May 9, 2012 / 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).

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.
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    6. I really do enjoy your post about mom; Indeed, she is the one thing that one cannot do without, in good times and bad. I would like to wish you much joy, happiness and success with your blog, and I hope that you check out mine at http://www.j2w7.WordPress.com! With 💗-JW 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I tried to comment directly to your blog but it asks me to log in, but I think I already am! Gah. Love the pink and the simplicity and freaking love coconut oil!!👏🏻😘

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Thank you for the feedback! I just changed the settings so that you dont have to be logged in to leave comments. Sorry about the inconvenience!

        Liked by 2 people

      6. Oh my goodness, they are so similar! We have great taste, I guess 😉 I cant wait to see some of your tutorials. I’ll be following your blog. Thanks for stopping by!

        Like

      1. Your blog is beautiful! I love the “Mom” post. Great writing. Maybe you’d like to check out my blog and give me a feedback? I’m doing the blogging university right now and I think I have to change my blog theme. I like the simplicity of your blog, too!

        Like

    3. Hi. I’ve been at this for a couple of years and am gradually figuring out how to grow an audience. I’d be happy to have a conversation about both blogs. Just leave a comment on mine, and it’ll leave your email address. (Hope your’s is an anonymous-y one). It’s better to exchange comments that way, rather than in the comments section, I’ve found.

      I’ve just read your post about your trip to the city and liked it. But I’m sure you’d also like to know more than that.

      Liked by 5 people

      2. Hello, HemmingPlay; So, you want to figure out how to grow a blogging audience, huh? Well, first and foremost of all, you’ve got to come here to the Community Pool each and every week and inform everyone how extremely wonderful your blog is, and then after you have written and published your post, use those sharing buttons for social sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus to share your post with the whole, wide world! I wish you the very best of luck with your blog, and I very much hope that you check out mine, which is entitled Dream In Music, at http://www.j2w7.WordPress.com! Good 🍀, with ❤-JW 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

        Liked by 3 people

    6. I think your template is visually appealing. The font is easy on the eye. The picture placements are well done and the photos are good quality. I enjoyed checking out your blog. Mine is at ahmeli.com if you’re interested. Cheers!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. I really love the look and feel of your blog! I absolutely love the topic’s that you write about also! I gave you a follow, I would love to continue reading what you post! I would love if you checked out my blog for any feedback! 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

    6. You seem cool. I like your writing. Oh, and your theme. I wanted to use that one on my own blog, but I think I might be afraid of change or something. Best of luck with that novel!

      Liked by 3 people

    9. I think that your blog has full potential to become one of the best blogs in the history of WordPress, so I wish you the very best of 🍀 with your blog, and I very much hope that you check out mine at http://www.j2w7.WordPress.com! With ❤-JW 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

      Liked by 3 people

    12. I am very interested in reading your posts and plan to do so soon (life is calling ,e away from the computer in a few minutes). I like your photographs and the layout of them. Your titles are catchy – not an easy task. Your humor in the “push this button” part made me chuckle and quickly made me interested in your writing style, thus leading to me wanting to read the posts. Can’t wait to look in more detail soon.
      I’m at ahmeli.com.

      Liked by 1 person

    13. Hi Lauren,
      Definitely had to give your blog a follow after I read some of your posts. You deal with pretty heavy material in a very lighthearted way. I especially liked your post on insecurities and dreams. I can certainly relate.

      I look forward to reading more!

      Liked by 1 person

    2. Hey, that was fun! I like the approach of making human mothers seem way great by comparison.

      My only suggestion for a fact-based article like that would be to include some sources somewhere, even just hyperlinked within the text itself.

      Nice job!

      Like

  7. Hi everyone. Could anyone tell me what an RRS feed is and how best to use it? I’ve been hearing about this other places, but I’m not sure if I should want one at this stage or not. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

    Liked by 7 people

    2. It is a button you can put on your blog. If people click on it and subscribe they will receive notifications in their email of new posts. So it is just a way to notify your followers of new content. Seems like a win/win to me especially for those who may not have wordpress accounts or for whatever reason don’t want to follow you via email.

      Liked by 4 people

      2. It is only a little different. The updates appear in your email in a different place. They are typically sent to a folder and can be accessed whenever you want rather than receiving an actual email. Is it technically that different than receiving a notification via email? no it is just different but if that is how your readers want to access your blog you wouldn’t want to isolate them. many people hate getting spammed with hundreds of emails. So the RSS notification pops up in a tidy little folder that can be accessed whenever the reader has time without getting annoyed by an email. but, the end result is the same.

        Liked by 3 people

    3. You can go to feedburner.com and log in with your Google ID. There is more to read about there. You can submit your blog and use the link they provide when you put a RSS button on your site. There may be others, but that’s the one I use.

      Liked by 1 person

    3. If you just started and they are growing slowly there are a lot of things that you can do to gain more followers. I still don’t have many but, they are growing and to be honest quality is better than quantity. I’d rather have people that are actually going to read what I write then people who are just going to follow me to get a follow.

