Apr 20, 2015 / Community Pool

Community Pool

The place for advice, feedback, and friendly blogging conversation.

Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/redjar/8402178817">redjar</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">(CC BY-SA 2.0)</a>

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! We tend to delete duplicate comments asking for feedback on the same post.
  • 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!
  • When leaving comments, please remember not to add your blog’s url as your signature. It’s kinda spammy: after all, your handle links directly to your blog.
  • If you haven’t looked at our Commenting Guidelines in a while, now might be a good time.
  • No running on the deck.
Show Comments

698 Comments

Comments are closed.

Close Comments

Comments

    1. Looks pretty legit and easy to follow. If anything, some measurements when it comes to seasonings and spices would be helpful. Otherwise my household takes a lack of measurement to mean ‘a metric buttload’. I followed. ^_^ We need more veggie recipes in this house.

      Like

  2. Hello Blogging Community. I am new to the blog world and would like input on my blogs.
    I keep two the first is basically my thought dump tank and the second is written in the POV of my Chihuahua girl Bella.

    Both blogs can be found here.
    https://kildanlove.wordpress.com/
    the link for the second can be found on the widget bar.

    Thanks in advance.

    **also would like to know how to increase my audience on both sites**

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Hello everyone:)
    I’ve joined the blogging world three months ago…all good since then, actually I am loving it, but I would like to know what you think about it:)
    Thank you very much:)

    this is me

    Like

  4. I have a Gravatar question. I’ve put an icon into Gravatar as my profile picture, and it is the image that shows up on my Public Profile page (the icon is a hand holding a feather pen). However, whenever I post anything, I just get the default green-quilt icon. How do I get the Gravatar image to actually show up on my posts? I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Help!

    Like

    1. The Community Pool is really meant as a place where users offer and ask for feedback about their blogs. For technical help, the best thing to do is reach out to us in Support.

      Like

  5. My advice to all-new bloggers everywhere is, in the words of the great Walt Disney, “Get a good idea & stick with it.” Also, if you are going to promise your new blogging audience something, please make sure that you try to stick to that promise. (Oh, and one more thing: Chack yur spilling after you finnish writig yur post! Yuk, yuk, yuk!)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Cute blog! I myself love to take pictures. I feel at times a photograph can capture our story better than words.

      I would love for readers to come over and take a peek at my blogs.
      I can be found at
      https://kildanlove.wordpress.com/

      The main one is my dumping tank for all my thoughts, my out-loud diaries and much more.
      The second one which can be found through a link on the side widget is written in the POV of my Chihuahua girl Bella. It is a cute little blog.
      Looking for advice on how to get more readers on both sites.

      Like

  8. I started my blog about 2 months ago but I don’t get much feedback on my posts. I would like some feedback on my posts and it would be great if you followed me. I am currently working on the second piece of a series called World Downfall. here is the link. I changed the name of the series after I made the page so the link looks a little weird.
    https://thekyleinator.wordpress.com/why-the-world-is-going-downhill/

    -thekyleinator

    Like

    1. I love the baseball post. It reminded me of my son and his love for baseball. We are a baseball family.

      It is written in the POV of my Chihuahua girl Bella. It is a cute little blog.

      Take a peek at https://apawfectlife.wordpress.com is the one I get smiles from.
      Hope to see you following Bella’s World. I am sure you will get a kick out of it as some of my students do.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Hi guys,
    I’m new to blogging and I only started around a week ago but have already made four posts so can u check em out and let me know what u think in terms of the content, style and design.
    nonbiasview.wordpress.com
    Thanks

    Like

  11. Just started my blog a couple of weeks ago. Would really like some feedback from some seasoned pros to let me know if my topics are too random or if that is a good thing. Layout advice is always great as well.

    Thank you in advance.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Hi there, I’ve started a parenting and baking blog partly because of all the conflicting and overwhelming advice I was given by ‘well wishers’ when my daughter was a newborn, and partly because I love baking! I’m hoping it may be of some help to other mums and dads. I would love advice and possibly followers too… please do check it out and let me know what you think and if there is anything you think I could include. Thank you 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I think the order is pretty much spot on but I asked a similar question earlier about my own blog so maybe I’m not the best person to respond!

      Maybe it’d be better to have your ‘follow’ button nearer the top so that anyone not on WordPress can keep up with your posts.

