May 4, 2014 / Community Pool

Community Pool

The Community Pool is for those of you looking for feedback, 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 . .

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.
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  1. Hello Guys! Happy Sunday! I have been working on new theme, pages, etc…over the last week or so…I had a couple of questions…do you all think I need an About Page (about me I mean)? I am not a bit fan of it, but not sure if it does a big difference the way I am organizing everything? Thoughts? Question #2…ease of navigation? Easy? Hard?

    Anything else you think could help improve the look of site would be truly appreciated! Thank you all for the help!

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    1. Personally I always look for an about page when I first visit a new blog. My feeling is it certainly doesn’t hurt anything, and it can be very helpful. Your site seems to be about more than movie/film reviews, as there’s a link to “company info”, so an about page could easily tie everything together and explain exactly what kind of things you can find on the site and through the company.

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      2. You know, I actually overlooked the about page the first time I looked! I didn’t think to check for a drop-down menu on the blog link. I don’t know if that’s just me not being observant, or if you might want to think of putting it somewhere more obvious.

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  2. Excellent. It’s like you were writing my life. Definite have a follower in me now. Thanks for posting. I like the blog itself in that it looks professional and easy on the eyes. I’m jealous.

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    1. Hey – I looked at inspiremetotally, and I don’t know if the design you currently have is good for what you want. At least not as it is – there were two layers of widgets when I tried to look at it, and it was confusing. IMHO. Best wishes.

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    1. Looks great, well done…it’d be good to know who/what/where we are looking at, but beside that (and I know it’s neat picking) looks real nice! Sweet pictures too!

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  6. Hi! I just cannot figure out why my pic will not show up on my blog page. 2. I really tried to write today for first time, Please check it out and let me know your TRUE opinion! 3. Still learning edit, paste, URL, etc.. Forgive me if my mistake cause you to not check my blog out but one day I will get better at this blogging phenomenon! #justmesaying!

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    1. Hi Millie. I’m sure you’re a fine artist, but I suspect you’re new in blogsphere. We do quite some ‘wording job’ here, one way or another. And your blog need some major reworking (but I will only mention a few).

      The blog’s TITLE (‘Milli Walsworth’), TAGLINE (‘~ Artist & Painter’) and the ABOUT page (‘Millie Walsworth Artist & Painter’) are three different things. So why say the same thing three times? I mean, it would be more appealing if made something like this (just a wild example):
      title: ‘My Third Eye’
      tagline: ‘a visual journey’
      about: ‘About the artist’
      This way, instead of just repeating yourself 3x, you say three different aspects about you or your blog.

      The ABOUT page. The intention of anybody coming here is obvious: they want to know more about the blogger and/or the blog. So say something about it (you and/or the blog). And please, get rid of that strangely placed ‘flag counter’.

      Really, Millie. I strongly suggest you do some asking around (to the people near you) about blogging. And I say this because I think the paintings are good. Good luck! 🙂

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    1. Hi PJ. Just checked your homepage. You sure know what you’re doing, don’t you? Layout-wise, each part (blog’s header, posts’ headers) does their own duties.
      Now that’s cool! 🙂

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  10. I would like someone to visit my blog and give me some feedback. I had up to 4,877 visits in one day and 25,000 in the month of March alone but for some reason everything dropped suddendly in April.

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    1. Good story! I think it’s an engaging story that takes the reader in while also giving a lesson on meaning and nuance. Success!

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  12. I recently changed my theme and updated some images and things as part of the blogging challenges. I would love some feedback on the appearance, navigability, that kind of thing. It’s a sports blog focused on Mexican soccer, and as it’s the playoffs I’ve been getting more traffic than usual, so feedback and constructive criticism would be much appreciated.

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    1. The navigation looks good, so I’ll pick on one appearance issue.

      I’d suggest adding a custom header to create some visual interest. It doesn’t have to be elaborate (mine isn’t) or time consuming.

      For example, you could have a white box surrounded by a solid black line. Then, have your headline and tagline centered in the image and put a larger copy of your green soccer ball icon on the left and right sides… if you have a version that doesn’t pixelate when it’s bigger.

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    1. Hi there! I think the blog posts you have already written about are important for people to read~ keep it up ❤ wren

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  14. Hi! ^.^
    So English is not my mother tongue but that does not stop me from trying to write a book in English. And this link is to a post on my blog, where I have posted a part of my prologue. Would love if you read it and leave a comment, whether you would like to read the whole book or not and if it is a good idea for me to continue this story 🙂
    Thanks ^.^

    “The Dark in Me” – Prologue

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    1. Hi, I think you’re doing well with your English !! Your prologue is engaging and I’d encourage you to keep writing this story out. The idea of “the evil in everyone” is an engaging one and will make people curious as to what can happen. Best to you ❤ wren

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  15. I would love some feedback on topics people would like me to cover – useful things (research based) in the ‘general area’ of parenting and living a creative life with kids in tow. Thank you!

