Jan 26, 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. Hey…. I was trying to find an About page but couldn’t? Also, I think it needs some images, even small ones, just to give it something other than text.

      Also, are you familiar with the ‘Read More’ tag you can add in your pieces? It’s a way of stopping your entire piece being on the front page, so it only shows a paragraph or so… (some people choose not to use)

      Like

    1. First thing I’d do is get your About pages written. It’s the first page I jump to on every new blog I visit – I want to know who the author is and what they’re about, and of course what the blog is about – it also gives readers a quick idea about how you write, your tone, and basically what to expect from the rest of the blog. That’s just my opinion though… maybe I’m in the minority 😀

      I do really like the images on the front page – it draws me in pretty quick!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. You have an interesting blog! I just read your post about the snow and enjoyed it! I’m going to take a look at some of your other posts; it’s neat to read how people acclimate into new/different cultures, as you are doing. Great job on capturing the readers’ attention! -Kristin 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    1. Hello!

      I’m following your blog now! I like the way you write! It’s compelling!

      Your About page is hard to find because of the way the layout is designed. Also, I usually love navigating categories and archives, and these can be added as widgets to help readers get a clearer sense of what’s on your blog.

      I checked out your post about Mumbai Moonsoons and I would have love to see some photos of the foods and places you describe. I’m looking forward to reading more about India and your take on it. I’m addicted to Bollywood movies and I can’t get enough of descriptions of amazing food that I’ll never get my hands on here in Quebec (why do I do this to myself?). I also love to learn more about the various cultures and traditions as well as current events of India. Whenever I watch Indian movies, I notice so many things I want to learn more about!

      I hope this was useful! I look forward to reading your blog!

      Liked by 1 person

  14. Hello! Could you guys please check my blog out. I promise you won’t be Dissapointed and your feedback would mean so much! Thank you and I’ll make sure to check your blog as a thank you.

    Liked by 2 people

  15. I have been posting for a few months. Would love feedback on my posts as well as the overall theme of my web page. Thanks.

    Liked by 2 people

  17. Hello, How many of you have a Facebook page for your blog?
    If you do have one, has it been worthwhile?

    I’m trying to decide if I should add a Facebook page for my travel blog. I have Twitter already but I don’t think as many people have Twitter. I’m wondering if FB could reach more people. Which is more successful for you–Twitter or FB?

    I created a fun little poll on my contact page in my blog with this very question. Please feel free to answer my poll, and offer your advice if you’d like. Thanks very much for your feedback. Kristin 🙂

    See my poll here:

    Get In Touch

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi, I have a travel blog too, and I have both FB and twitter for it. Both are more difficult to reach success with than with the blog itself – FB because the FB algorithm does not always show your followers/friends what you post and twitter because there are just so many tweets that they easily get lost unless you tweet all the time. On the other hand, I think it is always nice to give non-WP readers the opportunity to connect with a network they already have an account with.
      I like your header image a lot, by the way.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. I have an expat blog and I have instagram, Twitter and facebook. As perelincolors said – WordPress does work better than those, but slowly I do get more followers there, so why not? 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    1. You have very interesting ideas in your posts, I am following you now.

      About the feedback- try to use shorter paragraphs and some pictures to make it more readable. Otherwise I found it very enjoyable.

      Liked by 2 people

  19. Spreading some love to my fellow bloggers 🙂

    Please visit my humble blog and check out my latest posts.

    By the way, I am thinking of having a page for something like “Love thy neighbor” feature of our previous blogging 101 class. What do you think?

    xoxo,
    Berryduchess

    Liked by 2 people

  20. Hi all,

    I recently started my blog. I’m a single mother living in the city and was diagnosed with bipolar 7 years ago. It’d be nice to have more readers and any sort of feedback. I don’t write and edit.. I simply write whatever is racing through my mind because for me, blogging is therapeutic.

    http://taratrinity.wordpress.com

    Best,
    Tara

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hi Tara,
      I like the look of the Sela theme, it’s a good choice for your blog, and I don’t think your writing looks too messy at all. If you don’t do a lot of editing, it looks like you already start with good writing right away!
      I am doing the Blogging101 class and there is another women blogging about bipolar (no child though), her blog is https://andjustatouchofcrazy.wordpress.com/ – just dropping it here in case it might interesting for the two of you to connect.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. thank you! most mothers who have bipolar don’t blog i have noticed. it’s always nice to meet others out there who struggle the same as i do. i’ll take a look.

        Like

  22. Two things, I realise I forgot to describe what it is my blog actually is, but I can’t figure out how to delete my old generic post, so am doing it again here. It’s called ‘A Hopelessly Wandering Mind’ and I hope that largely explains it. It’s mainly my thoughts on random topics and current events, as well as the occasional film review. Secondly, as well as general feedback on the layout and things, I’d love to hear any thoughts on this specific blog post, something that really shook me up yesterday but led me to think how lucky I am.

    On Awareness- The Importance of Keeping Perspective

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I truly enjoyed reading your views. Overall, I like the way you have set up your page. Right now I only read your above post and am sure will enjoy reading your other posts as well.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you so much, that’s very kind. Your page looks extremely interesting as well, and I really look forward to reading about your travels in future. In the meantime, thanks for the feedback.

        Like

  27. Oh, this is great! I’ve had feedback from some of my friends that it’s hard to navigate my blog and find older posts. I’ve currently posted my very first pin that explains why I started my blog, but would love to know if it would be better to make that a “page” instead of a “post.” Also, is there a strong layout with a left hand or right hand nav that enables the viewer to quickly click on specific topics or blog posts? Thanks so much, happy to hear any feedback! I know I need to change my theme for both ease of reading and to get a darker font in the mix.

    Liked by 2 people

    2. I think what you’re looking for is a Custom Menu widget. Most themes allow you to create a custom menu (more information here: https://wordpress.com/support/menus/). You can use a Custom Menu Widget (details here: https://wordpress.com/support/widgets/custom-menu-widget/) to display the custom menu you created in your sidebar. You can browse through themes by column layout in the Theme Showcase — for example, all the themes with a left sidebar are here:
      https://theme.wordpress.com/themes/features/left-sidebar/

      Like

  29. Hello!
    I am brand new to blogging and would love support! Please let me know if my first actual post is solid or if it needs more work!

    I would love the feedback!

    Thank you!

    Liked by 2 people

  30. Hello! I think I am finally getting the hang of making pages and forming some ideas for posts, but I know I have a LONG way to go and would love some constructive advice or even just pointing out things that could be changed in general. 🙂

    I hope to build up a blog that I can eventually use for my freelancing, but I am aware that this – like any blog – takes time. I am willing to put the effort in and research all I can!

    https://mrspopplewell.wordpress.com/

    Please leave your comments about it, if any, as a reply to this post or to my email. If you cannot find my email on the blog, I am truly sorry! Here it is just in case: caitlinglidden@gmail.com

    Liked by 1 person