Feb 1, 2016 / 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!
  • 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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      2. Some days I wish for something a little more grown up like poetry Cafe. Mostly I love what I do. I’m interested in reading more about your teaching abroad.

        Liked by 2 people

    1. There’s no rule on how often to post. There are some bloggers who blog short posts multiple times a day and some who post long posts once or twice a week. It’s a good idea to be consistent and regular and decide what’s best for you, your blog, and your followers.

      Liked by 2 people

    1. Hi there! I really like your blog 🙂 as a SAHM I have been looking for blogs like yours. I wanted to comment on one of your posts, but didn’t see the option? My blog is a humor blog about parenting, but if you wouldn’t mind glancing over it, I’d appreciate any feedback!

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Hi Mary! I’m glad you like it. I do have comment boxes but for some of the older posts the comments will be closed. Maybe I need to change that? I will check your blog out too.

        Liked by 2 people

    2. I also want to add that I’ve chosen the Gateway Theme and I’m trying to figure out a way to have the photos displayed on the left hand side of each post but haven’t been able to do that. Maybe it isn’t possible with this theme but if it is, then I’d love to know how to do that.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. If you like dogs, check out my blog about my rescue dog. I write about his adoption story, and everything dog in general. We’re always looking to make new connections with fellow dog lovers in blogland. 🙂

    elizabethcollie.wordpress.com

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Your blog really hits home for me! We have a rescue dog that also has severe anxiety issues. For us, it isn’t separation anxiety, but a serious fear of strangers, especially ones inside our home. We even tried the thundershirt (alas, to no effect, like you!). But luckily, she’s the sweetest angel with people she knows, and she’s awfully darn cute. Following your blog and hoping for the best for you both!

      Liked by 2 people

  9. Hello Community Pool!

    Charlotte Graham here. I write about geeky things (game and book reviews), girly things (recipes and fashion), and creative writing. I’ve recently begun publishing a serialized short story, and I’d love to hear feedback!

    Here’s the link to chapter 1. Chapter 2 is linked within.
    http://girlygeekgirl.com/2016/01/23/milk-serial-saturday-code-red-chapter-1/

    Thank you!
    Charlotte x
    http://girlygeekgirl.com

    Liked by 2 people

    2. I mean, I like to write and am not trying to make money at this point, so I guess, I’d say am. But I genuinely like blogging and interacting with people and having people read my work, so it’s perfect. But there’s no shame in writing just for the heck of it, even if no one reads it. Whatever suits your style and makes you a better writer, I say!

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Hello everybody ! Hello blogging world , i am still on track 😎 it’s fantastic , it’s WordPress . I’m sincerely in need of pictures uploading from media files solving problems. So please somebody help !

    Liked by 2 people

  13. I challenge all the users of the Community Pool to write a blog of ways you can self improve your life or when publishing blogs.

    Ways to live life. Live Better

    It would be WICKED to have as many of you writing it as possible.

    Copy and Paste the writing below and feel free to alter it:

    This is how I written my blog:

    Think about your life at this point
    Look at where you are currently
    While your thinking, jot notes down on a piece of paper or add a post and give yourself an appropriate title.
    Once you jot down everything you need. SAVE it and leave your notes in a secure place.
    The next day, check over your notes and edit the post to look more informative.
    PUBLISHED
    DONE

    Liked by 2 people

    2. Hi Kaitlynn,
      Your menu seems to be working fine for now, though if you want to learn more about using your custom menu, here are a couple of resources for you:
      https://wordpress.com/support/menus/#creating-a-custom-menu
      https://wordpress.com/dailypost/2014/05/24/perennial-favorites-custom-menus/

      I also notice that the images on your About page are not properly displaying — in case you’d like a more structured tutorial, here’s one on adding images:
      https://wordpress.com/support/images/adding-images-to-posts-or-pages/

      Liked by 1 person

  16. A brand new post from Musings of a Film Fan- a brief look at the new Deadpool adverts which promote touching yourself to battle cancer. Checkout my other Deadpool articles too.

