May 2, 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?

The Community Pool is for peer feedback and advice. Looking for more specific information? Check out some of these resources:

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:

  • 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!
  • 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.
  • 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

1,127 Comments

Comments are closed.

Close Comments

Comments

  1. Hello again, cool people.

    Please check out my movie site and let me know what you think. I’ve been playing with some new layouts the last couple of days and some feedback with be super useful – for example, would my home page look better with a more thumbnail/grid layout of my recent posts?

    Also, please don’t be afraid to follow and share! I’m happy to take a look at your blogs in return.

    Thanks,
    Eddy

    https://eddygardiner.com/

    Liked by 13 people

    4. Hi Eddy!
      I really like your content, really nice reviews. I went for more of a thumbnail layout for my film blog, just because I didn’t want too much text on the homepage, I think it can make it look a little messy. Makes it a little easier to navigate too in my opinion.
      Keep up the good work!

      Liked by 3 people

      1. That seems to be the general opinion. Thanks for taking the time to check it out.

        Very nice site yourself. I like your layout and your content is good. Random question: how interested would you be in collaborating on some stuff? Like maybe swapping some reviews or answering a few questions about your blog?

        No pressure either way, just an idea!

        Liked by 4 people

      3. Cool. Not really anything specific, yet. I just thought it would be fun to maybe submit guests posts to like-minded sites and do some Q&A type stuff. I think people enjoy reading that kind of thing, and I’d certainly be interested to hear some of your thoughts about your blog/movies.

        Liked by 2 people

      4. Yeah that sounds really interesting! It’d be cool to get a different perspective every now and again. I was thinking, maybe we could each do a short piece on our 5 or so favourite films for each other’s blogs? You know, like an introduction sort of thing. Would also give a chance to let each other’s audiences know what we’re about. I dunno, just a thought! I’m always looking for new opinion/article type pieces, but don’t have the time, so if you have an idea that you might think would go well with my stuff, give me a shout!

        Liked by 1 person

    5. Hi! I think your blog is very nicely laid out as its clean and simple (which always works in anyone’s favour).

      I think your content is excellent- your style of writing is engaging and you choose to express an opinion, which I always find interesting. I’m currently reading your article “The Jump Scare: A Defence” and I hope you post more content like this- something out of the ordinary with something interesting to say.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. That’s really nice of you to say. I’m glad you like it. I’m definitely trying to focus more on those opinion articles now as, like you say, they’re generally more interesting to read (and fun to write). Thanks for stopping by!

        Liked by 2 people

    8. Hi Eddy, I like the site and the current layout. The homepage is perfect the way it is, and I like how reviews are organized by year.

      If it were me, I would organize the “Articles” tab a little differently. The tabs under articles seem a little random. But even so, the site is still great.

      Good work and best of luck to you!

      Liked by 1 person

    9. Great site Eddy, love the layout with lots of white space and really like the content. Really interesting and I’ll definitely be back on a regular basis.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. I just read one of your posts, the one about learning to be more positive. It was really great, I enjoy how you write your blog on a more personal level. I would love it if you could check out my blog

      Liked by 4 people

    2. I visited and enjoyed reading several posts on your blog. You are a very talented lady. Whether you believe it or not, you do write inspirational prose.

      I’m wondering if you think you are talented???. May I ask you to exclude the word “trying” from your future vocabulary. I believe it’s sticking you in a box you don’t belong in. Kindly give yourself credit where credit is do. If not now…when???

      Liked by 2 people

  5. Grrr. I’ve been blogging on wordpress for months. My posts are in the 1000-2000 word range on topics including Running, Mental Health, Alcoholism and Culture. I have a small following of strangers, but I can’t seem to grow it.

