Jun 15, 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.

Photo by t_a_i_s.

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  2. Hi all!
    I’d appreciate any thoughts on my blog and if there are things that i can add to attract viewers/subscribers.

    patienceiskeyblog.wordpress.com

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    1. I took a look and didn’t see even one graphic/photo, so some eye candy might help. We live in a visual world and some graphics that complement your posts and a header graphic that encapsulates your objective would be helpful

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      1. sorry for the delay in replying Ben, I will do something on both your points this week as I agree about the visual world.
        Thanks for taking time out to comment
        Chris

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  3. Hey guys! i’ve already recieved the most fabulous feedback, i am honestly willing to discuss anything, so if anyone wants to follow i’ll follow straight back and maybe you could leave some suggestions for topics that you’re interested in and i will write a blog post on it and give my opinion! I really appreciate it all and i’ll leave some suggestions for anyone that comments after following them and checking out their blog 🙂 thankyou all! x http://www.seizethedaisess.wordpress.com

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  5. Hello all 🙂 I’ve been writing a miniseries about school and it deals with coping with issues like bullying. ..if you don’t mind stopping by and letting me know what you think!

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  7. I have just started blogging and would like some feedback on whether I am on the right track. Please view my blog on rachelchitongo.wordpress.com or twitter.com/rachelchitongo

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    1. Good job. Except I think you’re missing a photo in your breast feeding post. You mention a photo but I didn’t find it. I like the simplicity of your blog. Have fun and happy blogging.

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  8. Hi all, I’m a week into this, and just wondered if I was doing anything massively wrong, or whether I was missing anything obvious! Cheers. Shane
    wwe.thebiggestlittlehills.com

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    1. I think you’re off to a great start! I really like your layout. I only have a few small suggestions. One would be to add a subscription widget so readers can subscribe by email. Another would be to either start using categories for your posts or to get rid of the categories widget since it isn’t really helpful if the only category listed is uncategorized. I’d also delete the meta widget since those links aren’t really useful to readers. Perhaps under the about page you could include a little more info about the Shropshire Hills themselves (where they are, why they’re important, etc) or you could even create a separate page for that. Your photos are really nice and I think your blog looks great, especially for being just a week old!

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      1. Thank you. It’s very kind of you to take the time to look at it,and give such a detailed response. Yes, categories was next on my “to do” list. I like the subscription widget idea. That’s all really useful info and feedback. Much appreciated. Shane

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      1. Thank you Melene, that’s very kind of you. I’ve been so used to Twitter that I struggle with some aspects on here, but slowly getting used to it. Still haven’t figured out best time of day to post!. Twitters best hours for me are 0730-0900 hrs and 2030-2130 hrs. Thanks again, much appreciated.

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  9. Hey guys, I am thinking about starting a blog about some of the funny and embarrassing stories I’ve experienced so far in college. It’s mainly centered for other college age women who are also finding that the books we read about romance have nothing to do with reality…haha! Is that something that is even worth sharing?

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    3. Look forward to reading this. Its difficult to find blogs about other regular people and what they are doing etc but sometimes they are the most interesting to read!!

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    5. I would definitely love to hear something that that! Both insightful and funny, easily relatable… I like what you’re thinking.

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      1. Well the first post is up if you want to take a look at it! Tell me what you think and follow if you really like it

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    1. I like the layout overall. However, I do have a slight issue with the orange color. It works well most of the time (and I’m hardly one to shy away from color on my blog) but it makes your tagline hard to read.

      On a similar note, you might try playing around with other themes. The one you use has those red circles at the top and they feel out of place with your color scheme. Or, can you change the color of those circles? Some themes might also offer a way out of the tagline issue by having a slightly larger font for that element. (My tagline is integrated into my header image but I don’t think that would work with your header because the result would be too cluttered. As things stand, your header is solid. I wouldn’t mess with it.)

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    1. I like the design of the blog, the contrasting white and green are eye catching. I would caution you to be less negative though. If you don’t like your own work then others may not as well, but If you are supportive of your work then the people reading it will be too 🙂

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    2. Hey! I think your blog content is good but the design could be a little better. It’s not the most user-friendly and maybe you could use a more eye-catching layout. Good luck with everything! 🙂

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    1. Hi — I read your post and I thought you gave great reasons why you should forgive but not many suggestions on how. If you figured out the ‘how”, I would share that in a future post.

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  14. Hi I am not getting much traffic on my blog at present. I also keep get a SEO email which I totally do not understand. Any helpful tips would be appreciated. Thanks

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    1. Is it a “Hi, I notice you don’t have the SEO plugin go here to take a look” email? Ignore it, it’s spam. In fact if it isn’t already marked as spam, make sure you do to avoid getting them in future.

      The best way to drum up traffic is to reach out to other bloggers by reading their work and commenting,. following your favourites.

      Good luck!

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    2. It doesn’t look like you’re using any tags. Tags help people find your posts. For example, your top post about the World Cup could be tagged “soccer”, “football”, “world cup”, and “the beautiful game”. Your post would then show up when people browse those tags on WordPress, and it will also help search engines direct people towards your posts. (Just don’t use too many tags. WordPress will hide posts with more than 15 tags from the reader to try and keep results relevant.)