    https://musingsofafilmfanblog.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/deadpool-fights-cancer/

    https://musingsofafilmfanblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/deadpool-a-fake-interview/

    https://musingsofafilmfanblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/deadpool-and-the-genius-marketing-campaign/

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Hi everyone and in particular WordPress editorial team. I have an issue!! I am attempting to contribute to ‘The Daily Prompt’ -however my post doesn’t appear on the contributors page! I have copied and pasted the HTML code, I have shar d the WordPress link and nothing seems to work. I have had many successful attempts, however I have also failed on a few occasions. Would anyone happen to know what I’m doing wrong?

    Thanks guys,

    Cheers Nicole

    Liked by 2 people

      9. Yes. Saturday nights post was entitled ‘Traveling toward maturity’ of course the 2 originals have now been deleted and replaced with a newer version that also didn’t work and I also ‘centred’ the link once again.

        Liked by 2 people

    2. Yes, the last one is not found because the tech team made me delete it and re-do the whole post-which I did-but my post still didn’t appear on the Daily Post Prompt page. It has a new title, it is on a clean page, the link is correct, yet it does not appear on the Daily Prompt page, where all of the other contributors posts appear.

      The links above that you clicked on, took you to all of the correct places, However, the ones that I labelled DID NOT WORK-did not display my post on the Daily Prompt Page and the ones labelled DID WORK DID display my post.

      Thanks for your help. Don’t waste any more of your time, I think I’ll just put it down to “Crappy Cyber Space Day”.
      I’ll post today and see if I have the same issue.

      Thanks again for taking the time to help,

      Cheers

      Nicole

      Liked by 2 people

    3. OK, here’s a question. On your Saturday Night post that did not link properly. Did you paste the link in HTML mode? If yes, did you then go back to visual mode and center the link after pasting it? That’s the only substantial difference I see. OK, I guess that’s actually two questions. Sorry.

      Liked by 2 people

      2. Here’s a test. Do one for today’s prompt about the line from the song. Pick two different songs. Do a quick post for each. Center the first and not the second. If the first does not appear, but the second appears, et voila!

        Liked by 1 person

    5. Hi Nicole,
      I’m really sorry you encountered this issue — you may have noticed by now that it’s resolved; we had a pingback-related glitch that affected many of our bloggers with custom domains, like you. This should all be working again now, but let us know if you’re having issues with it in the future.

      @rubyblues57 — thank you for jumping in and offering your help so generously.

      Liked by 1 person

  19. Hey fellow bloggers,
    I usually write to end those emotions and words that rise in my mind and keep me restless. My blog has reviews of books I have read, (I actually am slow as I get caught up with work and family), poems, short stories, my rants (sometimes 😋) and thoughts of mine. Please do check out my blog and let me know how I could better my work and my blog! Please do let me know if there is anything I need to work upon. Thanks in advance. My blog is https://rasheedsyeda.wordpress.com

    Love and best wishes to all! 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  20. Hey! I’m a new blogger and would love some feedback! Good or bad! I like to write about my day and make my days as interesting as possible as well as my writing! For anyone who gives me feedback, I’ll be sure to give them feedback as well as thank them gratefully thedcr.wordpress.com

    Liked by 2 people

  22. Hello there! I did a revamp on my blog and now I found my true love (hopefully) — Gateway theme. I could write everything on this blog. The range is undefined but I’m trying to write personal stuffs. But I think I’m on music, flash fiction, and story translations (I translate Indo to Eng — I’m Indo after all). I’m making them my features in my blog. I need to work more on this blog basic identity but I’m grateful to have 2 posts now haha (2 more are on the schedule).

    I’d love to have feedback from you. Cheers to all! 🙂 https://franzherz23.wordpress.com

    Liked by 2 people

  23. Great, I love the idea of Blogging 101: Zero to Hero. I am really struggling with getting readers. But where do I sign up? And if, as I suspect because I just go around in circles when trying to sign up for it, it is full, then why is it being promoted?