    I’ve never included images in my posts because essays should be about the writing, right? Well, I understand that this is a barrier, and I was writing a post that easily suggested some fun images. I thought I’d give a post with images a try. Man, nothing. I’m wondering if I can get some honest feedback. Boring? Overly esoteric topics? Also, I’d like to know if anyone can link to an archive page that shows an easy way to read over past posts. I feel like everything is buried once posted.
    Thanks for any feedback https://jefftcann.com/2016/04/28/fat-jesus/

    Liked by 9 people

    1. I liked that post a lot. The opening definitely grabbed me and kept me reading, that’s for sure. I understand your sentiment about embedding the images in posts. In theory, I’m the same way. I think, “Well, people read six hundred page books with no pictures, don’t they? They can handle 1000 words without them.” But then when I go to read a solid-text article I find my eyes start to glaze over and my attention flicker up to all those other shiny new tabs at the top of my browser.

      I think the pictures in your post work really well. They’re placed with enough distance to not be distracting, and they match the subject matter in an interesting way. Keeping them small like that provides a refreshing break for the eyes, yet also makes sure that the focus does remain on the text itself.

      I don’t think I’d recommend piling your articles with gifs or anything, but I think what you did there was a nice balance.

      Liked by 4 people

      1. That’s fantastic feedback, thx. I guess I’ll try this for a while and see what happens. Hard enough to write the darn things… then we need to go to the web and steal images to accompany them. I’m indebted to you (which I hope to pay back by giving your blog some attention)

        Liked by 3 people

      2. Hi Boone, I just read the zootopia article 2xTU – it is the type of satirical truth I love to read. Following now. Can you recommend any excellent past pieces that I shouldn’t miss?

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Hi Jeff. I thought I replied directly to your comment, but now it’s not showing up. So sorry if this is a duplicate post.

        Thanks for reading! “Excellent” might be a strong word, but I’ll do my best to think of a decent post to recommend.

        If you have a passing interest in videogames and the existential crises they can inspire, maybe check out https://thedoublethumb.com/2015/04/23/grand-theft-auto-5-is-so-realistic-i-made-friends-with-it/.

        Or there’s the start of a new food column where everthing goes horribly wrong: https://thedoublethumb.com/2016/04/28/i-somehow-managed-fk-ham-eggs/

        These might not be in the same vein as the Zootopia article, but new stuff is always coming, too! Thanks for checking the place out.

        Liked by 2 people

    2. Jeff, few things I would like to say:
      1. Don’t stop using images. If you have a smartphone then start taking pictures to accompany them with your posts. If this is not possible then use Google images but mention on your post from where you have taken those pictures from.
      2. Break your post! That’s right. Instead of publishing lengthy pieces, break them up and publish a series.
      3. Use proper tags and you will receive hits from all over the world. Believe me, this trick does bring audience to your blog.
      4. Make friends and share their posts on your blog. This helps out your blog in unbelievable ways. I’m the example of it!

      Try out these tips and see the difference!

      Liked by 5 people

      1. So break the pieces like Fat Jesus Part 1, 2, 3 etc? If yes, how long would you space out the posting?

        Nothing to take pictures with. I’ll give credit where credit is due. These are all age old commercial images (except Golden Elvis).

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Yeah, break it up I would recommend. You can write your whole post in one go and just save the draft. Publish the episodes (you can decide better how many) by copy and pasting the desired content in a new post.

        Liked by 2 people

      3. I do agree with Hammad about breaking up posts, but I think your Fat Jesus post was the perfect length. Any shorter and it might not feel like the post made its point. I think if you wind up with something like 4,000 words then it might be a good idea to split it up, if that doesn’t undercut the message.

        Liked by 2 people

    3. I’m a blogging newbie, but to address your archive concern, I first would recommend the “top posts” widget, and I also go in and add a “read more” break into previous posts before adding a new post. This way, once the reader gets to the end of my post, they can see snippets of more of my old topics! Just some thoughts!

