Oct 20, 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.
  • 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 smoother.
  • 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. Hi all! 🙂
    New to the blogging world and would love feedback on my layout as well as my recent posts. I am learning wordpress by playing around with it, I am having tons of fun! Have a great Monday!

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  2. A more specific question I have is do you think my theme is obvious/relevant/interesting. Hope you check out my page and give me contructive criticism:)

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  3. Hello,
    I posted two new posts and I would like to get your constructive criticism on it. Post are press releases from the past events and just some sample work.Working on editing and putting all the press releases out there and developing the site. Please check it out and let me know what you guys think.

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  5. Hello, I’m Kristin and I recently started a travel blog called “Highway to Hoeftland.” Starting up a blog has been a learning process for sure, but a fun one! My newest post is a short write-up about the Ghost town of Nelson, Nevada.

    Driving to a Ghost Town at Sunset (Nelson, NV)

    I’m trying to focus on being succinct, with interesting pictures and stories. I hope I’m on the right track. I appreciate your feedback and support. This is a great forum! 🙂

    Thank you kindly,
    Kristin

    Like

  7. Hello Everyone.
    I’ve just started a blog about being ok with not having your life “together” in your 20s. Im putting it all out there by sharing my story and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. I would really appreciate some feedback and would love to read some of the things you guys have written!

    Like

    1. Your writing is very easy to relate to. Plus, I love the encouragement phrases peppered in the last post. Like the doctor – actor comparison, I can imagine what a pain in the ass that is! LOL! At least you have a good humor and love what you are doing and as you say, that’s what is important 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Good morning! If anyone has time to stop by my site, I’d love to hear if you have any creative criticism, general thoughts or opinions! Also, any photographers out there who want to take a look at my work–I would be happy to hear what you think! Thanks so much, I hope you enjoy!
    Have a beautiful day!

    http://capturedwanderlust.com/

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Hello!
    I’m very new here and definitely a little wobbly. I’ve started writing book recommendations and would love some feedback on look / feel / what works / what doesn’t.
    Thank you!

    lilybookmaster.wordpress.com

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  13. i’d value some constructive criticism, too. my blog’s very new & i’m wondering if it’s worth pursuing if it only appeals to me. cheers! candidcopy.wordpress.com

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  19. Hello everyone!

    I’m an inspiring photojournalist and I created a WordPress blog to post some of my work. I would love to get your feedback on the quality of writing (grammar and sentence style), the content itself, and any other criticism you might have. Thanks!

    -Carl

    http://nobrochureblog.wordpress.com/

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    1. I enjoyed reading your post After High School. It told a sweet story and had a picture too! Your Interview Fail article was a peek into your day. And I enjoyed it very much. There was a small typo toward the end. I really do not want to be picky, but I did not see anything else to tell you. I liked your content, it showed me a bit about big city life, people, and bus systems.

      Like

      1. Thank you very much Leticia! My friends and I have been writing articles on the commuters that take public buses around the city. Looking to write some more til the end of the year.

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    1. Great blog on travel and great tips! You know what the weird thing is? You posted your blog right after mine, and my next blog post I’m working on is about Singapore! Coincidence or the universe telling us we’re on the right path?

      Like

      1. Thanks for taking time out to read my blog and comment. I believe the universe telling us we’re on the right path. Great to hear you are also writing about Singapore. Pls read rest of my blogs too. I have always tried to present information about a place from my own experiences and own perspective. Hope you would like them. Thanks again buddy for the appreciation, it means a lot.

        Liked by 1 person

    3. Hi, I read your blog. It was detailed and very long. I wonder if the article is suitable as a blog. I would also suggest using “white space” to separate subtitles and sections into manageable parts for your reader. Perhaps the use of “read more” as a link to further relevant details in that particular section would help lessen the heavy sense of length for your reader. If I may suggest one more thing, you may want to enlist the help of a friend to help siphon through your article to catch typos, redundancy, grammatical errors, and awkward sentence structure. There is no doubt that you are the subject matter expert, but much can be lost on your reader. Your pictures were wonderfully engaging – they would certainly keep your readers hooked if you place them strategically into the sections of your blog. Hope this helps.

