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.

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    1. Hi, I like the theme that you are using but there isn’t a lot of contrast and the whole thing looks rather bright so you might benefit from changing the colours. Good luck with the blog, you are quite open and you write well so I’m sure that it will do well 🙂

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      1. Thank you for replying. I quite like the idea of having it black and white, but wasn’t sure what other people would make of it… So thanks for the feedback!

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  5. I think this will be supremely helpful!

    I’d really appreciate people taking a look through my blog and putting feedback in the About page: https://dreamingbiganddeterminedtomakeit.wordpress.com/

    It’s a new experience for me so I’d like to learn as much as I can from my fellow bloggers.

    Of course I’ll take a look at the blogs of those who post feedback and will do the same for you ^.^

    Thanks heaps!

    Liked by 3 people

      1. Thanks for the feedback! I’ve looked through your blog too and I find that you have a very thoughtful writing style that is engaging to read. I especially liked your bit on Spanx and I do appreciate your thoughtful piece on depression. The layout is very easy to follow too! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Great post! My new blog is Post Modern Fit. Feel free to check it out if you’re interested in all things health and fitness – it’s a honest take. Happy to find other users blogging about these things too!

    Liked by 1 person

  7. I’m in my eighth week of a new link party I started, and I am hoping to get more participants. I originally asked each week for a multimedia post on a certain theme (such as “tunnel” or “ruins”), but in the hope of getting more participants, I’ve relaxed the rules to ask for a post on the theme or a multimedia post on any topic. Any ideas on how I can get people to want to link up? Here’s my post from Sunday (theme–cliff): http://www.tootimidandsqueamish.com/2015/01/cliff-walk/

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hi – you sound as if somebody’s holding a gun to your head and forcing you to post every day. Or as if it’s one of those penances people get given after confession.

      I’d say, if you’re feeling stressed, do something like posting the colouring pages as individual posts. They look lovely and one by one, one per day, they’d still look lovely. There’ll come a day when you feel inspired to write, but dragging yourself to your keyboard is going to make it a horrible chore. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks for this. Yes, some days it is hard and I hate that I do enjoy writing, but with my uni work at the moment it is more of a struggle to find time and inspiration. Thank you for that idea:)

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      2. I suppose it’s worth deciding what you want to add to the world with your blog. If you’re struggling, then you might find it better to post poems that you like, or quotes, or photos of some aspect of your uni. A photo of the food you have for lunch there. Or birds that come by while you’re sitting outside eating sandwiches. Even the contents of your bag, with its uni books etc., would be of interest to people who are worrying about going up to uni themselves. Or funny notices on noticeboards. Otherwise, if it’s this much of a chore for you, and January hasn’t even finished, you’re going to be struggling come February.
        Go smaller and grow if it suits you. This blog https://adimpleate.wordpress.com/ often has just a quote or a line from a poem and a photo. It works beautifully and it seems to feed her soul, rather than dragging her down like a ball and chain. Good luck with your blog, and your year.

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  10. I am a sexual abuse survivor that has just started blogging as a method of healing. I have a feeling the posts (like my head) are going to be be dark sometimes and disjointed sometimes. I’m looking to connect with other survivors and/or people dealing with PTSD, anxiety, and depression. If any of that applies to you, please take a look and leave a comment. I’d be happy to read your blog as well.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. It’s very intense and graphic…definitely more suitable for mature/older readers. The writing is beautiful but painful to read because it’s such a brutal experience. I’m happy to hear that you’ve found blogging as a method of healing, and it’s wonderful that you’re reaching out to others who have also had similar experiences. I’m not one of those people but I thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts.

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      1. Thank you. I appreciate your thoughts. I find that often my writing is brutal because I only write when something really hits me.

        I popped over to your blog as well. I really like the layout, it’s quite fun. I read the piece on throwback toys and left a comment. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Hey. I read some of your posts. Your writing is raw and visceral. It is painful to read but it is equally rewarding for its brave honesty. Well done. Would love some feedback on the travelogues I’ve posted on my site. Cheers.

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      1. I read the Toyko arrives post. Being from the US it was interesting to me to read how an Indian experiences another culture. I have not had the opportunity to go to Japan yet, but I know several people who have. I enjoyed how you wanted to immerse yourself in the culture and learn their way of doing things. I also enjoyed the pictures.

