writing idea flow freely. You can always improve once you get started. I wish you good luck!

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    4. Sure, putting yourself out there is scary, but isn’t that why you have a blog and audience? This being the internet and all, if someone doesn’t like it they can go looking for something else. Be true to you

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  9. Can someone pls help me? When you go into my home page and scroll down, you see several posts. Those posts that has many LIKES, you will noticed that the LIKES is all squeezed and partly covered by TAGS. It looks messy and you can hardly see the number of LIKES on the homepage itself but of course when you click on that particular post, the likes are displayed neatly.
    I hope you know what I mean but if you visit my page (and scroll down looking for the post with many LIKES), you can probably understand better. THANK YOU.
    http://worldwidesoulmate.wordpress.com/

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  10. If anyone is writing a post on friendship pls visit my page and I would love to have your link or pingback here.

    Worldwide Friendship

    For singles, please pingback here

    Relationship Page for Singles

    I aim to do a friendship blog to connect all like minded people around the world. It is a big idea and i am not making much progress yet. Just hope one day to make my blog an interactive one so would love your comments and visit. Much appreciated. Thank you.

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  13. Here is a short story I finished writing yesterday. I am not overly experienced in writing short stories as I spend a lot of my time on poetry. But I would like to eventually become fluent in both. I’d love if some of you would give it a read and offer any comments or advice:
    “The Girl who was Never Wrong”
    Part 1: http://louisebleger.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/the-girl-who-was-never-wrong-part-2/
    Part 2: http://louisebleger.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/the-girl-who-was-never-wrong-part-2/

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  14. I am just wondering about PAGES. I created separate pages on my blog (besides the ‘home’ and ‘about’ page). The question here is when I first created that page eg http://littlegirlstory.wordpress.com/little-borneo-girls-wordless-wednesday/
    that page does not show up on my reader (I am my own follower) so I wonder if anyone actually know that post exist? Just a thought because it seems my two pages (other than ‘home’ and ‘about’) are hardly viewed at all.
    Perhaps someone could let me know how I could get readers to be aware of those pages? Are they shown to readers when I first created them? Can I do certain posts to go to that page rather than going to the ‘home’ page by default?
    Thank you.

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    1. I just took a look at your page. I see five different pages and was able to click on each one. There was content. I do think that when you post, it will automatically go to your home page. You will have to go into your dashboard and click edit. Just add the new material above the old. This is just my guest. I’ve not tried it yet

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  15. Hi everyone, I am not connecting to the daily prompt page, since the day of the new makeover. I miss the old daily post coming in an e-mail. I linked with it, after pressing the link button and typing the URL given in the daily post. Now I am in a fix. Please Help.

    Getting Over Obsession

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  16. Hi Bloggers! I’m somewhat of a newbie, having only posted 6 blogs, so I would love a little advice. Do you think it will get boring?! I am posting my weekly paintings step-by-step. Now that I’ve posted a few, it’s beginning to feel repetitive. I love it and the “assignment” gives me reason to paint. But is it and will it continue to be interesting to others? What do you think? Any advice is appreciated. 🙂

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    1. Hey! I really dig your blog, the step by step pictures are really interesting to look at! I think you can attract more people to your blog by posting time lapse videos of your paintings (like mine) because everyone loves watching time lapse videos no matter what the subject is. Plus you will have a video linked to your blog. I would start a youtube account for it and link the videos over, so that when someone searches something as broad as “painting time lapse” they could find your video. Add fun music or voiceovers explaining what you are doing. Videos are an amazing networking tool! Following!

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      1. also reblogging and commenting on random blogs (giving honest feedback of course) is also good networking as it gets people to look at you! I try to do a few comments every day and my follows and views go up 🙂

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      2. GREAT idea!! Thank you so much! I love your blog, by the way. The layout, content, voice, is all great. I admire you for quitting your retail job and doing what you love. This is my ultimate goal…I’m looking forward to your informative posts and to see what interesting things come your way!

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Thank you so much 🙂 I am also looking forward to your posts! It’s like an interesting story and we’ll see how it goes! Life is pretty cool huh 🙂

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    2. No, I dont think it will become boring. There are food blogs, craft blogs, photography blogs. In essence these are niches and there is an audience for it. Begin adding tags to your posts (if you havent already) and look for others with the same tags. Visit their blogs and comment or follow. You will notice that a photographers blogs mainly has photographer followers. Its about being like minded

      Took a gander at your blog, its a nice space you are creating. Also if you want to break up the repetitiveness, participate in a photo challenge. You can create a painting for it. Make sure you ping back (copy link and insert at the beginning or end of your post) and it will draw others to your blog as well and give you blogs to look at.

