Nov 9, 2015 / Community Pool

Community Pool

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

Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/63057306@N04/5734415538">Beachfront Solutions</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?

Did you just start blogging and you’re not sure how to get going? Has your blog been dormant for a while but you’d like to give it a jolt of life? Join our free Blogging 101 course (or any of our other offerings at Blogging U.).

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. Hello everyone! I just started Blogging101 and Writing101 and failing horribly with my assignments. It’s been a struggle deciding on themes, creating widgets and all that. I really would appreciate it if you visit my site, comment on it, try my widgets and all. Here it is:

    https://khadijahsali.wordpress.com/category/my-singapore/

    And can someone please please help me understand why every time I click on My Singapore and Our Kitchen, Our Rules, it always says “Category Archives” on the page. I don’t like it but I don’t know how to remove it. While the others don’t do that.

    Please help!

    And thanks in advance!

    Kind regards,

    Khadijah

    Like

    2. The “category archive” mentioned on those page is there because these pages gather all your posts categorized a certain way.

      There might be a way to remove it with custom CSS, though that type of question is best to post in your Blogging U course Commons, where staff is available to help with more technical issues.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Hey guys,

    First time using this community – only just found out about it!

    I’ve recently written about a very personal experience I went though recently and would be truly humbled if anyone took a read of it and provide any commentary/feedback – feel free to be HONEST. That would be so amazing!

    Why My Mum Walked Me Down The Aisle

    Also – I am going to update the look of my blog, as it looks a bit plain especially as I am talking about happiness as the overall theme. But if anyone has any other feedback on it that would be much appreciated.

    I’ll do yours if you do mine! 😉

    Thanking you kindly.

    Hugs and Kisses

    Linda

    Like

    1. Hi MrsDavies. You actually have already shared your thoughts on my blog, so I’m returning the favor for you. As someone who lives with anxiety, I connected to your writing about it. You present how your faith has helped you in a beautiful way.

      In terms of what could be improved in your theme I can’t find much. The font you used for your titles becomes a little small and hard to read when applied to your subtitles. The link to 7cupsoftea.com is a nice touch, and perhaps it would be less ambiguous to link it as “find help” instead of “help”, as with the way you have it is ambiguous whether I am helping myself or you.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you so much for your feedback, it means a lot to me! Thanks you for your advice also, I’ll be sure to change that. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog 🙂

        Like

  6. Hi everyone!

    I wrote my first blog post last week. I had no idea what it was going to be about but just started writing and the words flowed. It would be wonderful if people could read and let me know what they think, even though there’s just the one post for now.

    I’m excited to write more and see where the whole thing goes.

    Thank you. Much love. x

    Like

      1. Your first post was an eclectic and fun read, and your blog theme creates a great homey, cozy mood. The “Home” button on the left is hard to find if you’re not familiar with the layout because of how it blends in.

        Liked by 1 person

  11. Hi everyone! I finally built up the guts to start a blog. The idea of a guide for an aspiring, modern renaissance man/woman has been marinating in my head for about a year now and I am doing my best to make it happen. I would love a little feedback if you have a moment! The link is almostenoughblog.wordpress.com

    Like

  16. Do people on WordPress typically only react to writing or are people interested in audio? I host a radio show and have chosen WordPress for my website but people don’t seem to want to listen. But if I write something, I’ll get more views. Is WordPress the right platform?

    Like

    1. I think this is more of a blogger site… Meaning that, yes, if you write you will get more views just because that’s generally what people are here for.
      I’d try something like weebly…
      Though I’ve used weebly and I’ve used Blogger, and I like WordPress much more!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Loved the header image! Your poems are very well written as well. I can tell they come from a very personal place. I especially liked the most recent one 🙂 Keep doing what you’re doing! I encourage you to write more. Cheers!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you so much!! The header image is a photo I took while traveling in Argentina — it’s my favorite photo I’ve ever taken. In so glad you enjoy my writing — thanks for reading!

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I am always happy to help others if and when I can. If you like to read romance novels, you might be interested in following my blog reviewing the different romance subgenres (I may include [and cite] book reviews). My blog address is: kwolf114.wordpress.com
        Have a test blog where I am trying out different themes: theromanticpen.wordpress.com

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Your blog posts don’t seem to have the LIKE button turned on. Also, every time you LIKE someone else’s post or make a comment, they will see your Gravatar and might come to your site out of curiosity.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. You could add a “follow me” button, Social Media Sharing Buttons, and add widgets for readers to connect with your Social Media accounts (Facebook, etc.), and add a Twitter feed.