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    1. I am by no means successful as in followers, but I don’t think you should measure success by your stats. I think you have done well by commenting here. Find blogs you like and engage with them, you will quickly build a community and find inspiration. Best of luck.

      Liked by 1 person

  13. Hi everyone! I was so excited to start my blog and shocked at how hard it was to me, don’t know why… Take a look at my blog and let me know if I did anything wrong or where I can improve . I would appreciate it so much. Just started recently so sorry for the lack of articles. 😉

    Liked by 3 people

    2. For poetry, you could go with a variety of directions when it comes to categories: it could be by subject matter (family, love, etc.), mood, or poetic form (in case you experiment with several). The idea is to organize stuff in a way you think would make it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for.

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  18. Hey, I was wondering if somebody would check out this short story and poem I posted. Either is very long. Any feedback is welcome. Thank you.
    //jianbush.wordpress.com/2015/01/19/theyre-all-ants-a-short-story/

    //jianbush.wordpress.com/2015/01/16/a-prayer-to-the-beautiful-american-god-a-poem/

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      1. Wow! Thanks for a good comment and I’m happy that you like the Korean food:)) I like your blog!!! Design is really coool! and awesome. I should learn how to design the blog. haha:)

        Liked by 1 person

  20. Hello,
    blogging is so hard to do. I don’t know if my content is depressing and is not reaching out to others. I try to read these blogging tips, but reading isn’t the easiest. It’s a lot easier to write than to read.
    any help/tips would be appreciated.
    thank you!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m also new to blogging but the two things I keep in mind are: just be yourself and keep blogging. Those two sound so cliched, but it’s helping me! 🙂

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    2. Hi,
      I’ve read your blog and I think it’s well written. Plus, I really like the clear and organised layout. At first I was unsure about blogging but after four months I can say that I have really been enjoying it. Write what you want to write and not what you think people want to read. I think being able to freely express your own written work is one of the best things about blogging. 🙂

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      1. Thank you for the kind words. It’s really daunting to write and put it out in the universe, esp with all the options you have in layout and what not. I’m glad you liked it! and congrats on getting to 4 months of continuous blogging. As someone who struggles to remember to blog/post, thats really good to see!

        Liked by 1 person

  21. Hey team – Would love thoughts on content specifically. Right now, my blog focuses on my workout each day and personal on goings, though I’m debating about narrowing the content.

    Do you prefer blogs with a single subject line, or blogs with a significant amount of variety?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I love hearing about other cultures, and you’re post gives a really great, quick guide to Bijing. However, you need to be careful about repeating yourself too much. The repetition of “Beijing culture” is almost impressive. The reader doesn’t need that much reminding about the topic, you could afford to loose a few and it would help the flow. Further on you seem to get into it a bit more, the style becomes more fluid though you still need to proof because there are a few typos such as repeated words and the wrong words in places. The end also seems a little rushed. I would have liked to see more information on these less well known sites, though perhaps you’re planning on following these up in another post? Honestly, most of the topic you touched on could be developed into individual posts of the their own.
      All in all I’d say it’s a good start. Best of luck with the next post.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. I visited your blog and read the article you wrote about dreams. It was an exellent post.
      My advice to you would be to add information and goal of you blog on your ‘about the blogger and blog’ page.
      I am looking forward in reading your future posts so I followed you.

      Like

    3. I visited your blog and read the article you wrote about dreams. It was an exellent post.
      My advice to you would be to add information and goal of your blog on your ‘about the blogger and blog’ page.
      I am looking forward in reading your future posts so I followed you.

      Like

    1. Your blog looks great – the format is pretty simple and clear which makes it easy to read [mine needs work in that area!] and the only suggestion i would make is leaving lines between your paragraphs to break up the text a little otherwise it looks like one big bunch of text… but nice work and thankx for sharing

      love brett fish

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi, I like your blog, the layout is great and the articles follow an interesting theme.

      Be careful your work isn’t too similar to others, you could add your own thoughts opinions or speculation to open up a blog argument to debate!

      Looking good though!

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  25. Hola, I’ve just started and written my first post, hmhawkinsblog.wordpress.com if anyone would like to head on over and have a read, if there’s anyone else like me please leave your blog linked in the comments and I’ll have a peruse!

    Liked by 2 people

    2. Hi,
      I’ve looked at your blog and it looks great. The layout is clear and I like how you have incorporated images throughout. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person