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      3. Yes, I didn’t see any, that’s why I said it didn’t look like you were using tags. Even if there’s more than 15, they still show up on your blog. It’s just the post itself won’t show up when people search for one of the tags in the WordPress reader. If you are entering and saving tags and they aren’t showing up, try asking in the troubleshooting forum.

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    1. Hi! I think it is off to a great start. From the few posts I’ve been through so far I can see the differences in personalities – I think there is enough commonality but each author does have their own voice. My one suggestion would be to have a little about blurb for each author (in addition to the about page for the blog), so readers can get a better idea about each individual behind the posts. Look forward to reading more!

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  16. hey 🙂 my problem is that I don’t blog that often. I prefer writing by hand and I would really appreciate for others to have a look at my blogs when I do get the time to blog. Buf because I don’t that often, my stuff rarely gets seen. I admit, most of it is not the best! I really find it a task to write by hand then to type it all up again.and I don’t feel in any creative mood when I’m in front of a computer screen. I would rather write because it makes me happy, not write to have no one see what I’ve done and in the process feel like it’s a task.
    All I’m asking is for a bit of feedback and if you like my style, follow my blogs, I will follow you back 🙂

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    1. Hi Sarah — I checked out your blog and I started to read “Real is not the Sea” and I was intrigued by it until I came upon many punctuation errors (example — “he say’s”] They pulled me out of the story. I’m not trying to be a stickler but errors like that make anything you write less readable and isn’t readability what everyone wants?

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    2. Hi Sarah — I checked out your blog and started to read “Real is not the Sea” until I was pulled out of the story (which I was intrigued by) by punctuation errors like “i’m” and “he say’s”. Errors like that make your story less readable and less likely for readers to stick with reading your story all the way through.

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  17. This is perfect timing! I just posted a blog here: http://wp.me/4cJfr and added pictures with captions. The end result was not what I was aiming for. Instead of having 4 neat pictures next to each other, they are randomly splattered across the bottom of my post. I would love suggestions and/or tips on how to upload pictures so they look more aligned. Thank you so much!

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    1. It looks like your layout might be 3 columns. I suggest changing it to two (so that the date is displayed above or below the post instead of the left hand side), that way your display will be wider and the pictures you mentioned will fit on the same line. Also, make sure the alignment of the pictures are all the same, like to the left. Then they will line up side by side instead of scattered.

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      1. Thank you so much for commenting! I really appreciate it. Ok, I will work on changing my display (if I can figure that out!) and check the alignment of my pictures. That I do know how to do! Thanks again and thanks for following my blog!

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    1. When you say journalist, what do you mean by that? For example, do you want to take events that happened and report on them or do you want to create your own topics to write. I like your blog so far, very clean and the topics you have written about are deep ones that can be elaborated on many times over so they make for good discussion topics.

      I would recommend however that you further define your purpose so that people are not confused.

      Keep up the good work 🙂

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      1. I’m not too sure what type of journalist, i’m looking to study journalism at university next year so this blog is just a starting platform for me to get feedback on my writing and to have a go at writing some blog posts! Thank you for your lovely comment and feedback 🙂

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    1. The content is good but the tone is a little dry. I would expect it to be a bit more conversational, write as though you are talking to a group of friends who won’t interrupt and they are listening intently.

      I would also suggest putting in images to illustrate what you are talking about. Google image search for stock photos or some of your favourite fitness sites will help. Use a different theme, not really sure the one you are using is suitable. I would expect to see more of a “magazine” look to a fitness blog, you know?

      Good luck with it!

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      1. Thank you, I do tend to sound a little stuffy. And I am looking into a new theme now. Thanks again.

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      3. Much better (you’re using the same theme as I am now so of course I will approve!) Not sure about the green background though, personally.

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    1. Hi! You’d be much more likely to receive helpful feedback from others if you provided a link to the post in question. Thanks!

      Liked by 1 person

  30. Hey :)!

    I have just started a blog last month. As of now it has no clear direction; I’m kinda just experimenting by blogging about semi-personal topics and trying to make them relatable and engaging (albeit mainly to 21 year old girls, maybe!?)

    Any feedback would be great! Take a look:

    http://bloggingthroughtwentyone.wordpress.com/

    Char x

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    1. I read a few of your posts and found it not only interesting but also a bit motivational. It made me chuckle to myself in places where I could relate and also changed my perspective with a few things too! Look forward to another post popping up for me to read 🙂 x

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      1. Wow, thank you so much for your time and lovely comments! Very encouraging 🙂

        Best of luck with your wedding planning!

        Char x

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      1. Hey 🙂

        I’m only a newbee blogger myself but I would suggest editing your ‘About me’ page. (At the moment it looks as though you still have the WordPress prompt text in there). I feel it is important to personalise this as readers will likely use it as a first point of call to decide if your content suits their interests.

        Not much but I hope it helps!

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