Aug 8, 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.
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  • If you haven’t looked at our Commenting Guidelines in a while, now might be a good time.
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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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  1. Hello!
    I run a science communication blog, based on recent research in the fields of biology, genetics, development (and much more!). As well as reviews, I’ve just started doing focus pieces on specific types of cell that I find interesting. I aim for this blog to be accessible and understandable by everyone, so please check it out!

    My most recent post has been the conclusion to my review on the development of a vaccine for HIV: https://biologyyak.wordpress.com/2016/08/08/macaques-and-mhc-creating-a-vaccine-for-hiv-part-ii/

    Thanks for reading, happy to give feedback on any other blogs too 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Thanks for the feedback- it was probably a bit of a heavy article to link to, but I’ll take that into consideration and maybe also make the links to the glossary more clear 🙂

        Like

    3. Pretty awesome. The glossary is such a nice touch.
      Looking for anything to add… I would say more pictures or infographics to break the text a bit, not that it is that long or anything, but just for a cheerful look, I don’t know. xD

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I totally get what you mean! It’s a bit difficult to find exciting pictures (and my art talent is non-existent) but I’ll definitely put a few more in 🙂 I love the layout of your blog too!

        Like

    1. Your Ross post is fun. It would be easier to read if you tightened up the writing a bit. For instance, you began with a sentence fragment that has no verb. To turn it into a sentence, you could say, “Ross Geller was the lovable nerd on the show.” https://gracelead.co

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you for the feedback! I wasn’t sure if I should have a seperate menu bar on the top of the page to find posts by topic (or if that would make it too cluttered).

        Like

      2. I would try to use widgets. They allow you to have menu options. It shouldn’t look too cluttered. I would just keep playing around with your site until you are comfortable with it. Think of it as your bedroom. You decide what you like in because you are going to be the one staying in it.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. I found your site easy to navigate and your About page informative. One thing to consider is the Read More Tag (available in the Post Editing Menu). It lets you display a portion of your post on your Home page and readers click on the read more link for the full post. The advantage to the reader is less scrolling and being able to quickly see a preview of your last several posts. https://gracelead.co

      Liked by 1 person

    3. It’s definitely easy to get around. Mostly because it’s a familiar map. But, I would say you could be bolder with it. Also, I don’t love the font.
      But the work is solid, keep it up! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Moreso the design of the featured image with the title and everything. I didn’t want my featured image to just be a replication of a photo in the post, and not having a featured image and letting wordpress decide what popped up in the feeds was getting annoying.

        Like

    2. I think you could go bolder and cleaner. Sans serif for the font maybe and full saturation for the pictures. Brighter and more of statement, I think it would be more captivating.

      Like

  8. HI Everyone! New blogger here and I am wondering about images for my site. It looks pretty bare without photos. Can anyone direct me on where to get cool pics without having to worry about copyright (besides uploading my own of course and I’m a terrible photographer.) Thanks a bunch! Check out my site to for any feedback! https://fruitofhisgrace.com/

    Liked by 3 people

    2. What I use is Flickr and you filter photos with Creative Commons licenses. It basically means you can use their photos but give credit where credit is due.

      Like

  9. Hello All,

    Fairly new blogger here, less than one month into it, and I would really appreciate any advice/feedback on my posts or overall blog website. My blog so far consists of mainly outdoors adventures, and sports orientated posts.

    https://joshkozelj.wordpress.com

    Thanks and I look forward to reading your blogs too!
    Josh

    Liked by 3 people

    2. I like your writing. It’s a nice mix of descriptive and narrative, so it’s suitable for a travel/life (adventure?) blog. I wonder if there’s stuff you could put on the right of the page so it doesn’t look so…empty?

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks!! I will definitely work on my page to see if there is something I can put in the bottom. I really like your blog layout!

