Mar 21, 2015 / Community Pool

Community Pool

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.
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  1. Hi there,
    I love the idea of this “pool”! What a cool way to find others who are just starting out in the blogging world. I recently started a blog about reigniting my passion for photography. Initially it was just intended as a creative outlet, and I was happy to have just close friends and family interact with my posts. Now I’m finding myself wishing I could actually attract a few readers. I published a post on Sunday, and it’s only had 4 views. I’m reluctant to think it’s that terrible, but who knows! 🙂 I’d love some feedback to help me improve.
    I notice some formatting issues, like the centre justified text in the photo captions. I don’t know how to left justify it, and the photos format inconsistently, too.
    https://kharmsblog.wordpress.com

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Your photography is enjoyable. One thing to consider is that your latest post could be broken into several smaller posts. That would allow you to post more frequently. For more traffic, you could try a couple of things: (1) Set your blog to automatically share with any social media accounts you have and (2) Search for other photography blogs and put comments on some of their posts. http://gracelead.co

      Liked by 2 people

    2. Hi – love the photography, especially that one for “Weekend Explorations”.

      The only “issue” I have for the site is the load time on the landing page. I’m on not very fast broadband admittedly, but it took a long time to load because of all the pictures on it – one of the pictures alone was over 1MB in size. You might choose just to do excerpts for some posts on your front page with a lower resolution featured image.

      This might be why you only see low visitor counts on your post too – all of it is on the front page so there’s no need for them to click in to the actual post.

      I’ve given you a follow anyway!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. I like your writing tips. A couple of things to consider on your blog: (1) It would be nice to have an About page that tells the purpose of your blog and perhaps your background in writing and (2) You might want to lighten the background color to make it easier to read. http://gracelead.co

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Your site is easy to read and navigate. The header works well for what you are doing. An About page that tells us the purpose of your blog would be helpful. Strategies for more readers includes (1) Do an automatic share from your blog to any social media accounts you have (2) Visit similar blogs and leave comments. http://gracelead.co

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Brand new to blogging. I recently lost over 125 lbs and lots of people told me that my stories are hilarious and I should really be writing them down, so voila! Here I am! Thank you for your time and feedback!! 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  8. I am compelled to thank you, immensely, for posting out this particular post; it is amazing and the idea so “spreading the love”. I am a new blogger, was clueless about blogging completely, and i really choose to blog every time only hoping that others may in one way or another connect to what i have to share /things i learned or grew aware of in this life especially after a traumatizing, constructive accident during my 2 years spent in the UK as a student.
    Thank you again for this beautiful, selfless post.
    http://www.wegrowthroughothers.wordpress.com/

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Hello everyone! I am new to blogging. I have recently started a full year of teaching English in the Himalayan country of Bhutan. I have started a blog, but with the weak wifi signal here, it’s difficult to keep it up. For some reason, it’s much easier to post to Facebook. I can post plain text to WordPress quite easily, but the pictures take forever – and I can’t seem to write without also telling my story in pictures. I would appreciate any advice on easily moving my Facebook posts to WordPress and would also love any feedback on my blog. My Facebook address is below, as well as my blog address.
    http://www.intothedragonkingdom.wordpress.com
    https://www.facebook.com/laura.jenkins.3597

    When you go to FB, go directly to photo albums, specifically: My Daily Commute, A Walk in the Greening, A Most Auspicious Beginning, Kingdom in the Clouds and People of Kathmandu.

    I appreciate your taking the time to look, read and comment! Thank you!!

    Liked by 3 people

      1. Thank you for the feedback – it is much appreciated! I will add an about page and figure out how to put it into a category.

        Like

    2. Hi. I think its very well written and I love reading about ‘everyday’ issues, I write about them too. Things that might seem small to others, like shift work, but actually is a big deal! Well done! keep it going!

      Liked by 1 person

  13. Hi all!
    I’ve started a blog about writing stories.. i share my thoughts on what I do to write and short stories that I write. I would love for feedback and and to have discussions on what works for people when writing!! Feel free to come by my blog and have a read. Any feedback, good or bad, is appreaciated!!

    https://bawstories.wordpress.com/

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I like your layout! And great content. But I’m a bit confused why you have some double posts – like for Greece and Florence.

      I think more photos in your posts would be nice to break up the text and get more visuals of the places you’ve visited 🙂

      Like

  16. Check out my last blog post to read about a crazy situation that ultimately could have resulted in death… I don’t wish this upon anyone and I’m so happy my family member is still here with us today! She still has a long life ahead of her. thinklikekate.org

    Liked by 2 people

  17. Hello! My blog is located at Bikurgurl.com – I’ve been blogging on and off for years, but re-started my blog late last year to get my writing out, learn technology, and find like-minded writers in the blogging community. I will say that I’ve been overwhelmed by the overall positive energy! I’m still working out how to categorize my posts through categories and tags, but have an eclectic mix of Flash Fiction, Game and Book Reviews, and recently – my gardening love! Here’s a recent post for review on my garden: http://bikurgurl.com/2016/03/18/in-my-garden/ as well as my Facebook page {also linked on my Blog} https://www.facebook.com/BikurgurlBlog/ — What I’m wondering is with all my different writing interests, I don’t want to maintain several blogs, but think that all the variety could be organized better. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance for your kindness 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  18. hey everyone

    Just wrote a piece on moving AGAIN as we are going to be doing that on Friday with a question at the end i would love for you to take a look at:

    A moving post

    Hope you’re all well and bloggering strong!
    love brett fish

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Hi everyone, I am new to the blog world and would love it if anyone would be interested in reading anything I’ve posted so far and giving any feedback. Thanks.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi! Good post! Sometimes with these sorts of things people don’t explain all the facts, assuming that their readers already know some details. I think you have explained things really well.

      My only (hopefully) constructive criticism was that I thought there were a few too many pictures. At one point towards the end, you have three pictures wrapped around a very small piece of writing which can interrupt the flow a bit.

      As I say though, excellent read!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks for your feedback. I’m glad you liked my post about climate changes. Comoros is a small developing country and most people are not aware of all the things happening there. I think, I’m gonna take your advice and choose more efficiently when it’s the right time to add a relevant pic. Thanks!

        Like

    1. I never thought of rain that way. Some of the shortest and simplest poems are the best.

      Like