Apr 27, 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

466 Comments

Comments are closed.

Close Comments

Comments

  1. Hi everyone!

    I recently wrote something longer and more personal than usual. I would love to know if the post is still kind of interesting or if it is too shallow. I usually focus more on places, sights or photography than on personal development. Do you think the post still works with the rest of my blog? Would you prefer to see more or less posts like this one if you were a reader of my blog?

    The post is this one: http://perelincolors.com/2015/04/23/travels-transform-a-picky-eater

    I also have another question: Has anyone ever had the problem that a new post shows up in the reader but not on the blog’s front page? It happened to me with this post and I have no idea how to solve the problem.

    Thanks a lot for any advice you can offer!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. What a great blog! I really enjoy your personal story and absolutely think it still fits well with the rest of your blog. I have only traveled to a few countries, but each one has changed me or my perspective in some way. I like how you connected your earlier food preferences with your travels. Plus, I always like to know more about the person behind the blog or their back-story, so I think including stories like these is a good idea for the future. It fleshes out the blog a little more, in my opinion, and readers like to be able to relate to the writer.

      I can’t help you with your reader/front page problem, but I did notice that the post didn’t show up on the front page for me either. Hopefully someone else is able to help!

      Like

      1. Thanks a lot, that is really encouraging! I am always a little nervous to write about myself so much .. but I hope that it helps so that people find it easier to relate with me in some way. Thanks a lot again for having a look!

        Liked by 1 person

    3. The post is really interesting, and I think it’s a nice addition to your blog. Longer posts usually scare away readers, but the personal aspect of this is perfect. To answer your question, I think your readers would love to see more of these posts. That is so weird (about the new post/front page). For me, your most recent post about Nepal is on your static/front page. The picky eater one is now there as well. It could be just you that seems to notice this, I’m sure your readers are still able to see your newest post on the front page. I tend to see wordpress acting funky between the actual blog and the reader. I usually open it with another browser, such as Chrome instead of my usual Safari to see if my readers see the same discrepancies as I do. Usually doing that, the problem is fine. That explanation may have confused you, hope that helped in some way!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks for having a look at the post! Longer posts often attract less readers, which makes them all the more difficult to write. I was quite unsure if I would manage to keep any reader’s attention until the end of the post, and if the personal twist at the beginning would serve to raise their curiosity in the first place. I am glad you liked it.

        I solved the problem with the post not showing up on the front page just shortly before you looked at the blog. I can now see it too and I am very glad it’s not lost.

        Liked by 1 person

    4. I really enjoyed this post and think that it fits very well with the rest of your blog. It’s interesting to see how your travels and experiences have changed your outlook on food and culture. Those kinds of transformations are what we’re all looking for when we explore! You have inspired me to try to add some more personal notes to my own writing.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Thanks a lot for reading the post and giving such encouraging feedback! Your blog looks lovely and if I was anywhere near Washington DC, I would follow your footsteps to some of the bars and restaurants there.

        Liked by 1 person

    5. Hi there. I really like this, and the rest of your blog. In fact I’ve followed! I started blogging about 9 months ago along similar lines – travel, photos and some personal stuff. Keep snapping and writing – I look forward to following your adventures 🙂

      Like

    1. Interesting post! I actually think there’s some beauty to inserting posts with out the wrap-around text, it helps the readers focus on the photos. So I think how you have it works for you. In terms of layout, your header is creative and colorful, but overall it’s a little plain. (I hope I don’t sound condescending. I don’t mean this in an offending way.) You should definitely consider adding sidebar widgets that can help contribute to the aesthetics, maybe a category cloud instead of your recent posts widget. Also add some social media widgets if you can.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Good writing doesn’t necessarily require a cliffhanger ending! It requires memorable characters, situations that invite curiosity and and emotional tie to the character or the story line that draws in the reader. Chapter one catches my interest! For future posts, plan a link back to the previous post or the beginning so readers have a chance to connect to the first couple of chapters…otherwise, by chapter 4 or 5 you may close off visitors until week 26 when you start a brand new Storyline!- Ret

      Liked by 1 person

  18. Hi everyone,
    All feedback is welcome as usual. I always appreciate feedback/constructive criticism on my writing style, blog post topics and layout/theme as it all helps me improve.

    infinitedaydreamer.wordpress.com

    Thank you 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    2. I really like it 🙂 You should add all your social media, I see only Goodreads 🙂 And maybe create a Bloglovin’ account!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you 🙂 I’ve also got Instagram attached, but I don’t want to connect my twitter/Facebook to my blog just yet. However, I think I will create a bloglovin account, thanks for the advice.

