May 12, 2013 / Community Pool

Community Pool

Community Pool

The Community Pool is for those of you looking for input, whether on post ideas, writing, blog design and layout, or anything else. If you have a post, page, or idea you want to bounce off someone, leave a comment. Your fellow bloggers can then click through and offer input either on your site, or in the comments here (feel free to indicate which you’d prefer).

Read on for the ground rules and to leave a comment . . .

  • You’ll get the best feedback if you can be as specific as possible about what you’d like people to respond to or where you’re struggling.
  • Please keep all comments civil and constructive. We’re here to help and support one another, not to beat anyone down.
  • If you haven’t looked at our Commenting Guidelines in a while, now might be a good time.
  • 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.
  • No running on the deck.

Photo by t_a_i_s.

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  1. I would actually just like to share this piece my friend Cando wrote on being a parent to young children when it’s not actually the easiest thing in the world which for some reason blew up on my blog – got my second largest day of visits and hit 1000 views in a day [which for me is pretty insane] so ja just a really powerful piece that has been affecting and encouraging a lot of people – http://brettfish.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/taboo-topics-parents-of-small-children-meet-candi-fourie

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  2. Hi everyone! I’d love feedback about the content/writing style of my posts. I fear that since I’m only in high school, some people might not be as willing to read it because it might seem too childish.

    That being said, any commentary about the blog in general (visual appeal, widgets) would be gladly appreciated.

    Thank you so much!! – Catherine, from Never Stationary

    neverstationary.wordpress.com

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    1. Have you ever heard about a book called A Writer’s Reference? It is a college textbook on writing (obviously). Study it. If you’re looking to become a better writer, I suggest studying grammar and reading loads of books! And get inspired! Good luck.

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      2. Not to say that your writing is bad! Of course not. Also I would suggest going out in the real world and do some “travel” blogging or “event” blogging. Peeps like that and be creative!

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      3. You can write poetry, short stories, stuff about your family, maybe some music that you like. Make it personal.

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    2. Catherine: Your writing is not childish at all. I enjoyed the post on your high school play. You’re writing about your experiences and that’s the best, always. There are some minor grammatical mistakes but nothing that you can’t sort out.

      I don’t think your theme is best suited for your content. Your blog is focused on writing and readers should have an idea of what each post is about. So the picture only does not help in inviting first time visitors to read your posts.

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    1. I just read one of your post and it is actually a good read. WP has a SUPPORT section on how to attract traffic. Lots of tips and tricks. Try Daily Prompt and Weekly Photo Challenge. Commenting and following others will help to see who reads what. Welcome to WP.

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    3. I like your layout, theme, color choices, background and all. I also like the subtitle “A garden of thoughts and meditations.” I like it all. The only thing I don’t get is the word “Roasted.” What does it mean or refer to in the context of your blog? I’m probably just a bit dense today.
      For post content, what interests you or what interests people you know?

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      1. Thank you ! Yeah, I know, I was so excited about starting a blog that I didn’t really give myself enough time to think of a name. I think I chose “Roasted reverie”, partly because of the alliteration, but also just to convey the idea that I wouldn’t just be writing about fantasy ideas, but more about topics that I had contemplated, analysed or “roasted” for a certain amount of time. Almost like turning the topics over on a grill and trying to cover all aspects of it. Also, I plan to include some recipes on my blog at some stage, so “roasted” seemed fitting. Plus, I quite liked using a physical adjective to describe an abstract object. Hope that answers your question! I am considering changing the name though, if I work out how 🙂

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    4. OK, I get the reference to “Roasted” now. That was thoughtful. I don’t know that I would change it then, since the alliteration is soon to be more obvious, but it’s up to you. I like the individuality of it.

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  6. Dear fellow bloggers, I am an elementary school teacher and have launched a teacher blog called The Inspired Teacher. The purpose of this blog is to inspire fellow educators by sharing personal stories that have been meaningful to me in the classroom. The stories will be followed by a reflection to express what I learned from the experience and how other teachers can apply concepts in their own environments. When you visit my blog, please hit the “follow” link on the top of the page to automatically be notified when I publish a new story.

    I would like to share a story that I posted. My main question is: would this story resonate with people who are in the world of education i.e. teachers and parents.

    http://theinspiredteacher.org/2013/05/11/reunited-with-my-students/

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    1. I think it would resonate with anyone who has a heart, loves kids and loves teaching. I’m not a teacher – just a parent of full grown children and I was deeply moved.

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    1. I read somewhere that humor can help sometimes to attract clients. I just got a writing contract last night from my FIRST client, who said they contacted me because my ABOUT page made them laugh. It turns out they were looking for someone who can write with humor! So you never know. Check mine out, it’s short and simple but it did the job.

      My blog is http://josephrathjen.wordpress.com

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    2. I dunno. I think MY About page should be more like an elevator pitch: 3 to 15 seconds of info is about all anyone would be interested in unless they’re looking for something else. I could always link to another page from there. As for anyone else, I can’t say, but if I had a gun to my head I’d just say whatever you write, make it coherent and create one overall mental picture. That’s just my 2 cents, though, since you asked. 🙂

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  9. Does anyone know how to print out a blog webpage? I use the Columnist theme, but everytime I print it out the very end of the right side gets cut off. Adjusting the printer and margin settings doesn’t seem to work at all. I would like to print out the whole page, have it blown up and framed, so I can put it next to my little league trophies from 40 years ago!