        Like

      2. Oh dear…I’ll have to fix that. Thank you for pointing that out go me! And thank you for the advice as well 🙂

        Like

    3. Before even clicking your blog, I remember going through your blog before. I clicked on the link anyways assuming I was already following you from before, but I wasn’t! How the heck did that happen? Haha. Anyways, I made sure I followed you this time 🙂
      I enjoyed reading your most recent post. And again, still loving that header image! I think what can help getting more people to read your blog is perhaps you can try adding more tags per post. Or even linking other social media sites so that your followers from there can come over and look at this blog. I hope that helped haha. Cheers!

      Liked by 2 people

    4. I’m currently taking a course through Blogging University (Blogging 101) and it’s very helpful in developing your blog to attract readers, and to network (which , to day, has been my greatest success with getting my blog out).
      Some of my posts are tagged with “Blogging101” and you can check them out if you’d like! The course walks you step by step through some things and it’s really nice! I recommend it 🙂
      Also, I like the layout of your blog. It’s neat and simple. I would just put the “read more tag” on the posts so they’re not quite as long to browse through to the next ones.
      Have fun blogging! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  21. Hello Bloggers/Readers!

    My name is Majka and I started my blog more than 2 years ago with some photos and few words.
    Since my English slowly improved I decided to write more and this brought a wider diversity to my posts.
    Also thanks the last Writing 201 Challenges I wrote my first HAIKU and I started to follow some next writing challenges.
    The photos are still dominating in my posts but my blog is also reflecting all of my other hobbies and my individuality.
    Feel free to check it out here:
    https://mecyme.wordpress.com/

    Thanks for your visiting and enjoy!

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Lovely blog! It’s very artistic. And of course, you have amazing photos 🙂 I wish you the best of luck! Glad to see you haven’t given up blogging. I encourage you to keep writing and taking pictures!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks a lot John! Yeah this is my second blog after I deleted my first one because of a very bad relationship and difficult times. But other hand it was exactly my new boyfriend who encouraged me to create a new one and helped me a lot to improve my English. ☺ Blessed day!

        Liked by 1 person

  22. Hey guys! I am Doroteja! I started a blog a couple of weeks ago, and it would really mean a lot if you could check it out and let me know what you think of it. It has always been a dream of mine to have a blog.. and getting some feedback would be very helpful!
    hope you check it out, and I hope I hear from you:

    https://dksstyle.wordpress.com

    With love, Doroteja

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Hello everyone,

    I’ve just started my research blog on a pretty intriguing subject. I bought a suitcase about 10 years ago and it was filled with letters, negatives, photos and other artifacts. I’m documenting my research and discoveries about the man ‘inside’ the suitcase. The issue is, I have a lot of source material to lay out, but I also want a really beautiful reading/exploring experience.

    If anyone could pop over and let me know whether the content feels jumbled, or give me feedback on the format of the sliding front page, I would greatly appreciate it. I’m concerned that the design is hiding the content a little.

    Thanks in advance!

    Liked by 1 person

    2. Wow your blog screams adventure! Loved going through everything. You know, I had no trouble navigating through your blog at all. It was a bit overwhelming at first because there’s so much going on, but I soon realized it’s because you have experienced and explored much. Which isn’t a bad thing at all. I didn’t think it got in the way of the content. The design is just fine 🙂 I encourage you to keep doing what you’re doing. I wish you the best of luck!

      Like

    1. It’s great! I thought the layout was clean and concise. I prefer minimalistic layouts because it’s very easy on the eyes haha. I enjoyed reading through a few of your posts. Especially your most recent one. I think you’re doing a great job 🙂 I tried to read your About me but it said there was no content there. I don’t know if that’s my own fault but yeah. If you haven’t filled out an About page, I’d suggest you do it 🙂 If you already did, then great! Haha. I wish you the best of luck!

      Like

    1. I thought it was perfect the way it was. Bright readers back. I think it would be too long for one post. Hysterical story! :-). Exactly what would happen in my family.

      Liked by 1 person

  29. Hello everyone!
    I’m a 17 year old confused teenager attempting to write about the world around me 🙂

    do Check my blog out and tell me what you think!

    Happy Diwali 😀

    moingabouteverywhere.wordpress.com

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi!

      I’m a teenager too, so I think I can relate to you particularly 🙂 Also, I like your blog！Just a suggestion but maybe you could write a post about yourself? Other than that, I like it, continue doing what you’re doing x

      Can you check out my blog in return? It’s right here – https://jenzpic.wordpress.com/

      Thanks and I hope this helps x

      Like