Jun 13, 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? Are you redesigning 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).

Looking for free, self-guided courses to help you get started with your blog (or revive a dormant one)? Check out our current offerings at Blogging U.

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.

Are you a new blogger looking to share your very first post? We have a special forum for bloggers just like you in our weekly First Friday posts.

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  2. Hello folks. This is a new set up? It was hard trying to find you guys. I do have a question. My website (https://byacc.wordpress.com/) is stuck on private. I can view it when I log out of my account but when I post it on facebook it says “Protected Blog. Log In.” Then when I go to log in, it goes to my blog rather than the log in page. Do you know if there is another setting or place where visibility options are because because I have already set it “public” and it is technically but it doesn’t mention the name as if it is. I don’t know if it’s a Facebook bug. I tried logging out of Facebook and back in and restart my computer. That didn’t work either.

    Thanks guys

    Jess

    Liked by 1 person

    1. From your WordPresss Share options, have you set up a link to your Facebook account? Even if you have, you might want to double-check to be sure it’s in place. Sometimes the link breaks. I’ve had to reset mine a couple of times. https://gracelead.co

      Like

    2. It looks like your settings are correct, so there might be something wonky on the Facebook side. To be sure, reach out to our support folks (help@wordpress.com) — they can double-check your settings and confirm.

      Like

  6. Hey can anyone critique the layout of my blog? I post pictures two days out of three blog posts a week, does it look too visually heavy? Thank you for any advice!

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you, I was worried with the quality due to my camera being old and inexpensive. I can adjust the font size and see what happens, maybe making it a tad larger. Thank you for your advice!

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Yes the visuals work fine. I like it when photos fit completely on one screen without scrolling. And yup…. that font is so small it’s hard to read.

      Would you consider putting a little bio on the ABOUT page? Many readers go there first.

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  7. Ladies Gentlemen! I want to express more.Express in a way thats understood by readers.Right now its words and drawings,and an attempt to capture various fleeting emotions. I would love to hear from you and know if you would like to see something more “focused”/”blogy”, or is it acceptable?!Thanks.

    https://csaychinki.wordpress.com/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Having a niche blog and a strong sense of identity (via focus) is imperative to pulling in readers. Ask yourself what you want readers to get our of your blog. Ask yourself why someone would come to your blog. From what I’ve gathered, successful bloggers always have a strong focus that makes them stand out above the crowd. What unique thing can you offer your readers? Maybe once you find the answer to these questions, you can pick a focus.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. I think you are going in the right direction. Don’t worry about a strong focus, and don’t waste your time trying to put up posts that will please others. It’s your project; do what’s fun for you. If other people come along…. great.

      One suggestion: your drawings a very large. I wonder if they would be easier to view if you scale down the size?

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you so much Brain for taking out time to read and respond to my query:)It takes a crazy amount of courage to be oneself,need constant reaffirmation on the mainline! I guess I will try to ease into it!Thank you so much again,for the confidence- will work towards keeping the originality alive and will have fun with it!
        PS: did noticed the too-big-three scroll-needed drawings!,technically challenged!, but,will have it fixed!G’day!

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    1. I think that a vegan diet is very popular right now and will bring in a lot of interest but i think keeping an eye on the food trends that come and go in the future will help your blog out as well! Ihis is just my personal opinion

      Liked by 2 people

  9. Hi, friends. I made some changes to my tagline and my about blurb (see “What’s P&P?” in my sidebar) and was wondering if I’ve improved?
    Old tagline: Personified countries. Personalized politics.
    New tagline: Politics told through personified countries

    Any advice/comments are appreciated 🙂 Don’t forget to check out my blog and let me know what you think of the about blurb in my sidebar, too. Thanks!

    https://prejudicepolitics.com/

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Hello!I’m a new blogger.Your visit will encourage me a lot.So if you can please visit my site’liha129site.wordpress.com

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you very much.Can you suggest me what should I do now?I cannot understand what’s happening.Actually my site’s name is liha129site.I don’t know why it’s showing liha129 when i’m writing any comment and when I click it,a page is showing that there’s no such site available.

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    2. Actually, I think your writing is fine. You express yourself clearly. Your site doesn’t look ready to release. There are many places that contain placeholder text including the site header, the About page, and the text widget areas. It might help to review everything on your site under WPAdmin, especially what you have on each Page. https://gracelead.co

      Like

    1. I think that was a great first post. It gave us solid advice and provided examples, but it was also easy to follow and understand. Maybe next time you’re writing something a little long you could add a Read More?

      Like

    2. Overall, I like your tips. In your adverbs paragraph you have a sentence that is confusing. “As long as you don’t…” It makes it seem that you are also saying, “as long as you don’t use them in the right places.” Perhaps you could say, “…and you use them in the right places.” That paragraph also has quite a bit of passive voice. A little more active voice would make it stronger. https://gracelead.co

      Like

  16. Question…when you read travel blogs do you prefer…
    1. Travel Journals
    2. Tips (i.e. what to pack for Florida, places to eat in L.A. etc.)
    3. Travel inspiration

    I tend to write a combination of all three of these things in my blog but I’m trying to get a sense of what readers might respond to the most. https://arttraveleatrepeat.com/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I think that for me travel tips are most helpful and what I am most likely to search for even though I think myself I’d be more tempted to write a journal 🙂

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      1. yeah, that’s kind of how I feel as well. I love writing the journals the most, but of course tips are always what I search for when looking around online as I plan trips.