        Liked by 1 person

    1. I just read your blog about making time for your friends. You brought your crew to life with your writing! Made me want to hang out with everyone. Great blog. I just followed you!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. A good overview of visiting Tokyo, but I was turned off when a few times you suggested the reader to do a quick google search to learn the answers. As a blogger, if you are going to bring up the subject of Japanese bathhouse etiquette, for instance, then you should elaborate on it or provide a focused link about it, not just refer us to google search it.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. Hey there, just one little thing I was thinking of. Maybe add some line or something that seperates the recent posts a little bit. Was checking the site out on a tablet, and if you look quick it is hard to see what belongs to what

      Liked by 1 person

  13. Hey there, y’all! I’m super-duper new to blogging, and I could really use some feedback on my RunningOnReefer.com blog. I intend to challenge preconceived negative notions surrounding cannabis use and promote my passion for ultra long distance running. I am just a couple months and a few posts into my journey, and I was really hoping for y’all to take a look and steer me in the right direction concerning my layout and general page navigation. Also, what do you think about the actual writing itself? Do you find it engaging or mundane? Easy or hard to relate? Do you think I am being clear with my intent, or is a the message getting muddled? I guess I’m pretty much asking, ” what do you think?” And I’ll be glad for your answer. Thanks for taking the time to check me out!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I think the intent of your site is clear. Overall, our site is well-organized. On your About page, you might want to remove the underlining. It makes it more difficult to read the text. Reading your recent post, I see that your writing seems to work for what you are doing. It’s conversational and upbeat. https://gracelead.co

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Just commented! Nice content. My suggestion: consider including an image or two to break up the text a little and also add some color to your post. Blogging is a very visual medium!

      Would you be willing to check out one of my posts? Click my name and choose whichever post appeals to you most 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    3. I like your blog and whee its going. Thing is I read a little bit and didn’t feel interested to keep reading. It may be me not you or you writing. I know that it is hard to really get the style down and create a proper mood for the ready. I am having this trouble for my writing. I am finding it hard to focus on the mood and develop a style that represents the playfulness I want. Have you thought about this?

      Liked by 2 people

      2. Thanks Myra, I think about style and tone all the time. Not everything I write is serious. I have some other post that is meant to be funny (hopefully it succeeds). Maybe I should learn to categorise properly, do you think?

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Yeah that is really important. I recently watched a short you tube video from a SEO specialist who works for google. He basically said that the most important way for people to find you is category. Use simple categories that people will search for. I am working on that.

        Liked by 1 person

  15. Hello,
    I am currently trying to start a nonprofit clothing line through wordpress and could use some advice on themes and links I should use. I am also having a bit of trouble attempting to import a method of payment… As someone new to this whole thing it would be greatly appreciated if anyone with online store experience could help me out.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hello,
      Well I think the best tip I can give you is to read allot about wooCommerce and how you handle the ecoomerce. There is allot of beginners guides out there. So just try to Google around a bit and you will find good guides for you 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    1. I like it- its clean, calming. A nice layout. Perhaps by inserting ‘read more…’ tags in your posts you could shorten them in the main page and your reader would be able to scroll down to see a lot of your posts before reading, if that makes sense? xx

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Thank you! Yes i know what you mean. I’ve seen it on some other blogs and I really liked it, but I still have to figure out how to do that. Thank you so much for your feedback! x

        Liked by 1 person

      2. When writing a post, up the top there is a little icon that is a bold line, followed by a dash line, and then a bold line. Click on it at the point you want your readers to ‘read more’. xx

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Consider categorizing and tagging your posts more 🙂 You can use up to 15 before WordPress blocks your post from Reader. Adding a few more may help get more readers!

      Would you be willing to check out one of my posts? Click my name and choose whichever post appeals to you most 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    3. There will be time to make more material, but if you’re really concerned about that, why not try a Daily Prompt every once in a while? It’s a good exercise in practicing your online voice while stretching yourself creatively. Of course, the real challenge is can you still write like you when faced with a Daily Prompt?

      Liked by 2 people

      1. No I’m not really concerned about that as I’ve got loads of ideas for new posts. Thank you for the advice, I think I’ll definitely try a daily prompt some time (:

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Just stopped by! Nice content, good post length. Consider using fewer tags/categories — once you use 15 or more, WordPress blocks your post from Reader and fewer viewers will find it.

