Dec 7, 2015 / Community Pool

Community Pool

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

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!
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    1. Hi, I like your page layout with the magazine style and gave your blog a like as well. Looking forward to reading your posts more in depth, but you just about had me with your admiration for Neil Degrasse Tyson! I think it all looks great from what I have seen.

      Like

    3. One recommendation is to make the background of posts a different color from the website background to make it look more aesthetically pleasing (white is recommended). 🙂

      Like

    4. Hey! I would prefer a lighter background and a few pictures. I write poetry too but my writing style is really different. You can check it out if you want. I also have a challenge called The Topic Thingy on my blog for all the writers out there. Thanks!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you for your remarks and likes. I’m trying to figure out a good colour scheme that goes with my style of writing. As for pictures, I’ll try and add some in future poems. I like your poems by the way. Your style is rather interesting. I’ll be sure to try the Topic Thingy sometime.
        Lastly, if I may ask, how did you get such a following?

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Hey! You’re welcome and thanks! I started only a few months back so not an expert on it but well it grows slowly. You can check out the Facebook group I made to find more bloggers like us. It is there to help all of us out. And well participating in competitions…checking other blogs out and commenting on them helps alot. Hope to hear from you soon? xD

        Like

    2. I think your writing is beautiful. I really enjoyed Bereft! One thing I will suggest is adding an About section (I couldn’t find one). Your readers would love to know more about you!

      Liked by 1 person

      3. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 : ):) 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 if you are scared of that then wait till you see Jeff the killers face (no he’s not real, he is a creepypasta)

        Liked by 1 person

    3. Using your categories to create pages on the menu is helpful to generate traffic to specific posts. Also, having your archive on the menu allows visitors to see your previous work. You can also link related blog posts in your current ones.

      Like

    1. Hi Faye! I like the handwritten style of the category tags and the clean and stylish look. The only negative that I can think of is the post previews that have no images – I’m less likely to click on something that doesn’t ahve a picture… but that might just be me.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks the feed back! I know what you’re saying there, it’s something that I have thought myself too, sometimes I have posts with photos and other times I don’t, I will take what you have said on-board though, thanks!

        Liked by 1 person

  15. CALLING ALL HARRY POTTER FANS!

    Have you ever wished you could go behind-the-scenes of the Harry Potter film series? Now you can! Check out my experience touring the Making of Harry Potter at Warner Bros. Studio in London.
    http://travelfareatwell.com/warner-bros-studio-london-making-of-harry-potter/

    Fellow bloggers, I would love feedback on the post mentioned above as it was one of my favorites to write and I would appreciate input on now to improve in the future 🙂 thanks in advance!

    I’m always looking to connect more with other travel bloggers, so please reach out at http://travelfareatwell.com

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Oh man, I am really lucky I don’t live next to the studio because I would always be there! Yes, it was quite a struggle to get pictures free of people but I did my best. I’m really jealous you’ve got to do the studio tour so many times. Thanks for reading! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  16. Good morning swimmers!, Check out my travel site @ http://bulldogtravels.com/

    My most recent post is on Fall in Mendocino as we are trying to hang on to the last moments of Fall in the West… http://bulldogtravels.com/2015/12/07/mendocino-in-the-fall/

    I also took a walk over the Golden Gate Bridge recently… http://bulldogtravels.com/2015/12/02/just-takin-a-little-walk-over-the-golden-gate-bridge/

    Let me know if any of those peak your interest. I am always trying to connect with other travel bloggers or bloggers who just enjoy travel and photography. I will be more than happy to check your site out as well.

    Cheers and happy travels!

    Jenny

    Liked by 1 person

    1. If you ever go to London (if you’ve never been), you should check out their China Town in Piccadilly. I saw you mentioned SF’s China Town, which gave me flashbacks to London.

      Liked by 1 person

      3. I practice in a number of areas. I practice residential law. In Ontario, Canada, I can have my own legal practice which is what I am currently pursuing. What kind of law are you looking to work in?

