Jan 19, 2015 / 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.

Show Comments

927 Comments

Comments are closed.

Close Comments

Comments

    2. Hi Sherina. You’ve got a nice blog there and I think you nailed the About page by including enough info to satisfy a curios passer-by. Your style is simple and an easy read. Looks like you’ve got this down.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. You can change your theme by clicking on “Themes” from the drop-down menu at the top-left corner. This will take you to our Theme Showcase, where you can look up themes by features, layouts, styles, and more.

      Like

  5. Hello! I have been doing a good bit on my blog lately and would love some feedback.

    I blog about productivity and Christianity.

    levipierpont.wordpress.com

    Thanks!

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Hello Levi,
      I’ve just read your blog and I think its wonderful! 🙂 Keep up the great work, you are so brave and I think your posts are super! I’m a 14 year old Christian girl but am not blogging about my faith, although you have really inspired me to! 🙂
      Grace x

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I am also 14. (i forgot i dont still have that on my “me” page)
        When i get on a computer i will visit your site and tell you what i think. Its pretty cool that you are already blogging! Im glad I’ve inspired you!

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Hello again Levi!
        After feeling inspired by your blog I have decided to also write more about my faith 🙂
        If you’d like to please have a look! I have just done a new post and would love some feedback 🙂
        Thank you so much,
        Grace x
        PS. Do you want to be blog friends? 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Cool! I checked it out and left a comment on one of your posts. A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met. So yes. Of course.
        -LeviGrant
        levipierpont.wordpress.com

        Liked by 2 people

  6. One of my recent posts was ‘Lest I Forget’. I’m compiling old letters, journals, and memories into a book about 5 years of my life homesteading in Alaska as a child. I ‘d love to have some feedback as to whether this is a good beginning. There is just so much information I need to put into this book. Thanks for any feedback! ~Elle

    Liked by 2 people

    1. there’s a huge image that isn’t showing up a little bit down your page aside from that and a couple of teeny mistakes

      e.g “The fact that he wont lost [lose] them from this act of putting his neck on the line.”

      you have a very nice writing style that’s comfortable, good job 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Oops, I tend to type fast and dont seem to notice the mistakes. Thank you very much for the feedback though. If you could tell me what post the picture is on I can see if I can fix that. IF you could follow and tell other people about it that would be great!

        Liked by 1 person

      2. it’s between the importance of gaming & just some thoughts so I’m not 100% sure which post it belongs to but there you go 🙂

        Like

    3. Enjoyed reading it bro, nice work. At 15 I wouldn’t worry too much about your future it will come to you exactly what you want to do. And with regards to your school life; it’s people who don’t have the best experiences in school that end up having a much better adult life, trust me 😉 so you have a lot to look forward to. Keep strong man you look at life a lot different to young men your age most are to caught up in being popular now to contemplate what the future may hold, you got the tools and your writing will only get better starting as young as you are. Respect, Explicit.

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Hi every one I made a profile yesterday and published my first blog. Really interested in feedback and cant wait to write more and develop my own style as a write. If I can help anyone in anyway let me know also. Thanks for your time.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Welcome Brianna. You have a strong message that will no doubt appeal to your demographic. Some helpful suggestions: Add graphics to enhance appeal to potential readers. Take what you’ve posted and put that on your about page. And watch your grammar (ex: bare with me). Best wishes

      Like

    2. This has the potential to be a very inspiring blog! As you accumulate more posts, it might be a useful idea to collect them under categories, so that readers can easily look up things that interests them in particular 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Hello and welcome to the blogosphere. Your writing is easy to read and the purpose of each post is easy to discern. I would recommend creating an About Me page, so that potential readers can learn a little about you and the purpose of your blog, thereby having incentive to follow. wish you the best

      Like

    2. I like your writing!
      Something that might be helpful would be an “about” page, so that I as a reader can get to know you a bit better. Or maybe there is one and I’m just not able to find it easily? In that case, maybe it should be more visible, because it tends to be one of the first people that new readers check out.

      Like

    1. I found your writing to be informative and well-informed (the two are not always mutually exclusive). A few more graphics might enhance things a bit but overall nice job. No rust in sight 😉

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks Ben! I appreciate the feedback! I’m struggling between using my actual voice or being informative. My about page and first posts are totally different styles, I’ve just been a little unsure of which way to go with it! Thanks for check it out! 🙂

        Like

    2. Great idea for a blog, and your first post is efficient in specifying the audience that you are looking for. Because I don’t fit that demographic, it is a little hard for me to stay on the page. What will help people like me as well as your intended audience is something to break up the content into bitesized bits visually. Inserting some graphics in between paragraphs is one way to go. Good luck!

      Liked by 3 people

    1. Hello! I checkeed out your blog and it was really great. I love your about me very warm and inviting. Your page was very clean not too much going on and easy to navigate! please check mine out as well !

      Liked by 1 person

  14. Please Please check out my Blog! http://www.achictraveler.com Please provide feedback on my layout( i want it to me fresh and clean with inviting pictures.)
    My content
    visual
    and anything else that you see fit. Thanks for taking the time in advance. Ill be checking out everyones blogs as well

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I like the layout and I think it displays your pictures well. It looks like some of the pictures have been digitally altered, like had filters applied – I would have liked to know how you got those effects! Maybe add the name of the filter in with the image caption?

