Sep 22, 2014 / Community Pool

Community Pool

The place for advice, feedback, and friendly blogging chatter.

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.
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  • 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.
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Photo by Brian Cantoni.

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    1. It’s clear that you got your own style of writing and guess what? I love every bit of it and so should you!

      Don’t change that, in my opinion, it’s one of the strong points to differentiate yourself from other writers out there.
      Love the stories so far and I’m following for more!

      Cheers for awesome writing. Keep up the good work 😉

      Your Pal,
      David Long

      Like

    3. I agree with what David said. You should write what you want to write in the way that you want to write it. If you’re hoping for more followers then keep your style and your message authentic and that should bring in the kind of followers that actually like you.

      Modifying your message would just result in people that like a fake you, and what good is that?

      -JK

      Like

    4. Hilarious! I love the name of your blog! I like it a lot. Funny, I used to be you. I would go out with my married (girl) friends in which they were always pulling out my single card without me asking. Awkward. Family or family friends would see me after a while and say “You STILL single?!” Ouch. Lol I get it. My blogging advice, try to be consistent with posting. Not what you write about, but when you write. For example, write and post weekly or bi-weekly, on the same day of the week, and where or not you get feedback KEEP PUSHING FORWARD! And to answer your question yes, it does get better. My personal advice would be to never duck and hide. I would always smile and when asked ‘how are you?’, say AWESOME! Make them be intrigued , make ‘me wonder. Wink and keep it movin’. You’ll be amazed how much those three things will make a difference among your family, friends….and exes! Even new guys will want to get to know you !!! Hang in there, girl. Keep writing, too. Looking forward to it.

      Like

    1. An interesting concept, I can see its potential.

      However, as a first time reader I was confused as to the purpose of the blog, making it harder to interpret your message.

      If you outline your ‘mission’ so to speak, in your About section, I believe it would entice readers to stick around a bit longer.

      Keep at it!

      Like

    3. I honestly wasn’t sure if your post was intended to be a true message or satire about the feminist movement? Mostly because you described it as satirical, but it sounds like an actual event.

      -JK

      Like

  3. Hey everyone! I recently started a blog on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator – a personality tool.
    Even if you don’t know the theory, I’d be interested to hear what I can do to improve my blog, writing style or content.
    Thanks in advance!

    Like

  4. Yes please!! *sends out Charles Lindbergh vibes*
    (It’s just a fun and silly blog but please give any feedback!)

    Like

    1. Including an About page could help readers to uncover the purpose of your blog.

      Is it inspirational, or personal?
      Is its purpose to spread your thoughts to the world, or something else?

      Your concise posts are a strength, as it keeps readers engaged.

      Keep it up!

      Like

    1. An interesting concept, I believe you could attract quite a large audience.

      What stood out to me was your text chunking – If you need length to expand on your ideas, I recommend fleshing posts out into smaller paragraphs.

      This way, readers don’t get the urge to skim over your words, missing out on valuable information.

      Like

    1. This is a really cool idea! Some of your posts lean on the poetic side, which is cool, but maybe focus more the nitty gritty of your own personal experiences and paint your readers a detailed picture with your words. I don’t know how personal you intend for the blog to be, but if you can manage to tell a detailed and personal story and make the reader feel it through the music, that’d be really intense. Keep writing!

      Like

      1. Hi! Thank you for this comment.
        I actually often think whether or not I should give more detailed stories. It may make things very interesting, right?
        Maybe finding a balance between these two – or having a variety may help me more – what do you think?
        The poetic stuff are easier to read, and the detailed ones could be for those who are interested in experience based writings.

        Like

      2. Variety is always good, especially since you may eventually run out of personal stories, but you could always make them up too. Not to say to deceive your audience, but drawing from dreams or things that could have been but weren’t are also possible approaches to think about.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. I liked it enough to follow it. I enjoyed your style of writing and the concept of the blog. So much of my life seems set to music, especially my late teens and early twenties that this really hits close to home.

      Of course, if I mentioned that Third Eye Blind takes me back I think I’d be dating myself.

      -JK

      Like

      1. Hi! I just saw your follow and comment — thank you so much!
        I feel the very same way, and not only because I listen to music at every chance I get, but because even with no headphones I can hear some sort of music accompanying my life.

        Hah 🙂

        See you around!