      Liked by 2 people

    4. I read and commented, but just want to echo Hammad in that you shouldn’t ever steal the images, but add links to where readers could find the original artwork/photography. Maybe there are sites out there that offer free and anonymous graphics, but I don’t know. Also, take advantage of the ‘Related Posts’ widget.

      Liked by 1 person

    5. Jeff that was a nice post. If you don’t often want to use pictures there’s always using those Headlines and color texts. Also using Bold, Italics and such helps too. Most important is using the appropriate tags, and don’t be afraid to use about a dozen or so. Writing and Thoughts are big tags.

      If you are using photos, like one fellow blogger (Opinionated Man) pointed out that just using your own “signature” picture on every post can help too so that the readers know a little more of who you are.

      Since I’ve been blogging in October I have found great sites with these “Meet and Greets ” (or “pools”). This is my fourth Meet and Greet that I’ve visited this past week.

      Also liking, commenting or following other bloggers helps. These back and forth conversations are fun too because you’re able to talk more about the things you like with fellow bloggers with the same interests.

      And I know it’s hard to have those long posts (I’ve had some myself). So in between those long post days, leaving just a small quote topic page with 100 words or less is good too. Sometimes easier so you don’t feel pressured to come up with new topic essays.

      But definitely use those tags more and social media (sharing your post on Twitter or what not is a plus).

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Also using your own daily themes (memes) or participating in others helps, along with “Blogathon” events and such. My personal days are Monday Mayhem, TBR Tuesday, Wazzup Wednesday, Throwback Thursday Reviews, TGIF Friday, and Silent Sunday Nights. I’ve also been participating in Too 5 Wednesday and Friday 56.

        Liked by 2 people

    6. I’m happy to be part of the “small following of strangers” that reads Jeff’s essays. Check out his work.

      Liked by 2 people

    8. I like your writing style. All my pieces are in the 1200 to 1500 range and I wouldn’t break them up. Each piece constitutes a complete thought. I think our word count may deter people looking for a fast food snippet but I think the people who will follow are those that will actually take the time to read. I don’t know what theme you are using but I do have a few thoughts. I’ve found using categories and placing them in the menu has helped a great deal in site navigation. Definitely use tags to your advantage. It can be a deterrence if readers need to scroll through an entire post to see the previous one. If you keep this theme, perhaps there is a way to show the first paragraph and then click into it? If there is something in a post that relates to a previous post, you can link back to it so readers get a more complete picture. It took me several months to figure that out. I also made a special menu to put my top viewed posts. Comments can be difficult because it’s quicker to click ‘like’. But if you engage others on their sites, they are likely to reciprocate. And I always try to respond in some way when someone takes the time to comment on a piece. Hope some of this helps.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Hi Annie – thx for the feedback. It looks like a blog refresh is coming up for me. God, I hate doing stuff like that. I’d rather spend my writing-time writing, not formatting.

        I’ve been on your blog before because I know I read that Jonas piece. I think I was so new to wordpress at the time I didn’t know how to follow yet. Following now. We’ll see if *I* have the fortitude to read long-format essays. I might be just as hungry for fast food snippets as the next person. Peace.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. We all crave McNuggets once in awhile. Well, I’m a vegetarian so it’s the fries but I digress. I changed my theme twice until I found something that suited my needs. It is administrative work, not writing, but it helps in the long run to build the proper stage on which your writing can jam out (so to speak ).

        Liked by 2 people

    2. Hiya Colin…I noticed that I have visited your blog before. I see my face on your About Page. I may have suggested this last time or not. And I realize that you are 14. Your About page doesn’t seem to allow comments. If there’s anyway to change this, I would. Site visitors LOVE About pages, and typically leave comments; certainly likes.

      On your story pages, may I suggest you give your visitors a Call to Action at the end of your posts. You have some great information Colin, but it’s so complete that it doesn’t really Call For any comments. Ask a question at the end at least. If you need help with this, add at least one picture to your post then ask a question about the picture.