      Would you be willing to check out one of my posts? Click my name and choose whichever post appeals to you most 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Ah! I have been trying to remove the categories that I only used once (when I didn’t really know what they were..) but I’m struggling to see how this is done! Thanks for the advice. xxx

        Like

    2. Hi Tori – I have had a look and here is my feedback.

      – I like the layout of the blog, my personal opinion is that having the categories/archive down the right or left hand side is the most user friendly as that is how we read (in the west anyway!)

      – I was looking at your header and was about to say that if they are all pages it can be a real pain to maintain and update a load of pages separate from the blog (that is why I usually stick to the ‘About’ page and occasionally have an additional extra feature page from time-to-time).

      – But then I noticed that they are from your blog post, so not a big issue – the only thing you might want to do from time-to-time is mix these up a bit with your newer or favourite posts. From personal experience I have found that I haven’t got too many clicks from my header (expect for in the ‘About’) page

      – Your ‘About’ page is clear and to the point – this is great for making new readers clear what your whole blog is about (and as a side note I like the fact your post here on the community pool clearly tells everyone here what your blog is about, quite often I see comments like “Can you leave feedback on my blog?” but don’t actually bother to say what the user is visiting… anyway a bit of a tangent there…)

      Best of luck with your future blogging, if there is anything else in particular you would like me to look at just let me know.

      – James

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you ever so much, James. What lovely feedback! It’s the first time I’ve asked for feedback so I’m glad it was positive. xx

        Liked by 1 person

  18. I love the Community Pool. I don’t feel like I have to keep my shirt on when I swim here as opposed to my neighborhood pool. Anyway, I always discover a couple of great and funny blogs to follow each time I visit so I keep coming back. If you have a moment, stop by my blog and read a few posts (it’s mostly observational humor where sometimes I’m funny and other times I miss the mark). I’m at http://www.letmebefrankwithyou.com. Like, Comment, Follow or do all three. If you’d like my review or commentary on yours, let me know and I’d be happy to check it out – especially humor blogs. I’m just not qualified to know good poetry from bad so I’m a very poor reviewer of poetry blogs. Thanks and I sincerely hope to hear from you! Keep Writing! Frank

    Liked by 5 people

    1. I noticed there was a missing opening tag in your first link, which prevents the pingback from being created. With the other two, the link works, but I don’t see the pingback on the prompt page — and wonder if it might have to do with you using the shortened version of the link. I’d try using the full permalink next time and see if that might resolve the issue; if not, we’ll take it from there.

      Liked by 1 person

  21. Warning: i’m sorry if i can’t tell you much about myself or if my blog suddenly turns melodramatic. I’m pretty worried about life right now, so…
    if you still want to check out my blog, feel free to:

    Home

    i hope things get better. God, i need to get a grip! i’m much more luckier than half of the world. sorry.
    I hope you all are having a wonderful time! XD

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Okay jut went back and read and the inro wasn’t interesting but the rest of the post was good. I will comment there

      Like

  22. Hi everyone! I’m Myra and have redone my site and any advice would be awesome? What is the mood of my blog? I want to appeal to the adventurous kid in all of us. I am working on the tone and style of my writing. I want it to be a friendly kid diary and any ideas would be awesome.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Maybe I should begin with a Dear Diary. I am an artists and this is my journal of my process and feel if I share it others can get to know me and be reminded of growing up and yeah

      Like

  24. Hey guys. So i’m new to this whole blogging thing. and by new i mean, 10 words a minute type of new. Would really like some advice on how to improve my blog and maybe learn a few tricks around this blogging life 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  26. Hello everyone! For years now I’ve had incredibly vivid dreams and love telling other people all about them. It used to just be my friends, but one of my best friends said people would probably love to read or hear them as well. I’ve started writing out some of my most memorable dreams and recent dreams. Have some old ones typed out that I will be posting as well. Just looking for any and all input on my blog. I’m a very simplistic person that really just wants to show off her dreams 🙂 Thank you.

    Liked by 4 people

  28. hey ! well have tried this blogging thing before but failed on my first two tries am hopping the third time is a charm and would really appreciate if you would check out my stuff and get feedback on the best way to improve and to move forward with it. thank a lot in advance https://effetepapillon.wordpress.com
    Love B

    Liked by 2 people