        Like

    2. It is rather long, but it’s not too bad. If I were you, I’d either shorten or remove the About widget as you have an About page at the top that people are more likely to hit up.
      P.S. I’m a Quidditch player so I was amused by your pic of locals playing it! 😛

      Like

    1. I like your layout! Your header is very eye-catching (maybe make the tagline a darker gray, though – it’s easy to overlook at first glance) and I like the scrolling post feature at the top. Looks good all around.

      Liked by 1 person

  21. I have just published two all-new posts this morning; One of them is in response to the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt about how to teach first-time bloggers how to create a perfect blog; Any kind of feedback that I receive would be greatly appreciated. Please visit http://www.j2w7.WordPress.com…Thank you all so very much!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That link is incorrect (no @) but I checked out your blog. It’s nice and neat but I’d suggest adding some colour by perhaps changing the background colour to something subtle and also adding an About page!
      Happy Blogging! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  25. I’ve started experimenting with “read more” tags, rather than showing full posts on my homepage, to make it easier to browse. I’d like some feedback on if I’m putting enough of the post on the main page to draw interest in the full post, or if I should show more/less of each post.

    Also, is there a way to customize what the link to the full post says? Or does the default text just depend on the theme you’re using?

    http://soccertranslated.com

    Like

    1. Hi Alex! I think that you have a good length of text on your main page. The first two to three paragraphs is usually sufficient enough to provide context, and still draw in readers to get them to read more.

      As for the text, I believe it’s standard. I use the same feature, and it’s the same on my blog as well.

      Hope this helps!

      Like

  26. dear friends,

    With Christmas approaching i have been doing some crowd-sourcing for alternative ideas to the consumeristic approach so many have towards Christmastime and have come up with this one for parentals of young children:

    Christmas for Parentals

    As well as these Creative Ideas for Christmas that could be aimed at anyone…

    Creative Christmas Ideas 2015

    Would love love love if you can pick one of those and then add a comment with your suggestion or story of what you’ve done or are planning for this Christmas…

    love brett fish

    Liked by 1 person

  27. Hello Fellow Bloggers

    I’m really enjoying my new blogging adventure. It would be great if you could take the time to check out some of my recent posts. Any feedback will be much appreciated.

    https://cultivatingtime.wordpress.com/

    I am happy to check out your blog in return. I’m also looking for new blogs to follow.

    I’ll spend some time tonight checking out some of your blogs in the pool.

    Thank you

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I was wondering where Ruby Wax had gone! I hadn’t seen her on TV for ages. Nice post. I’d suggest ordering your tabs at the top a little better. Probably below the header of your website just for consistency. Good luck!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks Aiden. I really appreciate the visit. By tabs do you mean the menu with the different categories?

        Like

      2. Yes. Usually on a site we’d see that below your cultivating time header. Maybe it’s a thing of personal taste, but my preference is to see a drop down menu, with fewer tabs.

        Like

  28. Hey, friends!
    April from The Honest Root, here. I write about sustainable living, safe makeup, healthy eating, stuff like that!
    I’d love to know what you think of the layout of my site and whether or not my writing is engaging… aka, if you stumbled onto my page somehow, would you stick around?
    Thanks! http://www.thehonestroot.com

    Like

    1. Hi April,

      Your website is visually striking. Very nice photos throughout and looks very clean and professional. Looks like you’ve got a good presence on the social media streams and are already building some traction on the blog. The social buttons on the top right seem dead though. Have you connected your facebook/linkedin etc?

      Although it’s not my genre, I wish you the best of luck!
      Aidan

      Liked by 1 person

    2. The layout is nice and the posts/titles are engaging. Although this is not a genre I’m into, I can see people who are into this genre appreciating your page! Also, “thehonestroot” is a cute and unique name. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi! I’m not sure exactly what you mean by “size” of the video, but I’ll give you two answers just to make sure.

      If you are asking about how much room the video box takes up on the post, that’s usually automatically generated depending on your theme.

      If you want to make the actual file size smaller (i.e. reduce from 5 MB to 1 MB), you’ll have to compress the video using other software before you upload it to your blog.

      Like