Mar 7, 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?

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.
Show Comments

1,234 Comments

Comments are closed.

Close Comments

Comments

    1. This resonates with me also. We are also preparing for 11 plus in our house. I would also encourage parents to keep an ongoing dialogue with the school. They go through this process year after year and I have also found othe mums to be very supportive. I hope this helps.Thanks. Natalie

      Liked by 2 people

  3. Hi – My question is regarding the Daily Prompt Pingback. I have been posting it at the end of my post. I have tried including it as a link, but that doesn’t work. What am I doing wrong?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I always add it as a link. I don’t think it matters where in the body of the blog it is located matters. be sure and check the spelling. it has to be a https: not http:

      Liked by 3 people

      1. I have copied it exactly and then inserted as the link in Daily Prompt but it doesn’t work. So, I have been just typing it out at the bottom of my post and I noticed that others are not.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. wow..sounds like a problem for the techies then. have you been clearing your cashe? there have been glitches when people don’t clear it enough. worth a try

        Liked by 2 people

    2. I see a pingback on the Screen prompt, but it leads to a deleted post on your blog. So I’m not sure what happened there?

      There’s also a pingback on a more recent prompt that works properly — though, on the post itself, it seems like you’ve entered some of the HTML code in the Visual Editor, since I can see some angled brackets that normally belong in the HTML Editor. So it seems like your pingbacks generally work, but perhaps you want to make sure you paste the prompt URL into the correct editor, so that it renders properly. Let us know if you encounter any other issues with this!

      Like

    1. Hi! As short as it is, it’s so poignant and truthful. Very refreshing. If you haven’t already, joining and using Twitter might be a good idea to share these short snippets of awesome. Well done!
      Loony

      Liked by 2 people

    2. Very nice short post – but I also really liked your blog’s design, and how the home page lays out the posts,each with a feature pic in a nice, easy-to-view matrix.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. Hi Sean,

      I wouldn’t worry about the numbers at this stage. Just focus on writing fresh/original content. As Kevin Costner said in Field of Dreams – If you build it, they will come! Look for increases in traffic month on month – that’s usually a good barometer. Many bloggers use tricks to boost their stats. But for long term success and building a tight community, just focus on the content and optimising it for keywords for now.

      Best of luck,
      Aidan

      Liked by 3 people

  7. Hello everyone, I’ve been writing for awhile but just recently started a blog and have been keeping it going. If you have a moment please stop and check out my blog, feedback is appreciated

    sweetteaandsun.wordpress.com

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hi Missspe,

      I love the header of your blog! The layout is very nice. Big fan of the theme. I read your apple watch review post. Couple of suggestions – Using Bold/Italics and changing the point size of your questions can help break up longer passages of text and make it more readable.

      Nothing wrong with the content you’ve written.

      Your menu heading has only ‘About Me’. That’s cool but I’m sure you’ll add a few more tabs over time. For example, I have Archives for easy access, Books, Contact Me among others. Ultimately the more pages you have on your website (that are optimised around keywords), the better your chances of being found online in search engines.

      Best of luck,
      Aidan

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Natalie,

      You’re not the first to use blogging as a form of therapy or problem solver! I enjoyed your Fluffy Bunnies post. I confess it was the cocktails that drew me first.

      I like your writing style which is very good. Can’t find much to fault.

      Best of luck,
      Aidan

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi 🙂 I really like this! Effective and concise, which is a difficult thing to do well. Good work! I especially enjoyed your appropriation of the prompt – very creative.
      🙂 Loony

      Liked by 2 people

  15. I like to participate in the daily post where they give us a word to write about. I have no idea how to link it to the daily post. It says to link it but I can’t figure it out. Can someone help?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. copy the link address to the daily post subject. then use the add a link and paste it there. it should then ping back when the post is published.

      Liked by 2 people

  16. hey everyone I’ve just written a piece that is quite personal to me but I’ve written it in a more objective way so that I can analyse it properly. It’s basically about unrequited love and lust in general. I would love to hear some similar stories or thoughts on what I’ve written and if anybody feels the same way. I’ve also been fighting with my writing style so I’m hoping to be critiqued on that as well. I’m basically looking to connect with other bloggers and will be happy to give feedback on posts that you guys have written. Good luck and happy blogging 🙂

    here’s a link to my post for anyone interested:
    https://onlyindreamssite.wordpress.com/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I felt a discord between the opening with lavender (though I thought it was lovely) and the meat of the latest post. Did lavender play a role later? They seemed like two different posts. It made for one long post that perhaps could have been a bit more concise. And yes, I think we’ve all fallen into lust with the idea of someone.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Oh oops I may have messed up my metaphor there by trying to be too fancy. The lavender was supposed to represent taking something for yourself without letting it bloom naturally because of how it makes you feel like forcing something to happen without letting it happen naturally. Like trying to force a connection and an idea with someone because of how he makes you feel instead of letting him “bloom” naturally and appreciating him for what he is. I guess it wasn’t clear.

