Jul 6, 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 everyone! I have a travel blog and I mostly have been writing essays and posting photos about places I’ve been. Recently, I’ve written a few more personal posts that are focused less on a place and more about me and my plans. For example, see my most recent post http://wentlooking.com/2014/07/05/world-youre-too-large-but-dont-ever-shrink/ or my Liebster Award post http://wentlooking.com/2014/05/14/a-momentary-change-of-tune-the-liebster-award/ . These posts have been surprisingly popular and have gotten more views than average. My question is do you think I should do more of these kinds of posts or is the mix I have right now fine?

    Thanks for looking! By the way, I’m off to Siberia, the Baltics, and Finland soon. I’ve been to Russia and Finland already, but if anyone has some recommendations for traveling around the Baltic countries I’d be happy to hear. 🙂

    http://wentlooking.com/

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  5. Hi everybody, I am really nervous to even ask for your feedback because at this point my confidence is kind of dead. My new Blog is going nowhere as far as getting any readers/followers at all!! Could you please take a peek and possible offer me some ideas?

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    2. Just keep writing! From your posts so far, I don’t quite get the sense of what your blog is about or your voice. I think that will come with more writing and more posts.

      The diet post was the most difficult to follow, but I think it’s only because it is one big long paragraph. Perhaps, try to play around with the rhythm of your writing. Experiment with sentence lengths, break your thoughts into smaller paragraphs, things like that.

      As far as getting readers, that’s definitely not where I shine so I can’t help you there.

      Great work and keep writing. You’ll only improve with each new post.

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    3. It takes time. The best advice I could give you is to read other blogs and share your thoughts. Blog hopping is a good way to meet new people and it should help finding new readers.

      Happy blogging!

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    4. The one thing that a lot of new people to blogging don’t do is to mingle or blog hop. Great content and format is only half the effort – you have to pursue your target audience by following and commenting on blogs that share your interests. It takes time, good luck! 🙂

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  6. I would greatly appreciate some comments and help with something I have struggled with since launching. That is, how can I make my blog more visually appealing. I do not like the layout and feel very limited by the WP offering. Maybe I am just a novice, maybe I am part right?

    I purchased the custom Theme package for $99 to help things a bit. All I have used is the video press from that package. The rest was a waste.

    Any tips, advise, and/or he really appreciated!

    http://www.diybackyardfarm.com

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    1. Hi, I’m probably not a great person to offer suggestions because I am really new to blogging and I’ve never grown a vegetable in my life! however as an objective opinion I did find the blog a little simplistic, both in appearance and the writing style., if that makes sense. Perhaps that’s the style you are hoping for. Otherwise everything seemed well thought out and the content well informed.

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    2. I like your theme. It is one I haven’t come across of any other blog as yet.

      I spent a lot of time tweaking my blog. I wasn’t happy with the layout etc. I found the layout selection to be limited, however I have learned love mine. I guess you have to take time to play around with different themes until you find the right one for you.

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    3. Hi there,
      I really liked your theme and LOVED your header, it is really great and right on point to represent yourself and your blog. The background is good too, but the lefthand side seems a little bit out of focus compared to the right hand side. If you have a slightly clearer pic you might want to change it up, only because it was a teeny bit visually distracting for me. I am going to go follow you now because we have just build some massive garden beds and I need all the help I can get 🙂

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  7. Hi everyone… I’ve been blogging on WordPress since 2008(?)… Was freshly pressed a couple of times (still no idea how or why) but disabled all of my work due to a stalking X. :/

    Just got married 6/21 (for the last time) and we started a blog about our adventures and dreams.

    I’ve been exploring different tools (category pages) to showcase our two main objectives – our bus conversion project and our dream of having a canoe family (we’ll explain that more on the blog).

    Eventually we plan on being nomadic and running our business on the road, our blog will be one form of communication about what we are doing.

    I am really struggling with theme and layout. Not sure that what we picked is right for us. Would you mind taking a look and we are open to suggestions. We’ve just started but I think there are enough posts for you to get a gist of our style and tone.

