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.

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  1. Hello everyone! I have only been blogging since July and would love to know what anyone thinks of my blog. I do product reviews on my personal blog, I am constantly updating and writing new material. So, I may not be able to get right back to you but I will try to get back to you as soon as possible! Leaving a reply on my site or social medias will probably get my attention faster. Well, thanks for your time and if you want me to look at your site just ask! I follow back on social medias too!

    Like

  3. Hi guys, I put up a new post about homosexuality and how we should be allowed to respectfully voice our opinion, if we think homosexuality is wrong, etc. Please check it out and give me some feedback. Plus check out the rest of the blog! We have a minecraft challenge for minecraft users. ;). Thanks! You guys rock. PS I am proud to be a WordPress addict lol.
    oneofakindblogg.wordpress.com

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  4. Greetings All,

    New here. Just wanted to give Community Pool a shot since I badly need some feedback on the pictures I posted yesterday of my recent visit to Ladakh. There are two sets – color and B&W. It would be great if you guys could check it out and let me know which ones you liked and which ‘set’ (color or B&W) you prefer.

    Ladakh 2014 [COLOR] – http://wp.me/py8w6-1r5
    Ladakh 2014 [B&W] – http://wp.me/py8w6-1qQ

    Am planning on releasing these as prints and felt I should ask which ones you would want to put up as frames in your home.

    Thank you.

    Regards,

    Salil

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  5. Hello! I’ve started blogging hoping for some feedback but no joy yet…also does anyone know how to centre more than one photo on the same line? When I try to do that WordPress just adds the photos one under the other – thank you!!

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    1. I think the blog looks really good. It has a lot of potential especially if you could self host it. I can not however give authoritative advice considering am new blogger in word press.

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    1. Hi! I keep trying to look at your blog, but my phone isn’t letting me. Once I comment I’ll look at it and give you feedback. 🙂 I write a blog about being a new mom in college as well. If you have time, check it out. 🙂

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    1. I liked the chatty feel to this post, unlike some long-ish posts, this one held my interest until the end.

      I also like the look of your blog, I’ll certainly be back to read more posts.

      Best wishes

      Dee

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      1. Thanks Dee! That means a lot! I’m still trying to identify my unique writing style. Depending on the topic, the tone of posts usually changes. I’m trying to get consistent with it. Appreciate your feedback!

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  15. I enjoy writing flash fiction and short stories and while I post flash fiction most weeks, I have been really hesitant about posting short stories.
    Taking a deep breath, I set up a ‘Fiction’ page on my blog and posted a short story a while ago. It has had a few views and I’ve put off asking for more feedback until now. I’ve decided to be brave as I really need to know if I’m wasting my time

    My blog is http://40again.wordpress.com and you will find the story here http://40again.com/fiction/

    Thank you all for taking the time to read this

    Dee

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    1. Your blog has a lovely look and feel to it and your words blend with that. I think your About page is a real triumph of clarity, warmth and character. You could make an absolute fortune writing Personal Statements for prospective University students! It’s not easy to write so well about yourself.

      You’re not ‘wasting’ your time – in my opinion anyway. It’s obvious that you enjoy working with language and, like any other craft, writing rewards practice. If you enjoy it, keep doing it!

      By the way – where is the gorgeous waterside town in your banner photo?

      All good luck with your blog and with your writing.

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      1. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much your comment means to me.

        I do enjoy writing but, as many have said before, it is a solitary craft and sometimes I doubt my capabilities.

        The town in the banner is Portofino in Italy.

        Thank you again for taking the time to comment.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. You write because you enjoy writing. You don’t need to justify your abilities. They’re obvious.

        It’s funny, isn’t it – people pre-judge their ‘right’ to write in a way they would never apply to any other craft. You don’t need anyone else’s permission. Write. Speak your words out loud to see how they’ll sound inside other people’s heads (as Dylan Thomas did).

        You have a voice that sweetens the world – so please don’t hide it.

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      3. It is strange but I had never thought I was seeking anyone’s permission to write, yet that is what I seem to have been doing.

        Thank you for pointing this out and thank you again for taking the time to read my blog and give me feedback, it is very much appreciated.

        Liked by 1 person

  16. I’d love a little advice on my blog, not too new but still building it slowly and posting things when I can, any feedback will be more than appreciated and I will definitely return the favour!

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  18. I put up a new post and I would like to get feedback on it. Also on my blog theme and layout, I have not tried another theme out other than the one i initially loved, I think i’m a bit afraid i’ll lose all my settings if i did. Let me know if you think it has an easy flow to it, if you could find all the aspects of the blog.