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  19. Hey ya all bloggers I am blogging my memoir and thought u may like to ck it out and i am taking the blogging u class #everydayinspiration i love it . anyway blogging i have found to be a very good outreack for me. See i am a stroke surviver and i unfortunatly have clusters of strokes not just one. So i feel my faith calling me to write and share to help others i hope . here u go https://rosaryandredsox.com/ ty see u here and hope to share and nuture the blogging experience with one another …. blessings

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Hello! I’d love to here in the comments here or on my blog what you think of my posts as I really want to invest more time in improving my work on my blog.
    https://dodgeorburn.wordpress.com
    I write about the Photography I work on in my own time, I don’t get too technical as I like to be more creative, I’d love to hear some opinions on my posts.Thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. If you haven’t, I encourage you to check out the First Friday post — it’s a meet-and-greet just for brand new bloggers like you! You can find it on the home page here.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. when I traveled over to your site I found a template for a blog, but no posts. I strongly encourage you to complete an “about me’ page. this is a place to share as much or as little about yourself and your blog as you wish. People gravitate towards those pages as they want to quickly know who you are and what you want to write about.

      Liked by 1 person

  22. Hello! I’d love to see in the comments here or on my blog what you think of my posts as I really want to invest more time in improving my work on my blog.
    https://dodgeorburn.wordpress.com
    I write about the Photography I work on in my own time, I don’t get too technical as I like to be more creative, I’d love to hear some opinions on my posts.Thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. you have some gorgeous pictures there. have you tried using the album for photos in your editor? I think using the album would enhance a reader’s experience with your blog. Also, the post about your march-april trip? I would suggest trying the “read more” tag…I felt by the end that I had been through a few posts instead of just one. It could easily be a multi-post with the amount of information and the amount of pictures.

      Liked by 1 person

  23. I’m an incurable procrastinator. I’ve been trying to follow the daily posts for a while now and actually started participating only two days ago. What do you think people look out for in a blog? I mean my blog is not a bunch of news and all, would people be interested in my stuff?
    https://urshayma.wordpress.com

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Hi hi…i am completely a newbie in writing blogs~

    I remember each time before i go travelling i look at a lot of blogs…
    So i hope my blog will help other people as well. . .
    I’m still a university student in Malaysia so most of my posts will be about Malaysia food, interesting places and such especially my hometown Malacca, Johor Bahru, and the state i’m studying in, Kelantan.

    Do guide me to write a better and more interesting blog. . . I just created my blog yesterday… Thank you very much~
    P.S. do forgive me for any bad grammar. . .

    https://brandonfoodhunt.wordpress.com/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. you have a very nice start on your blog. I would encourage you to keep posting..and that fried rice looked incredible!

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    1. you have a very nice start on your blog. it is set up nicely and is attractive. I would suggest having someone check your writing for composition and punctuation though. I have found that with my serious posts an editor (a human one) is invaluable.

      Like

      2. okay, you have two types of posts that I have seen so far, serious and amusing. the serious ones are the tattoo one, etc. then you have the “cheesy quotes” which are amusing. and so far as an editor, a person to read over the posts before publishing to check on things like spelling, punctuation and sentence structure.

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    2. You have interesting thoughts to share. I agree with Suze, that proofreading would be helpful. If you can’t find a person, try an app such as hemingwayapp.com to edit posts. It doesn’t catch all errors, but does make useful suggestions. https://gracelead.co

      Like

  28. Hello all! Brand-new to this thing, and would welcome any feedback. My blog deals with the Christian life from a theologically moderate viewpoint, so it may not be for everyone. If you are not a fan of the Christian faith, I would respectfully ask you to not come there simply for the purpose of arguing or insulting it. Not everyone will be a fan of today’s post, so if it is something that is concerning to you, please scroll on down to the others that are below it. Many thanks in advance!

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Hey friends !! My blog focuses mostly on poetry .
    It’s almost a month since I started blogging . WordPress is just awesome , but I would love to hear more feedbacks regarding my posts , so that I can improve . So please feel free to visit my blog . The below is a poem I recently published , do look into it .

    Picture Perfect …

    Liked by 1 person

  30. Hi all,

    The first thing I’m wondering is if my name @kateeworkman links to my blog Kate’s Take.

    Also, I just published a post today, and I want feedback on what people like and/or don’t like about the post. I’m trying to create content that people can either skim through and take something away or savor the post and read through it all. Thanks in advance! Latest post found here – https://takebykate.wordpress.com/2016/06/14/forget-about-fomo-here-are-25-ways-to-get-out-more-often/

    Best, Kate

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks for your review! I was trying to get that post out yesterday morning and must’ve been a little sloppy in doing so. I will be reading through with an eagle this time. Many thanks!

        Liked by 1 person

    3. I liked the post. just a few typoes…sorry, sorry…i used to proofread, can no longer help myself. I thought your suggestions were well thought out and easily managed by anyone. grats1

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