    Thank you in advance for your feedback!

    Molly & Fred
    Molly & Fred’s Excellent Adventures | You only have one life…live it!

    https://lifeasweknowitonedayatatime.wordpress.com/

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    1. Hi Molly and Fred, I love the idea of your life plans and the Blog to go along with them! Somehow I felt a little as if the Blog theme was too plain for your wonderful colourful family and ambitions. Just a suggestion. Happy travels.

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      1. Thanks! I feel that way too… Hoping someone may be able to assist my creative juices and make a recommendation for a theme. We aren’t opposed to paying for one but want to make sure we like it before taking the plunge.

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      2. Good idea Molly, Unfortunately I’m too new and therefore not familiar enough with the themes to be much help. Sorry

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    2. Hi! I have a few (pretty nit-picky) suggestions. Figuring out a theme etc can be tough…

      I love the header! The immediate visual appeal of the blog is good. A few tweaks I would make (if you can with that theme – or just to keep in mind if you decide to change) would be to make the title a bit larger (since the blog title is smaller than the post titles) and to make the tagline a darker color, since I find it a bit hard to read against the background.

      I would also fiddle with your widgets a bit. For example, can you add a title to the authors widget, so people easily know what it is? I’m also not sure if the recent posts widget is necessary since your landing page is your recent posts.

      Other than those few small things, I think you’re definitely on the right track though! 🙂 Good luck tweaking everything!

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      1. Thanks! Definitely great suggestions and not at all nit-picky. I’ll see if I can customize with this theme.

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    3. Hi, I love your header pic. It just looks like one of those magical candid moments that happened to be captured on film.
      The only thing I would suggest is similar to Amanda, I feel like your colourful life would be better represented by a colour other than grey 🙂

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  8. I have a question for this blog controller. Who controls Freshly Pressed? Why is there so much obsession with gay people? The fact is there are only a few countries of the world that recognize gay as anything but a perverse and/or illegal activity, so don’t say because it is popular, that is totally false. Who is paying to perpetuate this kind of activity, i.e. for so many media controllers to say it is popular, when in fact it is not? This is my community pool question for the day.

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    1. The fact is that more than a few countries recognize gay people for what they are – human beings. Seventeen countries legally recognize same-sex marriages and two others have regional or court provisions to this effect. Even more countries recognize civil unions or have other protections, and the number is growing.

      Recognizing reality is not an obsession. Gay people exist.

      Denying people basic human rights and protections simply because you disagree with their activities (consensual relationships which aren’t harming anyone!) is what is perverse.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. It is a fight to make sinful behavior a norm, not anything else. Equalizing sinful behavior to non-sinful behavior is not possible. Behavior can be legalized but it cannot be made not sinful.Look at Las Vegas, NV where prostitution is legalized, i does not remove the sin. It is an unfortunate turn from righteous behavior to sin.
        Gay union legalization movement is the first time in this country that we have had parades to promote sin., The media has taken up this banner and I search for the source. Unfortunately, you did ot answer my question.

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    4. As the moderator of this page, I’d like to stress to everyone that the Community Pool is reserved specifically for bloggers to provide feedback to each other on their posts, layout, and any other blogging-related questions they have. It is not a forum for other discussions, however interesting or important.

      Since you already posed your question, though, I could at least give it the courtesy of a response. Freshly Pressed is curated by the editors of WordPress.com (I’m proud to be one myself), with contributions from other staff members as well as suggestions from the community. Nobody on our team has ever been paid to select any particular post, or to focus on any specific topic.

      Freshly Pressed showcases the best writing we find on WordPress.com that deals with both timely and timeless topics. Human rights and equality in general, and gay rights in particular, happen to be both. I suspect that they will continue to be important topics as long as bigotry continues to be as “popular” as you describe, so I’d be surprised not to see more related posts in the future. You’re of course welcome to skip those, and/or to offer a dissenting view on your own blog.

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      2. Here goes…..1st paragragph….spelling mistake….”thought”, you left out the last “t”.