        Liked by 2 people

    1. I do like a bit of urbex. Really interesting blog, a lot of photography blog’s are set up the way your’s is with the tiled thumbnails that lead into the bigger article’s themselves. It doesn’t work on my site as I talk too much, but it certainly work’s with yours. I’d say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. I think the theme you are using is a good one for a photo blog. i like the setup and ease f flow from one page to another. The photos are well done and the descriptions and information about them is too. I would add an “about me” page, but that’s just because I like to know who the person is behind the photos.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I’ll make that about me page, thank you! I like your blog, it feels very conversational and you have had some interesting adventures. I like how you’ve paired photos with the writing, as well.

        Liked by 2 people

    3. Some amazingly eerie shots. How about a bit of blurb about the buildings? You’re very talented. Maybe a bit about you too. (This may have been there but I missed it so apologies if it was). Keep going! !!!! Well done. Natalie

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Thank you, I appreciate it! I have had some trouble tracking down a couple of places, but I haven’t dug very far with the intention of coming back to it. Your subjects are interesting and the way you write is very natural, and the only thing that would make navigation easier I think would be adding some categories. I did see your mobile layout too, and it’s very nice.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. weird? maybe……Funny? definitely! You made me laugh out loud and I (almost) snorted diet dr pepper out of my nose at one point….(note to self here, no drinking dp and reading this dude’s blog) Jason, once again you have accomplished a deep belly laugh. Keep up the good work! Suze

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Thanks Suze, that’s really kind and I’m glad you enjoyed it. Perhaps I should add a caution to future posts – warning, may cause nasal soda discharge. 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

      2. now that could only be a good thing…I mean what if someone that is happily misusing their courts system comes across your blog? The headlines would be snort-worthy too at that point and multiple lawsuits would be imminent! I can see it now “blog causes person to snort coke”! lol

        Liked by 1 person

  19. Hi everyone,
    I’ve just made the big decision to change the layout and title of my blog from ‘Infinite Daydreamer’ to ‘coffee shop dreams’. My new post reveals the reasons behind this new change and even gives any new visitors an insight into what my blog is about.

    I would greatly appreciate some feedback on my new post because this has been something I have been considering for a while.

    https://coffeeshopdreams.wordpress.com/

    Thank you 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I liked your first two posts. I would complete that “about me” page even if it is to say “NO I am not telling you anything about me. It’s a secret!” People are drawn to those about me pages. I do like your style of writing.

      Liked by 1 person

  24. Hello,
    My food blog is three-week-old and two of the friends are contributing to the blog too.

    It’s on recipes; main focus is on Indian cuisines though I post various other cuisines that we make at home. I would certainly love if you drop by the blog and point the weak strings or the areas where I should improve or if I should add something. I’m open to all kinds of feedback, will love to hear from you.

    Thanks
    Sara, owner of http://foodeezjunction.com

    Liked by 1 person

    1. maybe a sentence or two between the weird rites to make a connection, or to share a thought or two about them? or a picture to illustrate the strange rites? just a thought

      Liked by 2 people

  26. Hi all! Would love some feedback on my latest piece in which Russians battle aliens in a shady back room…but it’s not what you think at all.

    Russian Rubdown

    All comments welcome on the piece itself or in this thread. Thanks!

    Liked by 3 people

  27. Hello everyone. I’m holding my nose and closing my eyes as I jump into this pool and I’m pretty sure I’m going straight into the deep end without the foggiest idea if I can even swim or not. What I’m trying to say is that I’m not sure if I should even be blogging. I’m sort of finding my way and my mojo so please be gentle and don’t dunk me under the water too much. Thank you xxx

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Your post had a lot of information in it. However, parts of it read like an essay for school. It’s lacking more of a personal connection between you and your audience. I also felt like your beginning was awkward (I know we all refer to posts as posts, but I avoid it if I can.) Try to start with a hook: an interesting story that ties into what you’re writing about). Good Luck!

      Liked by 2 people