Jul 13, 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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  4. I’m back baby! I’ve also just given my blog a makeover and would love to know what people think?

    Should i ditch the cartoons? How easy is it to navigate? Lots of questions and I appreciate you taking the time to have a look.

    Steve http://steve-says.net/

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    2. Nice I love watching horror films but I’m a super scared person whwn alone or when it’s dark so hard to explain why I do this hahaha. Followed your amazing blog btw hope you dont mind. 😀

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      2. Aw thank you as well. Those words , you deserve them 😀 Its nice to have people reply to my simplest comments 😀 thank you very much again. I’ll try all your horror movie listings. 🙂 My netflix account should be used wisely hahaha . 🙂 Nice to know that now I dont need to always search what horror movie to watch at random.

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  10. Hi guys 🙂 Can I get some feedback on my blog – I don’t really have a niche so I write about anything and everything. Is there anything you would change?
    aminaahmesblog.wordpress.com

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    1. Good luck with the new blog! The layout looks good so far. I think you chose a nice theme (I’m a fan of black and white). I just have a few suggestions about your widgets. Since your landing page is your most recent posts, I don’t think the Recent Posts widget is necessary. Also, if you’re going to keep the Categories widget, it would be good to start categorizing your posts. Finally, I would suggest adding the Follow this Blog via Email widget and also a small text widget that quickly explains what readers can expect from the blog. That way they won’t have to dig around as much. Widgets definitely took me a little while to organize, so I hope this helps you! 🙂

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    1. I really enjoyed reading Speechless and the black & white design of your blog fits very well with your writing.

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    1. Hi Jennifer, good luck with your study abroad preparations! I grew up in a small town in the rural USA and went to St. Petersburg to study abroad, so I can empathize. Looking forward to seeing how you like it!

      I have a couple layout suggestions for you as you start out, which would be to add some widgets and an about page to fill out your blog and provide readers with more info. WordPress has a lot of good info about doing both. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Leah..your articles are good. And i love travelling too.. I like it better when im alone. Exploring every and any place i like without worrying about anything. I like to follow you. But i dont know how to. You may help me. 🙂

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      2. Thanks so much for the kind words! If you’re signed into WordPress, at the very top of my blog you should see a black strip with a “follow” button towards the left. If you click that, then my posts will show up in your reader. This instruction works for other WordPress blogs you’d like to follow too! Or, if you’d rather get emails whenever I publish a new post, go here http://wentlooking.com/about/ and scroll down just a bit. On the right, under “Keep Looking” there’s a button you can click to subscribe. 🙂

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      3. Hi Leah! thanks for the reply 🙂 Wow, the USA and Russia are both places I would love to visit. Do you have blog posts about your time abroad?
        Thanks a lot for the suggestions! Will get on with that now!

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      4. No problem! Let me know if you’d like any additional feedback once you’ve made changes. 🙂 I didn’t keep a public blog during my time studying abroad, but I’ve posted a bit about my experiences years later in my current blog. If you look here http://wentlooking.com/places/ under Russia and Germany (I did a summer program there too), you can read a bit about my time. I’m also off to Russia again in three weeks, so I’ll definitely be updating about that in the coming months. Thanks for the interest!

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    4. Hi jennifer.. your first sentence is true for me too.. Word press is so hard to handle. Why cant to make it more simpler for people like us.. haha

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    5. i would love to be a pen friend of you if you would like. 🙂 also I followed your blog hope you dont mind. kindly check mine too if you have time. have a nice day . 🙂

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    6. @Manda Ricks
      The reply blink is not accessible below your post here.
      Invest more time into locating and on commenting on blogs with similar content. Identifying who your target audience is, what they already know, what they need to know, where they are found, and the best way to deliver your message to them is critical to success. How to identify your blog’s target audience

      Please also search the support forum tag “increase traffic” for even more help.