    Yours very frustratedly
    Meredith

    Liked by 2 people

    2. I ask myself the same question constantly. I think building an audience is a huge challenge in the crowded world of blogging. You have a lovely looking blog and it seems well-written and helpful. The problem is you are competing with many thousands of others in a very popular genre. All I can suggest is to keep writing, keep promoting it and hopefully it will slowly start to attract more readers.

      Liked by 1 person

    3. Hi Caitlyn – I’d say, keep going!

      Your blog is full of useful information for travellers, but, if you imagine looking along the shelves of a bookshop looking for a travel book and then multiply that exponentially for internet travel sites, sometimes you have to wait for people to get to you. Unless you’re very lucky, or backed by money, there is no magic bullet.

      A lot of blogs pop up and then disappear, so your readers will want to know that you’re going to be around for awhile.

      Are you tagging posts in ways that will make your blog pop up near the top of a search? What do you imagine somebody typing into the search bar to find your Las Vegas without drinking/gambling post?

      One thing I would say, having read your informative Las Vegas post – I’d be careful about introducing yourself as somebody who has only “been to Las Vegas twice in my life.” If I had been looking for Las Vegas help, rather than reading for the sake of the Community Pool, I would have stopped right there and moved on to a site where the writer knew what they were talking about. As it was, I would have missed your very helpful info. I’m not saying you should present yourself as a Las Vegas expert, but your information stands alone as a thing of value and you wobble your readers if you introduce it as if it’s based on vague impressions. I didn’t need to know that you’d only been to Las Vegas twice and I would never have guessed it from the information you’d compiled for your post.

      Few travel guides are based on extensive, long term knowledge of a place, but the Lonely Planet wouldn’t sell many copies if the blurb on the back said “We sent some employees around the famous sights of Asia. They didn’t have time to eat in all the cafes they recommend and they didn’t have time to sleep in all the hotels they recommend either”

      Good luck with your blog. It’s a useful resource and I’m sure readers will find you – especially if you tag imaginatively.

      Best wishes
      Elaine

      Liked by 3 people

    4. I googled “how many blogs on the internet” and in 2013 there was ~152M. It is hard to get attention with that many ‘competitors’. I’ve found that most of my followers come from being nice to other bloggers – answering questions like this, liking other blogs, etc. Your blog seems to have potential to become a true resource for people, but I doubt that those people who need the resources are going to find your site.

      Looking at your blog, I saw “Vegas for the non-gambler”. That appeals to me. I’m going to vegas in July with my family, we won’t be gambling. But the chances of me stumbling on your site to get that info is just too slim. But a narrow swath of people interested in travel as opposed to the destination would love what you’ve written. I’d look for on-line communities of like minded people to share info with.

      Liked by 2 people

  28. I signed up for the 101 Blogging Course but have never received any email or log in details. Could you please let me know what is happening. It was the course which was due to start in January. I have a blog on WordPress. Many thanks indeed Kind regards Barbara STUDIO 44 MAURITIUS

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Hello,
      When you sign up for a Blogging U. course, you don’t get any email until the start of the course. It sounds like there was some glitch during your signup process last month — in the future, if you sign up for a course but can’t gain access to The Commons or don’t receive course emails when the course begins, please let us know as soon as possible:
      https://wordpress.com/dailypost/commons-access/

      Like

  29. Hey there… I’m new to blogging and I feel that I’m not even blogging for the sake of being praised for what I’m typing. But rather to have someone listen and appreciate and maybe even respond to my troubles. I would love to help people by them realizing life can go on.. or I hope so haha

    Liked by 3 people

  30. Hi guys! My blog is about learning what it means to truly love people and live a meaningful life. I would love it if you guys could check it out and give me some feedback!

    My main question is: How do you maintain traffic to your blog? I had one go pretty big, but have struggled to maintain the traffic. Thank you!!

    Liked by 4 people