      Anyways collaborate with other bloggers, post in community pool, add tags and categories to your posts, talk to other bloggers, and basically promote yourself. Like this:

      Hey happy to read your blog and take a look around hope the advice was helpful. If you would like to take a look at my blog it’s https://cee91blog.wordpress.com

      Liked by 6 people

    4. It’s been a while since I began blogging and honestly the first month, I was sitting on 3 views and 2 posts. Which was disheartening but promoting (something I didnt do before) between friends and community pool helped me. Like a previous comment, quality is waay better than quantity. Actual feedback is better than just a view and a like. So, wait for it. It’s takes time so give it some! xD

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Thank you Your comment is making me feel so much better 🙂 I just feel like I’m comparing myself to others and not appreciating enough the fact that some people are actually reading my posts 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Comparing won’t help! It’ll only make you doubt what amazing capabilities you have. (I’m not old enough to talk this deep but let it roll please?) It takes time and effort. Also, you have a great blog, really.

        Liked by 2 people

  10. Hey guys,
    I just started blogging and I would love some feedback. I blog about books, TV&film, my home country of Iceland and more. Please check out my blog and tell me what you think.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Your blog is beautiful. You have really lovely photos that capture my eye. I see that your content is a little disconnected which doesn’t bother me but I always see advice from other bloggers that you should have a theme and stick to it. I enjoy travel and photography so I gravitate towards your stories on Iceland but that’s just me. I think it is a great start. Keep up the good work.

      Liked by 5 people

  13. Hi all! I’ve been blogging for a few months now but have appreciated all of the feedback I’ve received through Community Pool so far. I’m blogging about my functional medicine journey to health, wellness, and clear skin: thatpeganlife.wordpress.com

    I would really appreciate any / all feedback you’re willing to share! Also, I just had a graphic done that I would like to add to my page, but I don’t know how to make it the banner. Any thoughts?

    Liked by 6 people

    2. You can change your header image at any time by going to your Customizer (which you’ll find by clicking on My Sites at the top of the screen, then the “Customize” button near “Themes” in the slide-out menu).

      Liked by 1 person

  15. Please check out my most popular post and give me some feedback. I am relatively new to blogging and would really appreciate anything that helps my learning curve. This is a blog designed to educate people in and around science on multiple subjects.
    https://unsociablenetwork.com/2016/04/30/stairway-into-the-solar-system/
    The post is relative to NASA and a unique plan they have to transport us into space!
    Thank you in advance.

    Liked by 6 people

    2. Hey, I like your site. Nice combination of content between the facts and accompanying images. The space elevator is awesome, and I want on. The article about floating dots in your eye also caught my attention, because I’ve been wondering about those myself. Keep exploring big ideas!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi! Just gave you a follow. I have a travel blog too. I like the subject of a lot of your content. You go to some cool and interesting places. I look forward to following your adventures and would love if you would check my page out too.

      Liked by 3 people

  19. Hi All, I am new to WordPress and am struggling with how exactly to find communities, groups, and/or just users in general to join/follow (beyond that of the Discover Page). I’d really like to be more involved, but the site seems a bit obscure for me. Am I missing somewhere I can just search and peruse beyond what’s on the “Discover” page?

    Thanks for your help, Cheers!

    Liked by 6 people

      1. Thanks for the tip! I had saw the option for Tags, but I (mistakenly) assumed that was something you did once you had a lot of blogs you were subscribed to, as a means to categorize them. I’m glad I asked, again thanks!

        Liked by 2 people

    2. I have had the best luck finding communities in a few ways. I have found a number through the community pool here and their attached site. (You have to visit it regularly. And comment a lot. I have also followed a lot of blogs that either have content similar to mine or just content that is interesting to me in general because the people that write them are also interesting. By following people and interacting on their sites regularly they often follow you back. Also, I have entered in to multiple writing, photography, and blog challenges. in doing so your page links to other people’s pages that have a lot of followers. One ends up connecting with multiple interesting people each time. It, to be honest, is a much slower process that I originally thought. It takes a lot of work but it is worth it one follower and cool blog at a time.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Thank you for the considerate response 🙂

        Perhaps I just may be on the right track then, I have definitely been perusing “The Daily Post” and participating in a few challenges here and there – that have indeed brought me a couple of new interesting blogs to follow/read.

        I guess I’m just trying to acclimate to a more complex blogging site than that I’m used to. WordPress doesn’t seem quite so as straight forward.

        Thanks again, have a great day!

        Liked by 2 people

      3. I had an account at LiveJournal for several years… 15 years to be exact lol… Though admittedly I’ve gone a year or 2 at a time without posting. I decided I wanted to get back into writing and try to exercise my creativity again, but found LiveJournal to be so changed (and no predominantly Russian at that), so well, here I am!

