May 4, 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

589 Comments

Comments are closed.

Close Comments

Comments

    1. I like that you are hard on yourself, but posted it anyway. That part of the post was most interesting to me. 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      1. It is part of my Unearthed series, where I publish abandoned drafts. It forces me to deal with my perfectionism, and actually see how others respond to posts I would’ve otherwise left to gather spiderwebs.

        Liked by 2 people

    1. I like your cover image – those cookies look delicious!

      You use a lot of emoticons, which kind of detracts from their impact. One or two smiley faces add emphasis – six or seven gives *everything* emphasis, which kind of defeats the purpose!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Oh wow that’s awesome man! I also followed you. I appreciate it. I will eventually get a sports blog but I wanted to do a Bears blog. I love that team and want to share it with the world. I am also realistic, like they aren’t going to go undefeated and win the super bowl haha. And hey, the panthers are a great team, I LOVE CAM NEWTON! Dude’s a great guy and a great player. Thank you again. I will try and post daily

        Like

  5. Hi everyone! So I hit 100 followers not to long ago, so I decided to put together a giveaway! It’s open internationally, so any one can enter! There will be 3 winners, so the possibilities are endless haha!

    http://wp.me/p5md0q-6v

    Good luck to everyone! Have a wonderful week!

    Liked by 3 people

    1. I like it! I too try to add some motivation and inspiration to my posts so we’re on the same page. I personally LOVE the word Hustle and use it daily! (When my husband says, “What are you doing?” I say, “Hustling, hustling!” LOL I’m now following you – love it!

      Liked by 1 person

    2. I don’t know if I’ve caught you part way through changing your header but the wide grey band almost filled up the whole of my laptop screen. It seemed like something was missing. You might like to check that’s the effect you’re looking for perhaps on a few different types of screen.

      Like

      1. Susurrus, that you for checking out my blog. You went to my page recently? The header image should be a city skyline with Living The Dream above it. No grey band no will reload it just invade. Thanks. 🙂

        Like

    1. Your writing is so inspiring. The post “victims of tradition” and “earthquake” really filled me with grief. Do check my blog if you have time.

      Liked by 2 people

  8. Can someone give me constructive criticism, I’ve been blogging for over a year and really enjoy it, but feel that I haven’t made much of an impression since my following is small, but grateful for the followers I do have. Thank you.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I like the overall tone of your blog, but I would like MORE. I think what works best for personal blogs like yours is to get more indepth – share what you love about gardening, what you love about being outside, or what it means to you. Also, the font is a bit small… consider making that bigger for easier readability. Keep going! Love your photos! 🙂

      Like

      1. Thank you so much for your time and suggestions, they sound like something I can try to do, although, I’m really not a writer, thats why I try and keep it short, but I will try. Thank you, again.

        Liked by 2 people

  9. Hi,
    I am looking to grow my readership. My blog offers blogging advice for bloggers. Tips on how to engage readers, improve content, and increase traffic are all waiting for you at my site. Here is the link to my About page, so you can check out my blog. There is even a free incentive waiting if you click the “free incentive link”.

    About Me

    Janice

    Liked by 4 people

  11. I JUST started my blog and there are only two posts. I would love to get feedback on my writing style. It’s hard to know how to write a post when you’re just starting out. I’m not concerned with layout or anything like that. Just content. Thanks! (:

    Liked by 5 people

    2. Keep going! I love it! I have a Wisdom from the Word Wednesday that I’ve been doing – I’d love for you to be a guest blogger sometime! We need more God on the internet – keep going! Blessings!

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Hello everyone, i would be glad if you all read my blog and let me know your reviews. In my blog i express my emotions and the way i see my life. I may not be a great writer but writing is complete only when it is approved by the readers. So pls check http://www.salorocks.wordpress.com
    I am waiting for your response

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I really love everything about your blog, from the theme to the writing style, it is perfect. I suggest you to put more tags. Following you, please keep posting!

      Liked by 1 person

  13. Hiya everyone! My blog is very craft-oriented, and I’ve been finding myself wanting to brand out a bit into other posts too. If anyone could take a look and see whether it’s working or whether I should be using a second blog? Or any other tips you may have! Much appreciated and thanks in advance!
    Hayley 🙂
    (http://www.astitchtoscratch.com)

    Liked by 3 people

  17. CONGRATULATIONS! If you’re reading this, you have been chosen for a special task, should you choose to accept it. Should you choose not to accept it, I’m waiting in your closet with a Ka-Bar. Your mission: Go to my blog, like every post, share them with your friends and relatives, and leave grateful comments at how amazing I am. There may be a cookie in it for you.

    Good luck. Now go!

    Liked by 2 people

  18. I normally write humorous posts on being a 40-something mum (and grandma!). But this week I received news of a friend that shook me to my core. I wrote about it because it was such a big thing. But I also felt conflicted because it was so personal. How do you decide where to draw the line? I tend to decide normally by asking myself if it’s something I’d chat about over coffee with friends, but it still felt a bit too personal online.
    https://gluestickmum.wordpress.com

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Hello everyone! I am steeling myself for the comments to come. I have posted 5 new pieces within the past week or so. Feel free to browse at https://adman4u.wordpress.com. I hope i come out of this relatively unscathed….lol

    I tend to be a “long read,” but sometimes I’m pretty short spoken. I have had some unique experiences, that is the format of my blog. Also, I am an avid fan of mystery fiction.