      Liked by 1 person

  17. Hey! I just posted my first app review and I plan to do more. If you have a minute can you please tell me if it was helpful? Any suggestions you have would be great! It’s actually a pretty awesome free app and maybe worth a read anyway? 🙂

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    1. Post every day! Even if you think you have nothing to say, an anecdote or a picture will do, as long as your readers have something to look at. Plus the more posts you have (no matter how teeny even a sentence or captionless picture) gives you a greater presence on the web and you have more chances of being found and followed. Good luck 🙂

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      1. Thanks. Just wanted to have an idea of my page. If it looks welcoming. Any suggestions would do. Thank you so much. I will try post everyday and keep my presence out there.

        -Nakul Bajaj

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    2. I like your posts. Its great to see you encouraging others to eat healthier. I’ve been doing so for quite some time: fresh fruits and veggies. Never canned or frozen. On the rare occasion that I have a biscuit, I make them from scratch. I hope others will really take a deeper look at what they put into their body. Your blog offers a step in the right direction.

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      1. Hi Lana,

        I am glad you like my posts. I am very health conscious person, so is something I really enjoy to dig into. Oh that is really good to know that you like making everything from scratch.
        If you want you can post some of your recipes. Would definitely like to know some. Please follow us for more posts.

        Regards,

        Nakul

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  20. Hey fellow bloggers, I was wondering if anyone could give me feedback on my blog’s name, Im not at all attached to the name, feel free to look at any of my writing. Also feel free to leave any comments on any of my writing of what you think or if you have any other suggestions I would love to hear them.
    Thanks guys!

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    2. Hi! I really like the name and I think your header is really effective too. I also had a quick scroll through your blog and in particular really liked the photos you have added – eye-catching and vibrant!

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    1. There are some themes that take your featured photo per post and turn them into a collage of images that serve as your front page. You can click the individual image and go to each post. It’s a nice minimalist look. Themes that do this include Espied, Illustratr, Spun, Fontfolio, AutoFocus, and Hatch.

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  23. Hi Guys,
    I am not the best at regular posting, I really need to work on that. But I was wondering if you all have time, would you mind popping over to my blog and giving me feedback on the look, feel and content pretty please? I would really appreciate it. I sort of feel that I am posting about important and relevant stuff, but I feel I only appeal to a niche readership.
    Thanks
    DTB

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    1. Just took a look. Nothing alarming jumps out. Also your first read was great. If you are looking to engage a larger audience or for a varied group of readers, participating in the writing prompts and photo challenges are a way: https://wordpress.com/dailypost/dp_prompt/, https://wordpress.com/dailypost/dp_writing_challenge/, https://wordpress.com/dailypost/submit-blogging-event/. Also make sure you ping back and visit others blogs with similar content, comment and follow.

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    2. I think a more visually pleasing header image would give a better first impression. I enjoyed your insights on libraries and have the greatest respect for the field. Starting last year I began presenting travel programs in libraries and have had the privilege of meeting quite a few

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  24. hi everyone ! i’m semi new to this blogging stuff…check out my blog for awesome homemade recipes, juicing recipes & more…also feedback would be amazing & any suggestions… thank you very much

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  25. Hi. I have started a blog about my observations on living in Uzbekistan. I’ve written it in an alphabetized, sort of “encyclopedia” format. Please look at the format. I suspect that the short, pithy statements that I wrote on earlier blogs are better than my more recent longer entries. Would appreciate feedback on that topic. (Open to other feedback as well.) Thnx.
    http://uzbeckons.wordpress.com/

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  28. Hey guys! I posted a comment earlier but it’s not showing, so I’ll just post again, I’m looking for feedback on my blog in general, any feedback whatsoever, particularly on the content would be very helpful. Thank you!:-):-)

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    1. I took a look at you blog, and have a few suggestions if you don’t mind hearing them. 1) Find your voice. There were lots of pictures but little descriptions. Readers need some substance to go along with the visuals 2) Create more engaging content. From what I saw, your posts would fit better on a Fecebook page than a blog. A blog lets you go deeper and tell more of the story. It seems you could have said as much as you did on Instagram. Hope this helps

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    1. Photos are definitely well-thought and provide intriguing scenery and fine detail. Originality is strong in most areas, but some ideas seem a little typical and ordinary. Descriptions could use a little more sensory appeal and the content, in order to provoke the most interest, should be different and unseen. Also, I advise you to explore the creative side of you and try new things with minimal comfort at times. This will also help diversify your blog, and it already has a good variety element.

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      1. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I started blogging recently and I agree with all the comments you made, your comments will help me improve.:-)

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