        Paragraph 2 , “simply there to take as many classes with my best friend Jaclyn” might sound better as “simply there to take as many classes as my best friend Jaclyn.” You would have to play around with it to get a good flow…..I’m not an expert.

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    1. Hi, Well all I can say is that I love it all. I love the theme, set-up, name and your writing……keep it up.

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    2. I love the title of your blog as well as your background photo. I enjoyed your first post as well. Keep ’em coming and keep getting feedback. 🙂

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    3. I forgot to mention, you might consider adding a “contact me” page to your site if you wish. Also, if you like your blog name, you can purchase the url very cheaply for when you are ready to take that next step. I just bought my url for $1.17 :-).

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  12. Hello all, I’ve just finished editing all the little things on my blog (design, layout, functionality), what do you guys think? Any suggestions? And as a side note, what are your thoughts on creating a Facebook page for my blog?
    http://mlin427.wordpress.com/

    Hope y’all had a great weekend! -Michael

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    1. Hey! I think your blog looks really great. You chose a nice layout and everything I look for when I first land upon a blog is there. My only really nit-picky suggestion would be for your About page – when you start a sentence with a number, you should spell it out.

      As far as a Facebook page goes, if you think you have ample supplementary content for your blog to post there (relevant articles, shorter blurbs, etc) and you have enough time to maintain it, I suppose it couldn’t hurt! But I wouldn’t create one if you think it would detract from the time you need to work on your actual blog or other pages. 🙂

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      1. Hey thanks so much for all the feedback! Those are all good points for the potential Facebook presence. I’ll definitely take them into account!

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    2. That’s a nice and different kind of layout to what I am used to seeing that you have there. Quite visually pleasing and not too much white space, the white space that is there is effective.

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  14. Salut! Happy Sunday if it is Sunday where you are; if not, I hope you’re enjoying whichever day it might be. 🙂

    Yesterday I posted a poem I quickly typed up. You can find it here:

    If You’ve Ever Felt Slighted in Love

    Normally it takes me days, sometimes weeks to finish a poem satisfactorily. This one I just came up with in about half an hour, so I’m not sure it’s my best. It’s not sitting well with me but I can’t put a finger on what’s lacking.

    If you feel so inclined, I would love any and all feedback. You can reply to this comment or leave a reply on the original post itself. Either way works. Thanks so much!

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    1. I tried to “like” your poem but couldn’t find the button on your page…

      I’m new to wordpress, but if you point me in the right direction I’d like it.
      I would.

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      2. The ‘like’ button should appear in the upper left corner of the screen. There should be a black horizontal menu with the options to ‘like’ a post, ‘reblog’ a post, or ‘follow’ a blog. The ‘like’ option doesn’t appear for me, but I’m assuming that’s because I can’t like my own blog posts. I’m not that arrogant. 😛

        I hope this helps.

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  16. Hey all! If you crave food whether you’re pregnant, non-pregnant, or none of the above, check out my blog:

    http://www.theraymartcrave.wordpress.org

    My latest post is the month of July and how America loves to eat during this month. I also have older posts which I transferred here from my old blogger site to wordpress. It’s a bunch of reviews and events in NYC. Any feedback or comments appreciated.

    Thanks, gracias, danke, arigatou!

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  18. hi everyone! I had previously left a comment, but I’ve just been messing around with my theme – so I’d like some feedback to see what you all think 🙂
    I’d also like any feedback on posts/writing/ what to write and anything you fancy telling me about!
    Sare x
    http://www.newteacherlife.wordpress.com

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    1. Hi. Your blog looks good. Interesting posts. I’m no expert, but lets be honest, who is. I have followed on twitter. What to write? Absolutely anything goes;] Well done and good luck.

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  20. Hey everyone! I’ve been blogging for probably five months now but I’m debating what and if I should make pages for. My blog is about my travel experiences, so I’ve debated making pages for each location, but I’m not sure how that would look and if it would flow well.