        Liked by 1 person

  21. Happy Monday guys!
    I’m really new to blogging and not sure of what to do. I’d love some feedback (honest and critical feedback is welcomed) on my first two posts:

    Hi

    #2

    Particularly on whether people get the whole ‘in which’ thing and if they find it (mildly) amusing or if people think I should just drop that part and move on with my life?! Other than that, I’m happy to hear anything that anyone might think about my layout or just my ideas/writing in general.
    Always happy to speak to new people and give people return feedback on their blog, so please, take a look and leave me a comment if you have time. 😀
    Thank you so much! x

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You’re going to love WordPress – welcome! One tip – if you use more than 15 tags and categories combined on a post, it won’t appear in The Reader which means that other bloggers won’t be able to find you.

      Like

    2. Your blog looks good…I would add more colour to it and maybe pictures next to your posts:) otherwise welcome to WordPress, you will love it here:)
      Use tags and categories on your posts, it makes it easier to navigate and for other bloggers to find you:)

      Liked by 1 person

    3. LOVE the “in which” thing. I like your writing style too – witty, funny and self-aware. I’m also new to the whole blogging thing so I feel your pain. Your blog looks great from another beginner’s POV!

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Ah thank you so much! I am really relieved you thought so, I was worried how it would come across. I will be checking your blog out shortly! 😀

        Like

    4. You have an about page which is good, and your using pictures which is good too.

      I am not sure about the yellow, cannot put my finger on it exactly but it seems out of place, but I am wondering if all white would be too stark.

      I get the “in which” thing but I don’t think that it flows in with the post titles. For example post #2 reads as “ #2… in which Helen” whereas something like “Interailing at last… In which Helen talks about etc” may have flowed better

      You’re using an uncatagorized category on your first two posts and loads of tags, WordPress omit you from search results if you use over 15 categories and tags, imagine categories as the “high level view” and tags as the details, so a category may be music and a tag may be radiohead (for example).

      Overall a good start though, you will find your feel of it as you go along.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. wow, thank you so much for taking the time to help me out! i thought this about the yellow too, it was white originally but somebody said there wasn’t enough colour. thanks again for your help, I really really appreciate it 🙂

        Like

      2. I clicked on your reply but it seems you deleted the blog? is that the case?

        Some white blogs can look plain i think, the colour (i like to think) comes from the photographs.

        Like

      3. no? I don’t think names link to blogs always on here I have noticed which I don’t understand

        Like

      4. scrap that I was clicking on the wrong link, when I click your name it takes me to a different blog… you may want to look to change that too.

        Like

  22. Hi everyone, I started a new blog a couple of weeks ago and would love some feedback. I’ve never had a blog before so don’t know what the do’s and dont’s are or where I might be going wrong. Any help appreciated

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Hello, everyone! AlmondEyes here! I’m very happy to be involved in another Community Pool. Today’s post is one I struggled to complete. As usual, I battled with perfectionism, spending days writing and rewriting this. I almost left it in my drafts folder. A part of me still battled against posting it, but I did! I’d love feedback (preferably on my site). And please leave constructive criticism if need be. Thank you!

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Hi, can someone tell me how to get a solid colored box for my title and subtitle to layer on the very bottom of my photo just above the menu. They are almost impossible to read in white or black — I don’t like either and other colors don’t seem to provide the contrast I want either.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hello:) Happy first day as a blogger:) I like your writing style and your blog looks really good! Keep on doing what you love and others will follow!

      Liked by 1 person

  27. Hey everyone, this is my first time posting here so I hope I’m following all the rules. My latest post is a recap of the latest episode of Game of Thrones and I was hoping to get feedback on it.

    It’s a little long so I don’t expect you to read all of it.

    The Lazy Game of Thrones Recap: Introducing Sansa Bolton???

    I was also hoping to get some feedback on the theme of my blog. I feel as if it’s too plain.

    If anyone wants feedback on their blog, I’ll be happy to do it!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. As a huge GOT fan, I love the recap! There ain’t nothing lazy about it! I would suggest adding an alert for any potential spoilers though (just in case) 🙂

      Like

  29. Hi. I’m new to blogging and welcome any feedback. I just wrote a blog on a recent trip to Stone Town. Does my article paint a picture? Do the photos support the words?
    Is it interesting to read? Too long? Please, I want to continue to improve. Thank you for taking the time

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hello! Your post definitely isn’t too long. It’s about right for me but I guess it is just a matter of opinion. You describe the scene well in the text along but the photos are lovely and add to what you’ve written.

      Good luck with it all but so far so good from what I can see!

      Liked by 1 person

    2. Your blog looks really good…I love the pictures and your post was well written 🙂 I am a visual person and for me pictures tell the story before anything else….so keep on doing what you’re doing because it’s really good!

      Liked by 1 person

  30. Following some handy feedback on here last week, I’ve added a ‘Who’s who’ page to my blog.

    To explain, my blog is my teenage diaries from the 1990s and if a reader hasn’t seen earlier posts, it wasn’t always clear who I was waffling on about. If someone appears infrequently, I tend to link back to another post they were mentioned in but for close friends and the long list of boys I lurved, a list made more sense than linking every time.

    Do you think the who’s who page works? Is there anything else I could add to make it more helpful?

    Ta!

    Tess x

    Like