      I read lots and lots a blogs each week, so I am becoming an expert of sorts.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I just enabled comments on my About Me page. I thought they were turned on already, however I was wrong.

        I like the idea of adding conversation points/questions to the end of my posts, so I will definitely edit some of my future posts to include questions.
        Thank you for the advice. :p

        Liked by 3 people

      1. Thanks!
        And that’s great, I rarely ever meet fellow homeschooled bloggers. I’m glad you liked what you saw 😉

        Liked by 2 people

  8. Hey,
    I’m totally not typing this early and copying it so that I end up I the front page of the community pool. That is a ridiculous thought. Why would you ever think that?
    Anyway, I’m here to ask(beg) you to give my blog a visit. My blog is almost two months old.
    Also, if you want me to check out your blog, please feel free to leave a link.
    Hope all of you have a supercallifragilisticexpialidocius day!

    Liked by 6 people

    1. I like the way your blog summarizes past posts. Is that a widget that you add in? I really need a way to let people browse prior posts. Your site is nice, but mabe a bit heavy for my taste (might just be the posts I went to…).
      jefftcann.com/blog

      Liked by 2 people

      1. It does? I never noticed. Maybe it’s just me catching you guys up.
        Yeah, I got that vibe while I was writing it too.
        Now, I’m gonna head out to your blog and give it a read.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. I’m back.
        I have to say, your blog is mind blowing. I don’t know what else to say. You just earned a(loyal) follower.

        Liked by 3 people

    2. Hey, your blog looks great. I like the theme and layout a lot.

      I hope this doesn’t come off as nitpicky, but really the only issue I could see was the featured images on your home page. I find myself more drawn to the posts with the large images behind them (Sunshine Blogger Award Part 1, Deceptive Restaurants and Hello Internet, for example). I think it must be the theme default, but when you use a smaller image it tiles them in the background, right? This isn’t bad, necessarily, I just personally found it a bit difficult to focus on the article summary text in the foreground because of it. Especially if the background is text (Quote Challenge Day 3, for example).

      I know it can be pretty dang hard to find high quality, giant images, but man, the posts really shine with them.

      Overall nice job, I do enjoy reading your stuff.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. hello, I really liked your blog it is amazing and sustain a professional look… (thumbs up)
        However, (just a suggestion) remove the background pictures or apply a single colored/texture background as it is overlaying the text. rest is amazing,, I enjoyed your articles .. Best of luck!!

        Liked by 1 person

  10. Hello Community Pool!
    James of the cleverly named ‘James Proclaims’ here looking for praise, I mean feedback, on my writing.
    I wrote something today. It’s quite similar to stuff I write on other days. But it’s as good a place to start as any.
    James

    Liked by 5 people

  11. Hey, hi everybody. I run a humor blog featuring reviews, travel journals, and cultural commentary articles that tend to evolve into longform, serialized stories with ever-increasing levels of absurdity.

    My main challenge is juggling multiple writers and making sure that all the independent serials (we call them sagas) are logically arranged to be easy to find and follow. I’m also unsure if the general layout works, or if the site comes across as too wide and unwieldy or anything.

    Oh, there can be a bit of adult language used from time to time, if that sort of thing bothers you. Thanks a lot for looking!

    Liked by 6 people

    2. Hi!

      I really like your post on Fictional Universes. I could connect well with every written line!

      I’m a newbie too, would appreciate if you check out my blog. Any feedback is more than welcome!

      Thank you! :))

      Liked by 2 people

    1. Hello, this is a pretty good start for a blog, I like the general layout. I have such a difficult relationship with my hair, it’s very thick and high maintenance! Your post about towels is so true, I haven’t used a towel to dry my hair for years, I just let it dry naturally (I don’t know if that’s good for it?).

      Hope you keep posting, would love to read more 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

    2. There isn’t much up to gibe feedback on at the moment but making sure you get your about page up and some regular posts on the site would be a strong start. Make sure to check out other beauty bloggers for tips and inspiration.