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    1. I dont have much tips to give you. All I can say is be yourself and dont think about the followers. Just express yourself and things will follow. Blog constantly if you are just starting I would say blog straight everyday for 30 days. Then when you get the hang of it you can either continue with your daily spree of art or just have a goal every week like number of posts you wanna do. 😀 And to help you instantly I will follow your blog. 🙂 Hope to be friends with you. Good luck with your followers.

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    2. I’ve found that engagement is key. Of course, practicing writing is important too; however, people know to find your blog when you visit other blogs and leave comments. Good luck!

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    3. I have just started blogging, but have set up a Facebook page I always post my content to and also Twitter. It’s amazing how much social media will help with follows! Good luck.

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      1. Thanks for the feedback. Yea I have set up a Facebook page and a twitter page so I’ll just keep doing my thing!

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  19. Hello my fellow bloggers. I commented my link earlier, but I should have been more specific. I want to refine my blog and make it something helpful and funny to read. Let me know your opinions of it. I’m still quite young, but if I want to be a journalist, I need to know how to write. Thank you!
    http://talkingfrankly.wordpress.com

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      1. Thanks, Holden. Could you elaborate on what needs to be more colorful? I’m going to check out your blogs!

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      2. Like on your homepage all I can see is blue squares, it’s hard to see the topics unless you put your cursor on them. It’s sort of the same problem as my blog, I need to make mine more clear and colourful.

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    2. I really enjoy your writing (you are real good), and look forward to read more…I have two comments on the physical look of the blog…It’d be great if it had some buttons somewhere to make it easier to find your earlier posts and maybe Twitter/FB/Instagram feeds/connections (if you have them). I know the archive is all the way at the bottom, but you may lose people when it makes it ‘harder’ to find (most people look up on top or on the side, not all the way down). The other thing, while I like the idea of the squares, it does not quite work…I am following you, so you obviously got me interested in more! Hope this was helpful!

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  23. Hey buddies,
    I’ve been writing a novel chapter by chapter on my blog (it’s called New Napoleon), and would love any feedback on writing style, content, or anything really. I’m releasing it in serial form like some of the greats — Twain, Dickens, Doyle — but don’t expect anything magnificent. Thanks!

    New Napoleon Chapter 1: The Boy

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    1. Guess I just wanted to say that I think you”re brilliant for writing a book in segments on your Blog. What I read got me wanting to read more.

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    1. Hi! I think your blog is great! My husband is a huge fan of Doctor Who and although I’m still new to call myself a true Whovian, I found your blog posts to be helpful, especially since you write about all the Doctors and not just the new ones. =) I hope this helps!

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  27. Hello fellow bloggers! I blog about tv, movies, pop culture and general life experiences and I was wondering if any could give my blog a quick skim tell me what they think. I open to any positive and negative input, Thanks!

    Link: patsnack24.wordpress.com

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  28. Hi there, I am a new blogger. I started becauseI have been told that I need to expose my writing more and I am chicken to actually go about publishing things. I have posted three blog posts via WordPress, but I do not really have a focus or designated theme for my blog posts. I would appreciate if someone who could read them and provide some ideas about where I should take this. Thanks for the support in advance. – Liz. Blog: http://elizabethrcasey.wordpress.com/

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  29. My most recent blog post involves what I described as a sacred place. Writing about “place” seems to evoke more engagement than writing about opinion. At least that is my experience. I hope people will take a look at “There’s A Place” on my blog and let me know what they think: about my story, and about “place”. Thanks. http://www.buddycushmanart.com

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    1. Hi Susan! It would be easier for other to find your post if you added a direct link to it, rather than to your homepage.

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  30. Hi! I’m using my blog as a documentation ground for my coming out process. Here’s the first post I published, it’s about me coming out to my best friend http://wp.me/p4GR0y-2

    I’d really love it if some of you could read some of my posts and give me some feedback! I know I’m not being super specific, but my blog is kind of broad in some senses so I just thought I’d leave it here. 🙂

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