      Liked by 2 people

    1. I would suggest maybe adding a tagline to give people a hint of what your blog is about – “Talker99” doesn’t offer any clues as to the content, so I was a bit confused at first since I started reading expecting a “serious” rather than “humorous” tone.

      Like

    1. I like your layout – I think the theme goes well with your name/tagline.

      Browsing through your posts, though, I wasn’t sure what your blog was about, or what your intended purpose was. It seems to be a mix mainly of fiction writing and food recipes and I wonder if it might work for you to group those two types of posts together? I mean, have a page with all the fiction type entries and another page with the recipes?

      Of course, if you prefer a more eclectic style, that’s perfectly fine too! It’s your blog, after all 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you for the advice! I’ve been wondering what to do about the two different topics I like to post about, this is a great solution. Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog 🙂

        Like

    1. Hi Babycrow,

      This is a timely post for me as I’m considering giving Hot Yoga a try. You write very well and I’m keen to learn more about your experiences and have started following. No harm in writing with a pseudonym. Depends on how personal you want to get! 🙂

      Best of luck,
      Aidan

      Like

    2. I know essentially nothing about yoga, so I appreciated how you explained things like what nama and yinama meant. You have an engaging writing style!

      I see no issues with using a pseudonym, many people do. It’s not offputing in the least, at least to me.

      Liked by 1 person

  20. Hey, guys! I just posted a new blog On Mothering, Hovering, and Micromanaging that I’d love feedback on, but I also just did a huge overhaul of the blog layout, switching from Chunk to Hemingway Rewritten. I’d love some feedback on the new setup. I’m trying to keep it clean and simple, but pleasing.

    impetustogrow.wordpress.com

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Thank you! I am really glad it looks good. I want to transition to a really customized theme later on, but not until I know I have a good following. Can’t justify spending the money for a premium membership quite yet! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  21. I have a sports blog and I would appreciate some feedback on my league schedule/TV listings page: http://soccertranslated.com/league-tv-schedule/

    My specific question about that page is: what should I do with the weeks that have passed?

    Should the current/upcoming week always be at the top? I am currently “graying out” the past weeks, but should I delete them entirely? Or should I shift them to the bottom of the page, so the whole schedule is there for people who want it, but the current stuff is on top?

    Thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Hi Everyone!

    I have been blogging for nearly 2 years but am still learning how to write good content and attract readers so would appreciate any feedback on my blog together with pointers on improving it.

    I’m at http://www.dreamdiscoveritalia.com

    For example, whats better – long, detailed posts or short, quick ones? Lots of photos or lots of content?

    Thanks for stopping by and I hope I can return the favour!

    Cheers,
    Liz

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Hi Liz – I read your post and found it very interesting. I thought your run-down of each of the most likely presidential candidates was really clear and helpful.

      You ask what’s better ‘lots of photos or lots of content’. I thought about that and I’d say that the best thing would be photos that lead the reader through the words and words that lead the reader through the photos. Sometimes I felt as if the photos blocked the flow of the text a bit. That’s just my feeling, and maybe I’m a lone wolf howling, but it might be worth asking each photo what it adds to the words and is it in the right place to speak its message clearly. Your photos are lovely – the ones of Lake Garda are gorgeously atmospheric. They deserve to shine.

      All good luck with your blog
      Elaine

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Thanks Elaine! I really like your thoughts about asking if the photos add anything or are in the right place – thats definitely something I will take into consideration when I post. And I’d never thought that the photos might block the flow of the content so that is a very useful insight, thank you. And thanks for your comments on Lake Garda – its hard not to take a decent photo of such a beautiful place but I do appreciate your compliments very much!
        Good luck with your blog too, it looks really interesting so I’ll be watching out for your next post!
        Cheers,
        Liz

        Liked by 2 people

    3. Hey! I live in Italy at the moment and it’s very useful and interesting for me to read your blog. I like it very much! Also photos, good quality – enjoyable!

      Like

  27. Hey guys! I have recently post up a blog on the latest premier league round. I would love it if you could head over and give me some feedback! Thank you !!!

    Mikey93jxh.wordpress.com

    P.s ill give you feedback in return too!! And maybe a follow 😉

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hi Mikey, I enjoyed reading your recaps – they were informative without being dry. However, the Saturday recap post was a bit intimidating in terms of length – I wonder if on days with a lot of games, if it might be better to post each recap in its own post, or maybe do it in pairs if you don’t want a ton of separate posts? Having 7 game summaries in one post makes for a lot of text!

      The other thing is, if the tags and categories on your posts exceeds 15, your posts won’t show up in the WordPress reader for people browsing the tags. If you split up the summaries into their own posts, you could also cut down on the tags, and then people browsing through WordPress could find your posts!

      Liked by 2 people

    2. I like your intro. You have a few quaint qualities, I like the hat tipping, and it’s good to have things that make your blog unique. I would definitely work on focusing on a task or goal so your blog doesn’t turn into another Facebook account. Great picture, by the way.

      Liked by 1 person

    3. I love the poem! I think my biggest tip would be to have a header image for the main page of your blog to make it a little more visual. Also I checked out your introduction post and I went to the same University as you haha 😛

      Like