Jun 12, 2017 / Community Pool

Community Pool

Where bloggers come together to give each other feedback and advice.

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. Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a terrific weekend? I started my blog a few months back but have been very inconsistent with it. I’m setting new goals for myself so hope to really follow posting at least once a week. I won’t always post about food, but thought krautburgers was a fun and easy way to break the ice. 🙂 I would like to have your feedback, comments, opinions and daily jokes. 😉 Thanks and Cheers!
    https://hobbylessbrewerswife.wordpress.com

    Liked by 6 people

  3. Hello fellow bloggers! I am trying to get back into posting regularly… one of the main things that has held me back has been my lack of a decent camera and someone to follow me around taking snaps! But hoping to get things moving again. Please feel free to check out my page and give me some feedback. I will do the same in return 🙂

    Liked by 5 people

    1. I read your “It’s not minor” post. You told the story well and made your point clearly. Depending on the work place, filing a complaint with the Human Resources department might help. I’m glad that you found another job with a more professional atmosphere. https://gracelead.co

      Liked by 1 person

    1. India is superstitious county, though improving slowly and gradually but still. A lot behind as compare to other countries. I am from india so I can understand what you are trying to say.

      Liked by 2 people

  8. I’ve been blogging for almost 2 years for an HVAC company. Unfortunately, HVAC is boring so I’ve switched it up and made it into a “Homeowner’s Guide to a Better Home.” http://www.accutempair.org – What do you all think? Is there something you see that I could be doing to make the experience more useful to my clients? Thank you for any information and feedback!

    -Summer

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Your Indoor Summer Projects post was a fun read. I think a projects post for each season would be nice. Alternating the project posts with HVAC related posts seems to work for your site. We all need tips and reminders about HVAC, but as you said, a steady diet of that can get a little dull. https://gracelead.co

      Liked by 1 person

    1. I loved that post. Have you thought about adding a word press “like” button to your posts? That way shy folks that might not comment can still show you their appreciation.

      Liked by 2 people

  14. I love the content of your blog. You clearly are a writer with something to offer. Now, you asked for feedback on the layout, so I will add a few things there. Do note I am currently on mobile and will update from PC in about 15, if I have additional comments then.

    I’m happy to see your site is mobile-first. What I mean by that, if you are not a developer, is that it is developed for mobile and then scaled up. Gives great visuals and loading time.

    I would probably dim the light green background a little (add some grey in there to “flatten” it), because it is visually quite distracting.

    Since you want your writing to pop, why not either remove featured images from the front page entirely, or cut them to small banners that are less intrusive?

    Because “stories” can also mean stories from your own life, I would probably rename the sections to “Fiction/Nonfiction” instead of “Articles/Stories” for clarification. Especially is the primary target audience are prospective buyers. They often prefer simplicity and ease of access, rather than writer lingo.

    As a final note, and this may change on desktop if you have sidebars I cannot see on my phone, I would put more emphasis on your email subscription/newsletter. You have to hook and reel those buyers, and e-mail is the single best way to do so.

    I want to reiterate that your content is fantastic, so I have nothing to add there; at all!

    Liked by 2 people

      4. So this took a little longer than intended, I am sorry for that. Life quite literally got in the way last night. I went through your site on both mobile and desktop, so these are my joint comments:

        – Because you write short prose and poetry, it gives you very little chance to do excerpts. Unfortunately, that means your front page has a lot of white space, where it is basically just filler. For example, one of your top posts says “Are you a slave to the media? To the expectations of others?” and nothing else, even though there seems to be room for 3-4 lines of text. I would either add more text in the excerpts, or remove them entirely, and go with more hard-hitting, descriptive titles. Does that make sense? So you get less blank space on your site. A good example of “excerpts done right” is your next post, “Why This Election Tells Us Democracy is Still In Tact”. There, you have a descriptive headline and a substantive excerpt. I would aim to do that with all of your posts, or remove excerpts entirely.

        – I LOVE the Hemingway theme, and always have. The header photo of the London Eye/Elizabeth Tower, is a little bit generic, and I would probably aim for something that has a little more pzazz, to make your personal brand pop. Perhaps play with some effects on the photo, or choose a more “active” photo (where more is going on)

        – Because you write such different content, from poems to short stories, to political analyses, consider adding more top-level pages. One for each type of content ideally. I, for example, love your political posts, but never really read poetry, so having a way to segment it would be great.

        – I LOVE your about page, and your description. Keep it as is!

        – I don’t quite get the “Brexit Negotiations” countdown. I mean, I understand it probably means a lot to you personally, as an individual in the UK, and it absolutely has a large world-wide impact, but you are not adding much value with the countdown. I would probably either remove it, or find a way to tie it into your blog. Such as writing a post about Brexit’s possible consequences, and adding a link under the calendar saying “Why are these negotiations so important? Click here and learn more!”, and link to your post. That way there would be a reason to feature the calendar, and it would convert internal traffic.

        – Since I do not know your target audience, I cannot comment on that, but one thing I will say is, you need to add subscription options. Right now it is only possible to follow your blog if you have a WordPress account, and I am going to guess, that most of your future readers will not have those. Offer them a chance to follow you by e-mail or social media too, so you have something for everyone.

        – As a final note, for the sake of consistency, I would turn off like and share buttons on all pages, and keep it only on posts. There is really no reason the contact page should have a like button.

        Those are my comments, in full. Once again, it is important to mention, that in this case, too, your content is great, it is just a matter of presentation. I like your poems, even featured one on my site, as I am sure you saw, and I absolutely love your more substantial writing, I just think you need to optimize the packaging a little. I hope this review helps you do so. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Thank you so much for taking the time to review. I’m glad you like my content and am inclined to agree with the ‘white space’ comment. The fact you like both the Hemmingway theme and my ‘about’ page is interesting- I was thinking of changing both, but will definitely reconsider now.
        Also, thank you for featuring my poem, I didn’t realize 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

    1. I love your blog! You’ve certainlty grabbed my attention 🙂 But, I don’t have any suggestions because I think your blog is perfect the way it is. I can’t wait to read more!

      Liked by 2 people

    3. Make sure your theme is mobile compatible and in your site customizer make sure you check out how your blog looks on phone and ipads by clicking the little symbols in the bottom left corner. Similarly, when you preview a post you can see the formatting on these devices by toggling the screen size with the buttons at the top.

      Liked by 2 people

    4. Hello Misggrace — I can view your site on my iPhone, however I tend to agree that it could look a bit crisper on mobile devices. The reason for this is that you’re using an older theme — Twenty Ten — which isn’t quite as optimized for mobile as our more recent ones. You can browse our newer themes — hundreds of them, all fully responsive — on the Theme Showcase: https://wordpress.com/themes

      Liked by 1 person

    5. if i click on the visit button it takes me to your blog but the page doesnt fit on the screen and i have to scroll left and right to see the full page. sorry don’t know how to rectify this.

      Liked by 2 people

    1. Your site is visually appealing and easy to navigate. Have you tried using the WordPress Reader? You could set up a tag such as “nature photography.” When the reader return posts that match that tag, you can view them and leave a like or comment on some of them. This should prompt some visits to your site. https://gracelead.co

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I’m happy to hear that my blog is, as you say, “visually appealing and easy to navigate.” Yes, I do use WordPress Reader and I use it quite often 🙂 Thank you for for the feedback and I’ll be sure to check out the site you provided in your comment.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Maybe nor many people saw it yet? It is a really good post. 🙂
      Hopefully being in this pool will help people notice it.

      Liked by 2 people