      Like

      1. Thanks for your reply. I was thinking that but somehow it didn’t look right. I’ll keep tweaking it!

        Like

  14. Hi there! I’ve been blogging for a few months now, but I’m still a new face to this.

    For a while I’d been getting a nice amount of views, but lately I’ve been going days without any activity whatsoever. I was wondering if maybe my blog has been changing without me noticing, or if the initial excitement has just died down. I am still very excited about my blog and so I was wondering what I could do to share that more with people! 🙂

    Please let me know!

    http://noblestew.wordpress.com

    Liked by 1 person

    2. Your blog looks awesome …love it:) As for traffic, use social media like Facebook/Twitter to share your page:) Community Pool is an amazing place to meet other fellow bloggers plus you can always get involved in writing and photo challenges from The Daily Post:) Good luck:)

      Liked by 1 person

    4. oops. had a distracted moment. Please feel free to delete my oddly placed comment. I love the format of your blog! I cannot wait to read more. Very engaging. I had to follow- so, I can come back again! (I am a little addicted to ! and –) sorry.

      Liked by 2 people

  17. Hi,

    I’m new to wordpress moving from blogger. However i am finding it difficult to design my blog. Is this because I have chosen the free version. For example in blogger the template allowed where to place various items, such as blogs I follow – on the side and not as in wordpress. There is mention of dragging widgets but how do you do this/ Any youtube videos?

    Any help welcomed.
    Bob

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Welcome! For technical help, it’s best to reach out to us in Support. Our Happiness Engineers are friendly and super smart on all things WordPress. They’ll help you get things set to rights.

      Like

    2. Most of this is found in your dashboard. If using the new version of dashboard? Switch to “classic” view. There most of your blog’s finished look can be found under “Appearance?. Which will be found on LH side of dashboard. For a different look try the “Themes” also found on left. When in themes, you can try out different free ones, until you find your desire? They are all a little different and if you like someone else’s Theme? Look at the bottom of their post and it will tell you which theme is being used.

      To use those things called widgets. A person needs to be in dashboard and find the widgets menu, found under “Appearance”. Some widgets are preset, others require a little html inserted.

      Good luck with your blog. Finding the classic view is key to many answers, to your questions. Yakki da Cheers Jamie.

      Liked by 2 people

    1. Love the paperclips for information!!
      The background does feel a little busy, I think i’s the pattern more than the colour to be honest so you could try a plain, maybe paler green???

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks for the feedback! I was afraid that it would be the case :/ but i just thought it looked so fun! Oh well 🙂

        Like

    2. No, it’s not too distracting. With the white background to the posts, it’s works well.

      You’re posts aren’t too long and you’ve broken up the text with photographs. If you have any longer posts, they makes it look less daunting to read.

      Liked by 1 person

    3. The background looks a little bit busy but if that is something you like you should keep it…your blog should be a slight extension of you:) I think overall the look of your blog it’s just fine…add pictures to your posts,people are more visual than anything else:) Keep up the good work:)

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you! I’m hoping to improve my photography skills too so I can put better, more interesting photos on my blog soon 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

    1. I find your blog very interesting:) I like that you add pictures to your posts, you are on the right track…make it your own and give it your personality:)
      If you are not sure about the theme you’re using, just try some others until you feel ok about it:)
      Add some sharing buttons so your page can be shared on Facebook/Twitter and just keep on doing what you’re doing:)

      Liked by 1 person

    1. I like your header and the background color. You might want to add an “about” page or add more info to your “profile” page, or even add a tagline to your blog – just something to give visitors an idea of what your blog is about.

      Like

  22. I’m in need of expanding my public presence and have created a Pinterest and Instagram account, but being anonymous hurts my (vacant) friend’s list. I can’t find others to follow that are related to my blog. What else can I do to expand?

    Liked by 2 people

  23. Hey Guys! Really looking for some criticism on my posts and how I can make them more engaging to my audience. Please check out my website to see some of my posts. Help is greatly appreciated. Also you may want to check out my “free banners” post if you are interested!

    Thanks a lot!
    Brent S.

    Liked by 2 people

  24. I am struggling with structure, and how to organize my blog. I have some things that are more about my professional life and opinions about those things- and then there is more personal musings. I am not sure how to make my blog look better. I also get scant feedback and criticism. I am a new writer, and almost entirely self-taught. (Did not exactly go very far in my public education prior to college. Any advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated.
    http://quirkybody.com
    (And, I feel dumb again- I can’t figure out how to insert a link. ignorance is hopefully temporary.)

    Like

      1. Thank you! I found it yesterday. I am surprised at the volume of helpful documents available! Now, I am beginning to figure some of this out! Maybe.

        Like

  30. When referencing a post by another blogger, what is the best way to refer to the blogger and the post with hyperlinks?
    For example:
    In his excellent post (link to the post), the author (link to the author) says, “quotehere.”

    I’m a completely inexperienced blogger, so any help would be much appreciated.

    Liked by 2 people