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  16. Hi everyone, we’re stoked to have this opportunity for feedback! We’re “Two Men Chew”, and we write about eating, restaurant trends, and food-related news. We have a few recurring themes that we write about each week. We’d be honored if you’d check out the blog and let us know what we might do to make the experience more welcoming, and also what features are actually working. Thanks!

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    1. I LOVE the blog name! Hilarious and witty. Must say I also love food, so I think you might be on to something. Will check out the blog itself and get back to you!

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    1. Hi emiwegierek. Yes, I think your blog does need some fine-tuning.

      Tagline. A tagline is a tagline (not a story). You can add the long description to your ‘About’ page. And I suspect your (very) long tagline could create some memory issue on some system.

      Narration-pictures. Make sure they work together, and not compete against each other. Like, if you want your pics to say a lot stronger, then you should narrate much shorter.

      Homepage. If your blog is made of long posts, then you had better NOT put everything on the homepage all at once. Use the ‘more tag’.

      Hope that helps. Enjoy your travelling. 🙂

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    2. I’m viewing on a mobile phone so there are long posts and long lines of pics, perhaps they could be better balanced. I have to say though I like the way you describe the people and places. I feel like I learned something, and I “followed” you.

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    1. hi, i read one of your posts. i liked that it was brief.
      i’m a new blogger too. trying to figure stuff out along the way. come drop by my blog sometime and tell me what you think 🙂

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  19. Hi folks! My wife says that my home page is just too weird and that nobody will understand it! LOL Is that true? NEED some feedback! (Pleez?)
    jebuckingham.com

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  20. I might be the most uninteresting blog out there. It’s Just my journey how I gave up smoking, my personal opinion, my puzzled outlook on my new smoke free live.

    I am kinda fine with the idea that I will be the only blog that will never been found, mainly because I have no clue what I am doing!

    http://nonsmokingladybug.wordpress.com/

    It’s my journey, my wicked sense of humor, my own wisdom. It’s not a guide, just a shared experience….to whom it may concern!

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    1. I’m not and have never been a smoker, but I could definitely see people trying to quit being interested in your blog. Sometimes you don’t want advice or a guide or a how-to, you just want to see how other people are dealing with the same situation you are.

      If you want people to find your blog, I would advise using some tags on your posts. They’ll show up in the WordPress reader and you might get some traffic from search engines as well. It looks like right now you are just using categories. Try adding some tags as well!

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      1. Thank you so much for your answer, it was very helpful! I think the reason why I started the blog is because I was sick and tired of “how to” advice, mainly because there is no one-fixes-all solution.

        Tags….well not sure how to do that, but will find out -so I hope 🙂

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  21. Happy weekend to all! My name is Anna Marie, I’m a writer just like most of you. I write a lot of poetry but I can’t tell if it’s crap or I’m on the right track! Check out my blog at frenchkush.wordpress.com and then go to the menu up top to pull down my poetry section and let me know what you think!

    Thanks and be well

    Anna Marie

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    2. I liked your pictures you posted, though a little extra info about them would be better I think
      Also I read your poems and just think you will write better articles(write ups or posts). Your poems content is good but it will have to improve a lot
      No offense, 🙂

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      2. Honestly it isn’t like a poetry, it is a post written in a poem format
        I am not trying to undermine or discount what you have written, that’s why I said you should try writing posts

        But that’s my opinion and some body else will think differently. So my final advice, write whatever you want to, how you want to. It is YOUR blog at the end.

        Sorry if I am too blunt:)

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    1. I love your home page. I didn’t find it “weird” at all. It is soothing and informative and bright. And puts a name to a feeling that I think people don’t have a name for. But I don’t want to fight your wife, maybe you should listen to her. 😉

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      1. Maybe, but maybe not so much… 😉

        Thanks, londryfairy. That is EXACTLY what I wished to convey!
        Critical question: did it make you want to discover more about me?

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      2. It was more service oriented. I was interested in you, but your tagline lends itself to more interest in “what services?” type of questions. It doesn’t appear to be an ultra-personal type blog.

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  23. Hello everyone! I have a dillema, or should I say I do not know how to do it… I want to make a Page like Parent page on my blog next to the About me etc. and then have the subcategories that my readers can link to… For example, I want to make a Photography Parent Page and subcategory of Weekly Photo Challenges, but how can I make it link to my posts?