        Like

    1. I love the way you can encapsulate so many ideas and feelings, in short concise sentences and pictures!

      There is nothing that you are doing wrong for me to criticise. However I recommend creating some reader/author interaction. Maybe a competition, the winner gets their entry published, or potentially prizes, such as giving away your artwork.

      Just some ideas to ponder on, good job!

      Like

      1. Ooh interesting. Thanks! I don’t think my artworks are good enough yet for me to give them away. I’m still working so I can potentially give them and later on probably sell them. 🙂

        Like

  10. Love the Headline, love the tagline, love the first post.
    Followed for future post!

    My feedback, I think it’ll be good to add a WordPress “Like” button in your blog to let your audience show some support!

    Your Pal,
    David Long

    Like

    1. Hi Erin!

      I like the concept of your blog. Although I am new to blogging but I can relate to it very well as this is a challenge with me to reduce the chemicals in daily food consumption and give my family healthy food.

      Looking forward for more posts on healthy food.

      Regards
      Ruchi

      Like

    1. great post – even if you look the same, you and your sister have thoughts of your own and you seem to have found a great outlet for yours!

      Liked by 1 person

  21. I’d really appreciate some feedback on a poem I just posted. Its an assignment for a creative writing class and one of my first forays into poetry.

    Learning to Love Poetry

    Aside from wanting feedback on the poem itself, I’m also wondering if I’m writing too much about the poem or if the background is helpful.

    -JK

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I really like this blog I thought I was really entertaining! I wish it was longer to be honest so keep posting.. I personally like the blogs where people are just being honest and vulnerable about what’s going on in life and all the bullshit that follows so it’s good for me x

      Like

  25. Hi friends,

    I am new to blogging and trying to find the theme that suits me best. I do not like a lot of clutter, but does it appear too minimalist? I’m trying to figure out why my only options for the sidebars are footers on the bottom, and I’m thinking I may need to change the theme to get them to the sides. Any ideas, suggestions, or feedback on the theme, my “about”, or my posts would be most appreciated!

    http://fillyourownglass.wordpress.com

    Like

    1. Your place is nice but I don’t know how to do it because I only had a blog for 1 week and I still don’t know how but your place is nice

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you I tried to say what my place was all about and make it short then people wont have to read a whole paragraph how I would have done it.

        Like

      1. I love the look of your blog, and your “about” section is great. I literally laughed out loud over your “Things I Never Thought I’d Say”. I’m married with no kids now, but I experienced the dating a divorced guy with two young kids- best of luck on your blogging and life journey!

        Like

    4. Hi! I liked your blog and the minimalist theme. A few thoughts: if you could, perhaps move the search field to the top? This might require changing your theme. Search fields at the bottom of a page might not be helpful to readers because they seldom scroll all the way down to search for something. For me, top right or left works best.

      Your sidebars that appear as footers on the bottom could be a theme specific setting. Again, a theme that features sidebars on the left or right might be more suitable for your purposes. Maybe try the Fictive theme? I’m using the iTheme which works for now – the sidebars/widgets appear on the right column.

      Also, what’s a law enforcement wife…?!

      Hope this helps! Thanks for your visit and comment.

      Like

    1. Wow. Great blog. Like you, I posted a lot when I started my blog about having type one diabetes a year ago. All bloggers have a different approach but as time had gone on I post less frequently but try to keep the quality high. Not a problem when you start your blog of course because you have the back story and you want to build up the content. Keep up the great work!

      Like

    2. I really loved this! I have image dysmorphia and am currently travelling trying to recover from that and not relapse with my weight and eating and to hear you admit it isn’t easy and it’s a slow process is so good! I am trying to work out how to follow your blog but it would be amazing if you could possibly read my blog and help me out? https://travellingdysmorphia.wordpress.com/ you should be super proud of yourself

      Like

      1. Thank you so much for your feedback and your effort! I’ll be checking out your blog too! 🙂

        – S.J. Takeshi

        Like

    2. Hi Takeshi, I like the new theme. It’s clean and pretty easy to navigate, though I miss the airplane in flight against the blue sky from your previous theme. Congrats on being freshly pressed! What an honour. I’d love to read the article of that – perhaps add a link of the article to the freshly pressed image?
      Keep writing 🙂

      Like

      1. Thank you for observing that! I had poor eyes, you see, so I don’t know if the page looks overwhelming already. Anyway, I removed some of the unnecessary links.

        Like