    Wait! Am I supposed to say all this upfront?

    Thanks in advance to all who drop by.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I love movies so your blog is very interesting…what I would advise you is to change the theme, for me personally it was very confusing to navigate your blog, the white background it’s good as long as everything else has a bit of colour:)
      Otherwise I like your writing style!

      Like

    1. I just read one of your posts, and I liked it! Personally, I don’t read the whole post if its too long (I’m sorry, but I’m too lazy). So I’d like to give you a suggestion to keep it as precise as possible! But of course, there are plenty of other people who love reading long posts! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. That’s great feedback. Thank you, I’ll definitely try and keep them much shorter. I’ll take a look at your posts too. Thank you again!

        Liked by 1 person

      3. I really like what you’ve written about. I love how concise and to the point your posts are. I also like that they are positive and uplifting. I don’t have any constructive feedback. Keep up the good work!

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Your blog is definitely going on my reader! I really enjoyed reading your posts – in fact your whole site is very well done.

      And not to be controversial, I didn’t find your posts to be too long. Different strokes… 🙂

      Looking forward to reading more of your insights.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Thank you Christine! I’m happy to hear you enjoy the posts. Feel free to offer future feedback too.

        Like

    3. I didn’t think it was too long either, although I am sympathetic with that issue. I find myself even rambling on at time to meet some “quota” I’ve made up. Concise with good details is great. lily

      Liked by 1 person

    4. Christine,
      First off, your landing page is brilliant. The header image is perfect for a counselor, your pages are easy to navigate. The feel of your blog is light and welcoming, which is what I would want to see if I was looking for a counselor.
      My only critique is that a few posts get a bit long. I personally will generally still read the post, but I am a serious minority. People have super short attention spans on the internet, so if your post is starting to get longer than a few paragraphs I’d break it into two posts or use bolded headers to break up the page or someting.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Is English your second language? There were a few little grammatical things in there. I like the story subject and the character development. When I write I often will find a friend to edit it a bit for me. It helps a lot. lily 🙂

      Like

  24. Hello everyone! I have a small doubt, what is ‘category’ in the post setting exactly meant for? I need a clear idea! Also, I would love it if you checked out my blog, and gave your feedback! It’s about love, life and happiness.
    Thank you!

    Like

    1. Categories are meant to organise your posts according to their content. Let’s say I write a book review then the category I’d put it under would be Books or a poem would go under Poetry or Writing. You can create how ever many categories you want and put posts under them.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Ohh.. But is there any disadvantage of not using categories? Because tags and categories seem the same thing to me! (I’m sorry if I’m acting dumb. :P)

        Like

      2. Don’t worry its not dumb 🙂 I’d say it’s up to you if you want to categorise or not, I find its more organised when it’s done. Categories are more general and tags are more specific.

        Liked by 2 people

      5. Note that in the WordPress.com Reader, you can search for posts by tag. Tagging your posts will help others looking to read posts on topics they’re interested in. For example, if you wrote a memoir post, you might tag it “personal essay,” “memoir,” or even “creative nonfiction.”

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Imagine category as a broad view and tags as a narrower view, so a category would be music and a tag could be Placebo (for example). Tags and categories will help people find your blog if they go to their reader and do a search on categories/tags.

      However do not use more than 15 categories or tags (combined) on any given post as wordpress will penalize you in search results.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Ohh! Wow, you do know a lot about tags and categories! 😛
        Thank you so much! It’s much more clearer now, after your explanation! 🙂

        Like

      2. no worries, I’ve been through so many tags and categories, then ripped them all down and started them all again I’ve lost count. I personally dont like them, but I use them as I think they are necessary. but decided how to tag and with what was a real pain, I am sure I still dont have it right

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Haha, atleast you knew about it! I had never used categories before that comment! Now, in my recent posts I’m trying to put up categories and tags (which is a pain, ofcourse, but it makes your blog more organised. So why not?).

        Like

      4. Absolutely. You can always delete them all if you get frustrated :D. the bane of my life is the “uncategorized” surely everything has a category, even if it is “General”

        Like

  26. I am relatively new to blogging and I cannot help but to have a sinking feeling that my writing will be overlooked due to lack of a listening ear rather than the want of a teller. I hope you all have a wonderful afternoon and that all your lights are green.

    Liked by 2 people

  27. Hello! Hope everyone started the week on a good note 🙂 My latest post is a poem that I held on to for a while because I was’t so sure about it. I would really appreciate some feedback on it. Here it is:

    Tell Me

    Still interested in making more blogger friends. Its been awesome so far!

    Thanks and have a great week!

    Liked by 2 people

  28. Who is that one person who is just as passionate about your blog and always encourages and motivates you to write more and post more ?

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Hi guys,

    I’d really appreciate if anyone could visit my literary blog: Noteworthy Literature. It’s for writers and readers, an online coffee shop where we can all exchange and discuss the best literature. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated and reciprocated.

    Cheers,
    Frederick

    Liked by 3 people