Feb 23, 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.
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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. I like your voice. You speak in terms in which many can relate. Remember: only you can write a lifestyle blog about your life. I think you’re doing it well

      Like

    2. So far so good! I do hope you keep writing. I’d also love to see your About page updated – it’s always the first page I visit on a new blog to see what the blogger is all about, and to have some idea of what I can look forward to 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    1. Your blog is beautiful, and I really liked your flash fiction. It’s only two sentences yet you say so much about aging and longing. Have you thought about dividing up your “uncategorized” section into a few more categories? Maybe adding a “fiction” section because I noticed that you have a lot of short stories. That may be easier to follow. But overall I’m a big fan.

      I’m a fiction writer too and if you have time I’d love it if you can check out some of my stuff 🙂 https://conqueringanthropophobia.wordpress.com/category/bedtime-storiesfiction/

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you for you response and I’m very glad to meet you. I like reading short stories and I have found interesting stuff on your blog.

        Yes, I need to categorize my page. I’ll be working on them.

        Best Regards

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Very funny post. As a New Yawker recently transplanted to Texas, I am in no position to talk, but sometimes even I can’t understand my friends from Bahston, so don’t feel bad

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    1. I don’t know what it’s like to have chronic depression, but I would recommend you a podcast called “dishing up nutrition”. This is because your depression might have a biochemical basis that never been looked at.

      Your experience with the whole-tone scale is rather amazing. For us, that scale always has a surreal and imaginative element to it, and it didn’t occur to us to associate it with anger and frustration. Maybe you’re channeling your emotional turmoil into something constructive…

      It’s a strange world that you live in – this we can tell 🙂

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    2. Hi Ziya. I managed to follow your musical take on confronting depression. Glad to see you’re addressing your condition. It took me quite a while to admit to being depressed and even more to do something about it. It takes courage to face it and as in your case, talk openly about it. Kudos

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    2. That’s a very moving piece-one that resonates with many. It takes courage to “lay yourself bare” like that. I admire your writing and the guts it takes to put it out there. Thanks for sharing

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  15. Hey everyone, so I’m a blogging newbie. I have a healthy living blog. I have my main page, an about me page, a recipe page, and a workouts page. On the blog page, each new post can be linked directly when I want to share it. The recipe and workout page are all just one big link. So if someone wants to find a recipe, they have to scroll up and down to try and find the specific one. Can it be more organized like the blog page, with links to each recipe and workout? Any others suggestions welcome, too. http://www.mireillesjourneytohealth.com

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Love your use of the separate pages. Is there something in your theme that allows for separate posts for the recipes? a box with all the recipe /workout post titles would help navigate this (sorry I’m only new to this myself)

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I know, right. That’s something I’m really trying to figure out. I would really like to seperate the workouts and recipes, but not sure how. I’m going to check out your blog. Definitely think with a name like squat fabulous, it’s going to be great!

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      2. Let me know if you find out 🙂 would love to use the tips. Blog isn’t great, still new so it is a slow stop and start process at the moment. But will see how it goes!

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    1. Good post. What’s the word count on that? If it’s over 1000, I’d go back and add the “wplongform” tag. If it’s over 1500, I’d add the “longreads” tag. Those tag listings move very slowly in the WP Reader and they can help get your post an audience that wants to read something longer.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Great idea. I’ve been toying with the idea of a best of- just didn’t know if it would be worth it. I like how yours is short, sweet, and to the point.

        I like how your blog is set up. We pretty much have the same widgets except I don’t have most recent comments. I may try that widget out for March and see if that encourages more engagement. Thank you for commenting.

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  19. I just started this blog for my poetry and would love some feedback, should I throw away the pen, keep writing? please look at my most recent post, some of what came before is rather depressing, don’t want to bore you all with my tales of heartbreak! Any comments would be greatly appreciated. thanks

    Liked by 1 person

    2. Reading your post I think we can all relate to feelings of self-doubt and frustration that you mention here. The fact that you made your lack of inspiration, the source of your inspiration was an excellent way to get things rolling again

      Liked by 1 person

  23. I’m just getting started. Am curious what first impression the post gives, and also the About and Tagline. Specifically, can anyone describe the direction they think this might take? (ex: inspirational, too depressing, suspenseful, etc)

    Do you feel you would want to learn more about this story? Is the intro too melancholy? I definitely want input, and you are the only ones who can give it to me! Asking for help is an incredibly vulnerable feeling for me, but here I am, asking for help. Thank you!
    https://returnedtolife.wordpress.com/

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Your writing is vulnerable and personal. Although I’m familiar with the themes in your post, I am not really interested in reading further – mainly because it rambles on and doesn’t seem to have a real voice. I also have a short attention span so…

      I’ll be honest and tell you that this strikes me as “yet another depression blog”. I don’t mean to say we need more unicorns and rainbows, etc. but I feel that the majority of your content will be somewhat therapeutic writings.

      All I can say is write more and show us some passion in your work!

      I hope this helps 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    2. Hi! Your blog is well written and I like your sketches. I like that you have seperate categories for all your posts, depending on what one is in the mood for. Keep it up!

      Liked by 1 person

  26. Hi All,
    I am new here and new to blogging. I have a design question for all the pros out there. I am trying to figure out how I add a picture to my profile so when my blog link is shared on Facebook it isn’t just a blank rectangle with my blogsites title. I hope this makes sense. I am not a computer savy person.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. For me

      1. I share my posts on all my social media sites, encouraging my family and friends to read.

      2. Get friends and family to post on theirs once in a while.

      3. Post here and try to comment on other people’s blogs.

      4. Make use of the tags and categories.

      5. Post regularly.

      I don’t get a lot of views but I am thankful and comfortable with the few I get!

      Like