    Here’s the link to my blog: travelguided.wordpress.com

    Also, if you have any suggestions on how to gain followers (that are truly interested) please send advice my way! Thank you so much!!

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    1. Hi travelguided, great blog! though personally I would use a different theme – not sure that one’s suitable for a travel blog. That’s just me though.

      The best way to gain new followers is to do for others what you are asking them to do for you. Subscribe to similar blogs, read their content and comment: build a rapport. Finally, be patient and they will come 🙂

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    2. Hi! I’m a travel blogger and actually had that debate myself for a little while. Especially given that you already have a categories widget, it might be repetitive to have a new page for every location. Eventually, I settled for making one places page – http://wentlooking.com/places/ . I’ve received good feedback regarding it. I’ve also seen similar pages on other travel blogs and I find them handy. It’s nice to be able to reference any travel destination from just one page. The one downside is that I have to manually update it whenever I publish a new post, but that just takes a minute.

      A couple of other small suggestions would be to move your subscribe widget closer to the top and consider adding a little “about” widget that briefly describes your blog so people know immediately what it’s about without having to look. I’m also not sure if you need a recent posts widget since your landing page is your recent posts.

      Your blog really does look good, though! I think the header image you chose is really nice and fitting. 🙂

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    3. Hi Kaley. I would tend to agree with Leah on the ‘About Me’ section – It’s nice to understand the voice behind the blog and your motivation. My own blog has some travel posts which people seem to enjoy.

      Reason being, they chart my own colourful experiences. Things not found in a Lonely Planet Guide. Don’t be afraid to blog about these as they are sometimes the source of humour for others, e.g. Your dirty, cheap hostel in Barcelona. Just my own thoughts – If people want to understand the city they will consult a guide. But the ‘warts and all’ behind the scenes view that you could share, could be infinitely more interesting.

      Love your photos by the way!
      Buen Suerte!

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      1. Thanks so much Aidan! I’ll definitely take that advice, and thank you for your kind words!

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    1. Hi Robyn! I have a quick suggestion for your layout. While the Machu Picchu header is great (I love that place too!) I think it would be a bit better to chose a header about where you’ll be studying abroad, especially because your blog title and tagline mention that specifically.

      Overall the layout is pretty nice and clean though. 🙂

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    2. If I were you I would wrap text around your images instead of lumping them all at the bottom of a blog post. Just a thought! Good luck with the travels

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    3. Hi Robyn. I have just read and thoroughly enjoyed your blog. It’s informative, entertaining and well written, with some great advice. I will recommend it to my daughter who is currently studying for her A levels. Good luck with your adventure. I look forward to reading more.

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  23. Hi everyone. I started my blog Travels with my Son http://travelswithmyson.wordpress.com/ because I wanted to write about my independent travels – the fact that these have been with my adopted son was secondary. However, I quickly found that it was much easier getting an audience for my writing about adoption. My question for you: should I stick with the travel writing (for example http://travelswithmyson.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/kayaking-the-hudson-with-a-12-year-old/) or develop the adoption writing (a bit niche and I might be running out of ideas! See latest post at http://travelswithmyson.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/nine-years-ago-today/). All advice and feedback very welcome. Thank you.

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  24. If you don’t have a lot of time on your hands then my blog has lots of short posts that are intended to be amusing (except on the occasion I read a depressing book and quote stuff) so please check it out!

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  29. Two quick questions: 1)with the new posting format, whenI go to Visual how do I paste just one photo (like I used to) and not a gallery? 2) my tags don’t show on my published post. Why not? Thanks for your help.

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    1. I struggled with this too, in the end I right clicked on the photo I wanted and clicked copy then clicked where I wanted it to go in the post and right clicked and selected paste. This was the only way I could get it to work.
      I can no longer find my image Library either which is really annoying… I miss the old way, it was SO straightforward before 🙂

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      2. Haha, I usually enjoy change, but I just really liked the way it worked before. It seems to have gone to the older platform really, it feels like it has gone backwards rather than forwards. Hope it works for you.

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