    My blog is new, I don’t have that many posts but the ones i do have, I have come to a point where i feel i might be repeating my self, just with the language i use not the subject matter. I don’t know if its a normal thing, or if i need to go to grammar school to get some more style of expression under my belt. 🙂

    Let me know what you think, any feedback will be appreciate. Thank you for your time. My blog is http://tealighttaylor.wordpress.com

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    1. Well, the giant image taking up the entire screen when I first reach a page is rather annoying. If you change your theme, likely the settings would try to be carried over, so there isn’t much to worry about there.

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  19. Hi Guys! I am happy to see this here =) it is so nice! I can’t wait till I have some time later to check out some of your blogs.

    Anyway, I am new to the kind of blogging I’ve recently doing.This blog is more personal than others, but it feels more right to me. I absolutely love writing. So I like to write about the thoughts in my head and I’ve grown the courage to start putting them in a blog. I would love for you to check them out! Especially my most recent post… I have made it sticky because it turns out that it seems to reflect what I want my blog to reflect overall. I would love to hear your thoughts about that? Should I leave it sticky?

    http://biancapaigesmith.wordpress.com/2014/09/02/passions-are-what-define-our-lives/

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  20. What do you all see as the criteria for setting up a Facebook fan page for your blog? When you get to X number of subscribers? Once you have Y views? Something else? I’d like to increase both interaction with and viewership of my blog and feel like I need to do something more than continue to write good content. Am I crazy think of doing a fan page or does it make sense?

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  21. In my opinion, Simple minimal blogs that allow the visitor to obtain information easily without being distracted is the best bet. However it is hard to discern what bloggers may like each day.

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    1. Just a personal suggestion: I would recommend adding a “follow” button to your side bar. 🙂 You can customize what you want to say with that button, like, “Follow me!” or whatever. I know you’ve displayed how many people like your blog via FB, but you could show how many actual followers you have by saying something like, “Follow 20 other followers” or however many followers you have. (I was just picking a random number). 🙂

      rachsthoughts.wordpress.com

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Your content is quite good but it’s hard to read because there are no separations between thoughts, just a long blurb. I’d recommend separating text into paragraphs so it’s easier to follow. This will be especially helpful to folks who read your blog on a tablet/smartphone.

      Liked by 1 person

  24. Hi there,
    My name is Kelly i’ve only had my blog for 5 days now. I’ve just posted a room tour and i would really appreciate it if you looked at it and give me some feedback/thoughts on it. Also have a look at my blog, some constructive criticism would be good
    Thank you

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    1. I posted a comment directly on to your Room Tour post. It was very informative and I’m adding some of your ideas to my decor to do list. I’m starting to venture more in to your blog. It has a nice clean feel to it. Easy on the eyes, which produces a feeling of relaxed when I browse through it and read each article. I enjoyed your “Me Time” post as well. Keep up the good work.

      Liked by 1 person

  29. writingsofanyctophiliac.wordpress.com ! English is my 4th language but I need writing as much as the air I breathe, some constructive criticism would be much appreciated 🙂

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  30. Great post! I am actually a new blogger. I am only less than two weeks old in WordPress:), and would LOVE your feedback about my Bilingual blog: http://happymomhappyfamilybymoms.com/. Would love to know if it is helpful, interesting, educational or not, perhaps I need more real examples, etc. I noticed that there are not as many Bilingual (English-Spanish) blogs to help moms and would like to know if the lay-out is appealing for you as an English Speaker and / or Spanish speaker. Looking forward to your feedback. Thanks in advance for your help!

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    2. I loved your blog. I agree, not enough Spanish blogs out there. Even though I am fluent in English, I love to speak and read in my mom’s language. It makes me feel right at home. That’s how your blog makes me feel. And I love your suggestions for moms. The layout works for me. My only suggestion is to put the Spanish translation either in a different font, or italic or back-lit in another color. This way, for those of us that know Spanish, we don’t need to particularly skim through the English.

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      1. Hi AnaQ – Your blog looks very happy!

        I agree with elkelorraine – it would be good to have the Spanish and English differentiated somehow.

        Can I ask you a language question? Is being ‘humble’ considered a good thing in the US? Here in the UK, ‘humble’ sounds either religious, downtrodden or ‘knowing your place’, like Uriah Heep. We’d talk about ‘having humility.’ It’s funny how the same word has a different flavour in the US. Like ‘mad’ – it means angry there, but it means ‘mentally disturbed’ here!

        Good luck with your blog.

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      2. I noticed your question to elkelorraine about the word humble. Humble has a good connotation in the United States, much like the word, humility, as you mentioned. It usually means one is not full of oneself, but respectful. Like most words in the English language it has many meanings: insignificant, inferior, modest as well as courteous and respectful. Context clues are most helpful.

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