    Also, I am trying to find a new theme, this one is fine but the content seems cluttered… What do you think? Feedback here would be great. 🙂

    http://ivymosquito.wordpress.com/

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    1. When looking to swap themes, it will be a process. Only you know how you want your content displayed. Go into themes and take time previewing them to decide what works best. It took me hours to choose the theme I wanted. When adding the pages you can always include a link on your main post at the end to draw readers attention to it. For challenges including the link creates a ping back to the post

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      1. Thank you very much. I was actually surfing and previewing the themes for the past two hours and saved some… I think maybe the change of a background can be a good decision too.

        So, if I make a Weekly Photo Challenge category under Parent Page…. I’m sorry… I get lost. I guess I will have to do some researching how I can do that, I don’t think pingback will help, I want to include all my older entries also. Thank you again 🙂

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      3. Thanks! I have to try stuff out… I am thinking about Pages not on the right but above, like the Menu thing.

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  24. Hello to all.
    I am a newbie to the blog scene and would like to jump into the freelance writing pool. I set up my blog – http://www.kimberlyharrison.wordpress.com to test the waters, explore my creativity, writing abilities and share some thoughts and reflections with others of like minds. My blog – Sockrates’ Cafe’ is meant to be a place where others can add their own reflections or opinions on a variety of topics. I would really appreciate some feedback and interaction.

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    1. I really like your subject matter. And your layout. I would like to see more passion or personality portrayed. Your blog is very informative, but I think you could strike up more conversation with some opinions thrown in with the facts. I will revisit your blog, soon.

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  25. Hi there!

    My issue is spacing between paragraphs and photos. Sometimes I can delete and other times not. I’ve tried working in text and visual mode.

    Thanks for any assistance with this issue.

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    1. You and me both, sista! I also would like to know about how to set up margins and layout in general. Maybe it depends upon the theme we use? If you find out, gibe me a shout-out would you? Also, can you tell me if my Home page makes sense or not? I’ve been told that it is hard to understand and that most people are going to need something a little more obvious. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks!

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      1. Hi JE,

        Thanks for responding! I would suggest that you look at others’ blogs and see how they have them set up. That may give you some ideas on how to modify yours.

        I will keep you updated on any discoveries or info I receive on the spacing issue.

        All the best!

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  26. Hello all!
    I have finally published my first post and I would be grateful for any feedback you have to offer from layout, content, organization of content etc. Bring it all – I’m open to all of it.
    Thanks in advance!

    http://snarkysweet.com

    Like

  28. Hey my fellow wordpressians 🙂 I am looking for constructive criticism, anddddd how to establish a target market…(target readers)?
    I’m having trouble with this because I just blog random stuff, and my readers generally like my blog (surprisingly) but deep down inside I feel like its sh#t :/ . I think I need to upgrade myself but I lack ideas.
    feel free to visit my blog and if you will,… do the deed of helping me answer my above questions. 🙂
    have a nice day
    writteninblue.wordpress.com

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    2. Well, what is your target audience? Beyond deciding that I think “tags” would help. I search WordPress by tag. Some I search are “poetry,” “religion,” and “SAHM.” Then I find blogs on topics I’m interested in. Random posts are okay (I think), but to get found they should be “tagged” by topic.

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    1. Hi lamarinaro. Just checked your homepage. Now that sure looks exotic! 🙂 But I guess you have some homework to do.

      1). If you have a long post (or have many pics in a post), you might want to use the ‘more tag’. So in ‘Plaza de España’–you can show only, say, the first two or four, then ‘more tag’. This way your homepage will load easier (actually I have to abort twice because the loading time seems taking forever).

      2). When your posts do have a lot of pics, you might consider using ‘table’. Check this out:

      The place

      Try click on one of the pics and see what happens. That’s the fun of using ‘table’ and ‘margin’. But you need to input some HTML code for these (from the ‘text editor’, NOT ‘visual editor’).
      Good luck! 🙂

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    2. I like your photos. The only thing (and it might not be a thing) is that I first thought it was a photo blog without written posts. I’m viewing on a smart phone, so maybe it is just that…?

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    1. First of all, that 1,000 figure reflects how many people have felt that your blog is worth following. Problem is, relatively few bloggers stick around for an extended period of time. When they quit blogging, they often quit reading the blogs they follow but they still count as followers. Your numbers look perfectly fine to me.

      That said, I do have one piece of advice. Your blog seems targeted at the eyeglass-wearing population; light text on a dark background can be tough for that crowd. If I were you (and if it’s possible), I’d lighten up the gray in your text boxes and switch to black text.

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    2. I can’t imagine it’s something you are doing wrong. Maybe, and this could just be because I only read the or four, but maybe the length doesn’t vary enough? They were pretty long, which takes commitment. 😉 Are they “tagged”? I didn’t notice when I was there… hmm. If you aren’t hitting high numbers with that many followers, I never will! 🙂

      Like