        Liked by 2 people

    3. Yeah, I used to find this a problem. Tags are a great option. Say if you have a baking blog you could follow the tag ‘baking’ to find similar interest. The community pool, right here is also a great way but not too specific. I hope this helped1

      Liked by 2 people

      3. Weird? I have not heard of that error before.. I do know that I when I first created my page I made a typo so my site is akwardbabble.wordpress.com which could be confusing, since it’s supposed to be aWkwardbabble.

        I just opened an incognito window and was able to access my page just fine (not logged in) so I’m not sure 😦

        Liked by 1 person

      8. I’m really not sure what to do about this. When I created my page I accidentally left the first “w” out in awkward. When I noticed it I was able to change my username but had to leave my URL typoed because I did not want to pay the fee for changing it.

        When I log out of WordPress, and just go to akwardbabble.wordpress.com I don’t have any issues accessing my page or my blogs……….. BUT… I see what you mean, I just clicked on my username and it gave me that error…. I guess I will have to change my username to the typo, or pony up and pay the fee to change my URL..

        In the meantime, if you open up a new tab and just type akwardbabble.wordpress.com in the address bar, it should take you to my blog no problem

        Liked by 1 person

      9. I would just change the UN for now if you don’t want to pay. It’s important for your blog traffic to be able to click right on your username to go to your blog!

        Liked by 2 people

    4. The Discover section is good because you can read posts that interest you and then comment. I have gotten some followers that way though I’m really just now becoming an active participant on WordPress. When you comment be true to your viewpoint so likeminded individuals will check out your blog and likely give you a follow.

      Tags are your next best option. I haven’t yet gone to your blog but I also believe certain types of writing gets more views on here. Political/social, art (poetry, short stories), etc. Once I started making my posts more personal I have increased my readership though my follows are slow to increase.

      On the app, as mentioned below, you can go to the reader and list by topic. It will give you the option to list “Discover”, “Blogs You Follow”, “Posts you like” and then underneath are the topics/tags you can list by. Add as many tags as you like.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. I have just been wanting to find something other than the Discover page because it seems to have only a few posts per day, I’m a bit of an avid reader and really trying to get involved with other bloggers. Of course I’d love to have more followers to share my writings with and have discussion, but a huge part of it is wanting to experience other people. I will definitely try searching out the tags, I’ve not tried that yet (misunderstood what that part of the Discover page was).

        I try to be active in commenting those who I do follow, but a part of it is honestly along the same lines of what I’ve experienced in my lack of creative flow over the past several years – I simply just don’t have anything to say. Working on it though! Thank you for taking time to help 🙂

        Liked by 3 people

  20. Hi everybody, I have been writing a blog for around 4 months now, and it has become an amazing source of positivity in my life. I absolutely adore the world of the internet, and the opportunities that world brings along with it. And i love to write too. I blog about a huge variety of things, such as beauty. I really hope you can chek it out, and I will happily do the same…
    https://missteryblog.wordpress.com/

    Liked by 4 people

    1. I’m not expert on this but it popped into my head that you’re displaying them men’s clothing like one would see women’s clothing displayed in a women’s fashion magazine. I would check some male oriented fashion magazines and/or blogs and see how they display their fashion. I am only aware of one male fashion blogger and the clothes are always displayed on someone.

      Maybe that has something to do with it?

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Thanks for the feedback. I believe you’re absolutely right. Men probably would get a better idea of the clothing style/fit if I had Men on my blog actually wearing the clothing vs. just looking at the clothes.

        Liked by 2 people

    2. A really interesting topic, I left a comment about my experiences! I really liked your style of writing, I’ve followed 🙂 Have a good day

      Liked by 3 people

    1. Just gave you a follow. I am also a photographer and you have some interesting stuff here. I love your door shots. And I love that you write so much about your photos and give the lens and information behind each photo. Keep up the good work.

      I would also suggest, that in the beginning, you participate in as many photo challenges as possible. It will end up bringing your page in front of a lot of readers and will likely result in some additional followers. (If that is what you are looking for.)

      I look forward to seeing your photos in the future. Best of luck to you.

      Liked by 3 people

    4. I enjoyed your photos and am going to give you a follow to see more! I’m a wanna-be photographer although it’s really just a hobby. Sometimes I get great photos I like and yet others don’t but that happens. If you’d like to check out my photos go to my blog at
      https://cee91bog.wordpress.com in the menu there’s a page called The World Through My Lens with all of my photos enjoy 🙂

      Like

  28. Hi everyone, mind sharing some feedback and tips for my blog. I mostly write on things that is happening in my current life, and happenings. Appreciate it very much 🙂

    Liked by 5 people

  30. Hello everyone, I have a new post that is a bit different and I would really appreciate it if you would check it out.
    It is about how a person can see themselves as the worst person in the world, but when they sit and write knowing that no one can see them, their words turn beautiful.

    Beautiful words

    Thank you 🙂

    Liked by 7 people

    2. You’re right, one of the best things about blogging is people can present what they like of themselves and put their best selves forward! Hopefully getting a good reaction will lead to the blogger having more confidence in themselves if they doubt themselves. Have a good day 🙂

      Liked by 3 people