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      1. Hi
        Thanks for the suggestions.
        The text portion in the blog is not so lengthy, probably you found it lengthy due to size of photographs. Pls go thru other blogs of mine.
        Probably my theme is not showing up headers and sub-headers properly. I have changed their sizes, you can have a look and comment.
        I normally use the “more” tag in my blogs after a small excerpt about the topic (I am not very comfortable with the “Excerpt” widget). My theme also has provision of showing only the excerpts of the recent blogs.
        Thanks for the suggestions about placement of photographs, will implement it the next blogs.
        Appreciate your comments about improvising my blogs.

        Like

  22. hello,
    Having asked a friend (a couple of times now) to teach me how to make additional pages (which I kind or mastered) but still can’t fathom how to put blog entries appear on that page as well (blast my quirky learning style)
    I feel a bit of a thickie trying to read though the tutorials and find the bits I need, ending up more confused than when I started.
    Input welcomed
    Issie

    Like

    1. The easiest way to accomplish what you’re describing is by creating a category page, where you can collect all the posts that belong to the same category. Here are the full instructions:
      https://wordpress.com/support/category-pages/

      Alternatively, you can just add links to the desired posts in any of the pages you create — they work just like they would in a post. For more information on links, visit this page:
      https://wordpress.com/support/links/

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      1. thank you for the link Ben.
        Well that was simple!
        I sat and worked my way through (with the instructions and my site both open) I feel even more of a cluts Ah well I new it would be ok once I found the right instruction page
        Thank you again
        Issie

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      2. I’m so glad to hear it worked out for you!

        > I feel even more of a clutz

        No need to, really — so often it’s really just a question of finding the right resource. So never hesitate to ask.

        Liked by 1 person

  23. A friend just made a padded picture story book for her new niece. She challenged me to come up with chapters to go with each picture.

    The niece may or may not (at 2 weeks of age) appreciate the Myers Briggs nuances. Let me know what you think.

    Also, if you have any expertise or details about DIY swing sets – please do let me know – ready for chapter 3 – with Bernard and Barry the risk-assessing bears.

    Here are the first two chapters:

    1. Gordon the Complicated Giraffe http://shazzameena.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/life-in-the-jungle-chapter-one-gordon-the-complicated-giraffe/

    2. Maurice the Fun-Loving Monkey

    Life in the Jungle – Chapter Two – Maurice the Fun-Loving Monkey

    Like

    1. Good post-enjoyed the content. Just a little note that the spelling of friendship was not consistent throughout the post. Otherwise, loved the message.

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    1. Hi Mary, first off, thank you for sharing so personally. Your blog touched my heart because you opened yours. I found your article refreshing and loved the stories of the lives you were able to make a difference in. It isn’t always easy to discuss spiritual matters, but you wrote in such a way that spoke of the lesson(s) you learned from a God you seem to have a personal relationship with. Well done. Keep going!

      Like

    1. Very nice! I wish I could write those types of poems. Mine are largely consisted of those boring old normal day-to-day rhyming poems that anyone could put together. However for your blog’s theme, it works best when there are featured images with each post. It makes it pop out amazingly well, and it makes your blog so much more unique. Try it out, maybe? 🙂 Hope I helped!

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      1. Thanks so much for the tip! I’ll definitely try that.
        I checked out your stuff too- and I have to say I disagree. You write very well! I especially like your short stories, you can draw a reader in easily.
        Anyway, thanks for checking my stuff out. Happy writing!

        Liked by 1 person

    1. I read your post and thought it a fine tribute to your grandfather. You really seemed to bear your soul. If that’s what you’re going for then we’ll done

      Like