      Liked by 2 people

  22. Hello Community Pool!

    I’ve been debating whether or not to change the dark blue and pale blue colors of my theme to pale blue and white instead. Given the frequently serious tones of my posts, and occasionally dark poetry, would the pale blue and white be more appealing to readers? ‘Cause I have hit a slow patch with follows and comments lately too.

    Please let me know what you think of calliopeslyre.wordpress.com !

    Cheers! 😀

    Ps. If you need me to do anything for you, just reply in the comments and I’ll jump to it. 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    1. I really like to vibe of your blog! I think your blog would do really well with the sapor theme, big brother or fictive. I think you are on the right path with brightness! on my blog I discuss serious topics but I try to keep a light atmosphere so it is inviting to new people and feels like home to regular people.
      P.S great topics and writing, i would love it if you checked out my blog

      Liked by 3 people

    2. Design is obviously personal preference. Sometimes with dark designs there’s a readability issue because light type on dark backgrounds is too high contrast and makes it hard for people to read. Because you put your actual post on a light background you don’t really have this.

      With regard to your comments and follows… What’s your visitor count doing? Are the visitors still coming but not interacting?

      Liked by 2 people

  23. Hey guys!

    I changed the look of my blog and working on some new content, I would appreciate some feedback.

    Also if you resonate with the things I write about and we dream the same dreams, I would love to read some interesting things from you guys also!

    https://confusiusblog.wordpress.com/
    This is my blog.
    Trying to get into writing longer stuff tho.

    Have a good day!
    Cătă Lin

    Liked by 4 people

  25. Hi, I’m looking for feedback on the use of images in my blog posts. I’ve experimented with using stock photos, a photo I took myself, even a drawing I made. What do you think? Are the original images more eye-catching, or do they need to be of higher quality? Do I need more images? All feedback is appreciated.
    http://www.nruhwald.wordpress.com

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Use your own photos on your blog. If you have a smartphone then it shouldn’t be a problem. Check out photography related blogs where you will find tips and tricks about taking great photos. Original images are fine as long as they are related with text in post. Take and share as many images or posts you like. This is your blog!

      Liked by 1 person

  26. Hey chaps, myself and a couple of others have recently started a film/geek blog over at https://reelfilmmoviereviews.wordpress.com and we would love and greatly appreciate any feedback.

    We’re struggling to get much activity on there too, any tips? People seem to be reading but not sharing or commenting, which is what we really want!

    Happy to reciprocate, obviously!

    Thanks,

    Rob

    Liked by 5 people

    1. I get more traffic on my blog through sharing on facebook and then getting friends and family to share. Also tweeting about it, and generally checking out other blogs and commenting! I read some of the posts and really enjoyed them – will be giving you a follow!

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Thank you very much! I find talking to people in person, they say they read and enjoy the blog having seen it on Facebook, but they never seem to like or comment, which is a tad annoying! Branching out into the blogging community is definitely the way forward, I think.

        I’ve just checked out your blog, I too am a recent(ish) graduate who’s worked in retail, so I think I will enjoy your ramblings!

        Thanks again!

        Liked by 3 people

      2. Twitter is a good one because it’s much easier to retweet than it is to share a link. I had a friend that had lots of success by uploading her pages to sites like stumbleupon, but it didn’t really add much to mine – because yours is film and items people would google, it may work better!

        Haha thanks for reading!

        Liked by 3 people

    2. Well you’ve found a new follower in me, you’ve got a blog here that does exactly what I’m looking for, concise and no nonsense geek stuff. Well done.
      Also well done for writing a review on Civil War that doesn’t contain any spoiler’s, I’ve struggled to talk to anyone about it that hasn’t seen it yet for fear of blurting out stuff myself. The best I could come up with was “It’s good, Winter Soldier was better”.

      Liked by 3 people