Nov 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? 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 and guidelines 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, as well as for not starting numerous threads in a single Pool.
  • 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. Also note that including multiple links in your comment might automatically put it in the moderation queue, which will delay its publication.
  • 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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  1. Trying to get back into the blogging thing… I am new to it, but find that I am running out of things to write about…. Is it okay to switch directions of a blog once it is up and running? Do you need to always stick toward one thing when writing? Here is one of my latest blog posts, an assignment in therapy that turned into inspiration.

    Dear me….

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It’s your blog site. Of course you can switch directions. Some things to consider are whether you want to keep your current posts or delete them. If you keep them, you might want to set up categories that will cover both your old and new posts. If you assign each post to a category, then viewers can more easily find the posts that would be of most interest to them. https://gracelead.co

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi PPB

      I absolutely love your photos, you have such a good eye for framing a shot. Plus your compositions have a clean artistic quality in the way they highlight and beautify simple forms and colours. I do a little photography myself and always intend to post more of my shots but I haven’t got round to it yet. But you’ve inspired me to try and post more in future.

      My blog is centred mainly around my latest drawings and poetry at the moment as I didn’t want to limit myself to just one particular art form but actually it’s probably more coherent to focus on just one art form. You’ve got me thinking now! In case you’re interested, here is a link to my blog. Meanwhile, enjoy your day! Inasmuch as you can considering the election results!

      Latest Drawing…

      Thanks

      Nina

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Hi everyone, I’m an artist/illustrator and I’ve been on WordPress for a little while now but have just updated and redesigned the look of my blog; any feedback on the new layout would be greatly appreciated.

    I’m also looking to connect with other bloggers who are interested in art and the fantasy genre as well as history, folklore and mythology.

    http://www.jgloverart.wordpress.com

    Thanks!

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Thank you very much, if I’m working on a painting the process does differ quite a lot in the sense that the drawing I start with doesn’t have as much detail drawn in, I add detail with the paint.

        However, even with my painted works I produce a detailed drawing without colour first to use as a tonal reference.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. I’m interested in art, fantasy, history, folklore and mythology, but I’m a writer. I’m currently working on a fantasy series 🙂

      Anyway, I like what you have up on your blog so far! Keep it up 😀

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Thanks for taking the time to take a look I’ll give have a read of your blog and give you a follow, it’s always nice to connect with other creatives that have similar interests, no matter what media they use.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Hello wonderful people! A new post just went live. I’d love for you to drop by my site.
    https://a28598blog.wordpress.com
    If teenage, otherwise messed up love speaks to you, then my latest won’t disappoint. Its a storytime.
    I’ll see you there. (I’m also down to check out a few of your sites too.)

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Hello – when I saw the topic of your post, I almost passed it over. Just shows you shouldn’t judge. I left you a comment. If you are employed and your work does not involve writing then you should consider giving up the day job! Seriously!

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Haha. I’m still studying but its awesome to know I’ve got such amazing support here. Thank you one again! Much love.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Hi all,

    Hope you’ve had a good blogging year so far.

    I’d love it if a few visitors could drop by my blog to read my latest post (7 keys to effective communication).
    For personal reasons I’ve not been active on my blog and daily traffic has diminished to almost zilch. I need some help in kick-starting my stats but most of all I’d appreciate evidence that people are reading and enjoying my posts, so your likes and comments at my blog post page are desperately sought.

    I’m humbly putting myself out there, so please come along.

    With many thanks in anticipation. My blog address is:
    https://apurposedrivenachiever.wordpress.com

    Liked by 3 people

  6. Hi all
    I’m fairly new to blogging and I’ve been getting some positive feedback from friends and friends of friends but I’d like to get some idea of what’s good and what’s not (be gentle) from an objective point of view.
    I seem to get flurries of likes and then nothing for a while so any tips would be welcomed.
    This is my most recent post but I’d love it if some of you would have a look around and let me know your thoughts

    Giant Haystacks

    Liked by 3 people

    2. I love your layout! The only critique is that with the static front page there isn’t a way to get to all your blog posts – they seem to be divided into season categories? Not a big deal, a nitpick really, because I like visually seeing all posts. I loved the bonfire read. 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  10. Ok, I could spend all day on this thread, because I’m really enjoying checking out everyone’s blogs! I’m pretty new to the blogging world and still figuring out how everything works, so feedback is helpful! This is my site- I’d love for you to visit: https://singlemomonmission.com/

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Your blog is reminiscent of the words of the brilliant writer, J. R. R. Tolkien – “Not all those who wander are lost” and in keeping with the zeitgeist spirit, I would say, “Not all those who wander are lost, they blog and share the magic with others.” Great blog.

      Liked by 4 people

  14. I’m terribly late for this but I have an explanation I swear!
    Please do check out my blog and leave any feedback you think I need!
    I’m also doing a q & a and need questions from all of you lovely people! Check out my last post for that 🙂
    i’m running out of excuses – http://wp.me/p7r8il-tJ
    Thank you guys so much ♥

    Liked by 2 people

  17. Hello everyone. I recently started a blog and I’m just curious to see if this works. The feedback has been good but if anyone is interested in the subtleties of life and science (I’m a science student and a self-confessed nerd), it would really cool if you could drop by my blog sometime. Cheers.

    My blog address is – https://thesisonlife7.wordpress.com/blog/

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Thank you so much for your kind input. I checked out the site you provided… I’ll definitely keep that in mind next time.

        Like

  19. My writing style is simple and to-the-point. Because I believe profound messages are given with fewer words. I have quite a range of topics. If you are interested to see a particular type more (like: self-development, stories, personal experience or anything else) let me know.

    My recent post: https://tasniaponkti.com/2016/11/08/life-hack-topic-mindfulness/

    My general critique about short stories:

    What the SHORT STORIES are missing in blogs

    Liked by 3 people

      1. Hi Gayle! Yes, i’m a filipina 🙂

        I really had a great time in Bali, i’m so excited for you to go! I will be posting about what i did in Bali next, hope it helps you 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Oh, cool! Me too 😃 Always glad to meet a kababayan here in WP 😉 Anyway, plans aren’t definite yet but Bali’s been on my to-travel list for a while now. Followed you so I’ll be updated, and thanks in advance for the post! 😁

        Like

  21. Who else here writes flash fiction and is looking for more readers/followers? I’m scrolling through the comments now, but feel free to let me know directly if you want me to check your stuff out! 😀

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Hope I’m not too late, but I did a sort of reflection on this election that I’m proud of.

    The Election Reflection

    Also I wouldn’t mind ideas on how to design my blog. Also, I think one of my widgets is bugged. I definitely don’t have 594 followers.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. I’ve heard that the followers widget counts followers from the social media you’ve connected and email subscribers–people who may not exactly but counted as WP followers. I think it’s weird but it strokes my ego (and then deflates it once I remember that I actually only have 5 followers).

      Heading over to your blog now to check it out.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I wish there was some way to turn that off. I don’t think I get much engagement from my Twitter followers, where I think most of that number would come from by your logic.

        Like