Sep 1, 2014 / Community Pool

Community Pool

Feedback, camaraderie, and free popsicles! (Free popsicles: not included.)

Have you just published a new post and are dying for some feedback? Did you recently start your blog and could use some layout or design advice from your more seasoned peers?

Tap into the wisdom of The Daily Post blogging community and leave your question here in the comments. Others can then click through and offer input either on your site, or in the comments here (feel free to indicate which you’d prefer).

To help us make the Community Pool a productive space for discussion, here are some tips you might find useful:

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.

  • While you’re not required to, we encourage everyone who requests feedback to also reply to at least one or two other bloggers who need some help. Spread the love!
  • The Community Pool comments section can get quite big — and starting duplicate threads doesn’t help. Thanks for not posting the same question more than once!
  • If you’re looking for quality feedback, be as specific as you can. Questions about a particular post tend to draw more comments than ones about entire blogs. Questions about specific design elements are more likely to be answered than ones asking for general layout advice.
  • We discourage leaving links without a more substantive message or question. These are often overlooked by other bloggers, and we frequently remove them to make the comment reading experience smother.
  • Please keep all comments civil and constructive. The idea is to have fun — it’s a pool, after all!
  • 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 Brian Cantoni.

Show Comments

552 Comments

Comments are closed.

Close Comments

Comments

  2. Realizing that my blog was pretty niche (providing tips for aspiring filmmakers), I’ve recently started covering some breaking tech news stories as well (namely, the Twitch/Amazon debate). Do you guys think I should continue in this direction?

    I’ve Moved

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I think it looks fine. Borders on having too much on one page but I wouldn’t cut out anything. I like the Recent Posts title readily available as well as the archives. Short posts and one picture makes your blog quite readable.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Hi I have just started my blog…two posts so far. Just a restaurant critic type blog. What do you all think of the posts so far? Any tips? Thanks!

    Like

    2. Hi – I enjoyed reading your posts.

      I’d have loved to see some more photos – especially some photos from closer-up. They would break up the text and illustrate the different stages of your meal. (If your plate was clean at the end it would show that you’d enjoyed the food!)

      Good luck with your blog.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Hey all! I have some posts that I would really like some more comments and feedback on… It’s at hyddenchronicles.wordpress.com
    Thank you!
    Daughter of the Prince of Peace

    Like

  12. Hello beautiful people. I’m so fresh so green and looking for all the constructive feedback I can get. I’d love it if you could take a peek at my sight and let me know what is and isn’t working. If you really like where it’s headed so far I wouldn’t mind it if you shared my page. 😉

    I love all of you.

    http://www.theglamouress.com

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Hey! Thank you so much! I guess I wanted there to be more depth than just “look at my clothes,” you know?

        Like

      2. Thank you so much! I guess I do that because I want there to be more depth to my posts than just “hey my outfit is cute,” you know? Ideally it makes me more relatable to my readers.

        Like

  15. Hi there, I only joined wordpress less than a week ago and I feel like drop in a sea, although you see that 1 or 2 people drop by a day and take a look I think it would be nice to get some feedback:-). I put up a post this morning please don’t be shy to take a peak and give some feed back on how I could better my writing and stuff.

    http://neuroticsandloners.wordpress.com

    See you there! hopefully;-)

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hi – I enjoyed reading your posts, especially the first post, which seemed the most heartfelt.

      The most recent post sometimes felt a bit bogged down in Latinate words to me – some of them didn’t seem to hit their target. That could be a cultural thing though – you’re in South Africa, aren’t you? The English language shines differently in different parts of the world.

      Keep writing and people will take notice!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Uh see this is what I’m talking about, thank you for the constructive criticism. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep that in mind when writing and implement it… and yes I’m in SA:-)

        Liked by 1 person

  16. Stimulating first post. A slow read for many readers so I would suggest a couple of “soundbites” ie a short sentence on its own line which is easy to understand and conveys part of your objective. Or, you could make it more readable by dumbing it down at bit and still get your points across.

    You have talent!

    Like

  18. First time blogger with a brand new blog- any advice or feedback would be amazing, specifically in terms of design and general layout ect.

    I have also researched how to make a page accessible or searchable on google- however none of the answers have actually helped… Any easy to follow steps?

    Thank you 🙂
    http://hushedmusings.wordpress.com/

    Like

    1. Very interesting read. I have found myself in numerous jobs that I couldn’t stand so I admire your determination to do something that you love.

      Like

    1. Your best friend, it grieves me to say, is Tumblr. And his roommate, Facebook. There is an auto-update feature that will spread your blog to your facebook and tumblr accounts automatically.

      Like

    2. The key to developing an audience is becoming active in the community of bloggers that is most naturally connected to the topic your write about — visiting other blogs, leaving comments, guest-blogging, and so on. Of course, as colorsandcharacter mentions, pushing your content out to your existing social networks can be very helpful — here’s how you can do it using Publicize:
      https://wordpress.com/blog/2013/07/29/publish-and-promote/

      Like

  21. I’m a graphic designer who uses mostly photoshop, and I’m trying my hand at watercolor! I could really use some feedback on my pieces 🙂

    Like

  22. Hi there! My blog is a random assortment of my daily thoughts and opinions on anything, including, current events, music, movies, books, and culture. I recently wrote a post about Jennifer Aniston’s interview with Carson Daly when she said she doesn’t have a “checklist” for herself, and because of that, she is my role model.

    Feedback is always appreciated!
    rebeccameyer1.wordpress.com

    Like

    2. Hi Meg – I enjoyed reading your post. You have a very fluid writing style.

      I was reading it on a laptop – I wonder if some of the longer paragraphs would be a bit daunting on a smartphone. It might be worth testing that and seeing if they have a natural break-point, so that you don’t lose the rhythm but keep the forward motion for people reading them on small screens.

      All good luck with your blog.

      Like

  26. Hi! Do you think it’s advisable to remove old blog posts that you don’t think are of that high of quality? When people are scrolling blogs, they probably only take the time to read a couple posts (or fragments of them). I’m thinking I should possibly remove posts I’m not as proud of in order to make sure people don’t miss my really good work. What do you guys do?

    Like

    1. If you feel like you should, then go ahead. However, if you’re bothered with permanently deleting your own work, It’d be better to either keep, or hide them.

      Like

  28. I just made my blog today, and I only have one post up…if anyone wants to give me feedback that would be rad.

    Like

  30. Hi everyone, I have recently started my blog and my second post which is about travel includes many images. I would really appreciate it if you could check it out and tell me if the way I have incorporated the images looks good enough. 🙂

    infinitedaydreamer.wordpress.com

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Melis,
      I like you blog, I write a travel blog too so enjoy very much all this. If you let me do a suggestion, try to include bigger pictures, you can easily change the size by clicking on the upper left corner.
      Greetings from Argentina

      Like

      1. Thank you for the advice I really appreciate it. I will make the pictures bigger and hopefully that will improve the layout of the blog post. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person