    Thanks for your help…

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  10. My blog started off as a page where I would write things about living in Ireland and/or living with multiple sclerosis is about, but recently I’ve been writing daily prompts and weekly writing challenges. I am a bit in limbo whether I would open up my blog completely, i.e. writing about everything under the sun or if I should stick to my two main topics. I’d welcome any advice. Thanks in advance!

    The link is: http://willeke73.wordpress.com/

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    1. I took a look at your blog and think thar writing about everything under the sun shouldn’t be a problem. It seems to fit well with your style and you can always use categories to separate things a bit if you want 🙂

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    2. I would suggest opening up more. Start with small steps – maybe one subject at a time. And just monitor the feedback for reader interest.

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  11. Hey, everyone 🙂 My name is Joe and I just started a blog this month called A Regular Cup of Joe. So far, I have loved the experience on WordPress and the supportive community. I wrote a couple great posts that people really seemed to like about motivation and pushing yourselves. The next day I wrote this post, http://aregularcupofjo.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/a-handshake-broke-my-wrist/ . I was wondering if I could get some feedback on my writing and some pros and cons of the post. If you want to check out the rest of my blog and tell me what you think. Thank you

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  13. Looking for any general feedback to improve traffic, entice readers to dig deeper and get past home page and into the article. I get plenty of hits on the homepage but only 10% click the article and read further and 1 of 10 register for email updates.

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  16. Would love someone to look at my layout and see if it’s easy enough to navigate. Tips in colours etc would be great. I’ve been changing my blog colours each month to suit my mood but is it better to keep it the same? http://teresadawn.wordpress.com Any other tips on getting more traffic/subscribers would be great too

    Like

  17. Hi… I’m really having an issue and can’t figure out why and have asked WP support..but so far no answer
    Yesterday sometime after 10:30 am I stopped receiving email notifications of new posts by those I follow. I still receive from people outside of blogging, I still receive those that are “daily” notifications, I received this one from the Daily Post or from self hosted sites. I receive ‘comment notifications’ But no ‘instant’ notifications of new posts.

    I have checked all my settings (I never changed any) I tried to read other wp support issues relating to this, I went and re-did my follower notification requests..I cleared my cache and cookies …It is not my email that’s at fault because I am receiving some as I stated previously.

    Has anyone ever experienced this and could advise me. My blog is hometogo232@wordpress.com

    Here’s hoping….thanks Diane

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    1. I thought I would say that I found out what the problem was… I found out just by relentless searching and actually by accident…that my email address is ‘hotmail’ and has been taken over by Outlook and they took over my emails ..There was another site and all of them were there in the ‘junk’ folder …. I’ve had some help and so thought I’d better just let you know..Diane

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  19. I’ve been seriously pondering something lately and would appreciate advice. I have 3 blogs but have pretty much decided to get down to just one. Which one? Can I combine them and thereby keep the comments, etc, from each one? These are the blogs: http://remissionary.wordpress.com; http://lovinthetrip.wordpress.com; and http://carrymelord.wordpress.com. I have Freshly Pressed articles on two of them that I would love to keep, but may not be able to. Since I only post about once a week, it’s gotten harder to maintain all three and do any regular posting.

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    1. Hi Jennifer, lovely style of writting, couple things, try and put your posts on their individual posts scrolling down and down to read puts me off take a look at mine and you will see what I mean
      http://www.mysoresoul. co.uk
      http://www.rainbow-photography. net
      You can set that in you dashboard. love the header and background nice and fresh and more important its interesting, love the anecdotes, the stories. I know the heartache that family has been through.
      Over all I love it =)

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  21. I was looking for input on my blog so far. It hasn’t been a year of blogging yet and I sometimes wonder how well I am doing with it. How does the blog design look? What do you think of post content/topics? Are they too varied for one blog? Do you have any ideas on topics that I could discuss and haven’t yet, or on ways to improve on what I already have?

    You can find the blog at magnuswendler.com 🙂

    Thanks in advance!!

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    2. Thank you. Hi, we are both from Canada. I’m from BC. I am a very visual person and the first thing that attracts me is the Theme. Have you tried playing around with other themes that are lighter in colour? Also, how about expanding your topics. Have a look at other post in the Reader section and see what Canadians write about. Hope it helps.

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  22. Is a blog copyright protected? I questioned this in my first post. How much should I write about my future books or doesn’t it matter because it is my words anyway?

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    1. You should dig into the intellectual property of the matter. It seems as if that’s where most business related practices are going for protection. Even academically its very serious to steal someones intellectual property. I’ve seen many professional platform bloggers and podcast give pieces of information away as teasers and incorporate their post into their own books. We all feed off each others ideas but you should probably get a legal opinion if your really concerned about legalities and theft. You may need to invest in copyright protection and other avenues. You could always look at it like this if someone is using it, its probably that good.

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  23. I am having a problem with anything I write underneath my photos. I center the words and then they move when I save draft. I spend 30 minutes every day trying to get them to stay put and then I publish – some are correct and some are not. Very annoying. Help!

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  24. Hey everyone!

    I am a novice at blogging and aspire to be a novelist in the coming time. Currently, I am posting book reviews so that I cultivate the habit of writing regularly. I need a feedback on my blog – the content, layout, language and more. Also, it is just 2 months now since I have started blogging. It would be great if someone could give me a direction to progress, apart from book reviews.

    Here is my blog – http://abloggyaffair.blogspot.in/

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  27. Hey fellow bloggers! I started blogging during the latter part of last January but I never really got much traffic up to now. I’d really want to hear your advice on how to get more traffic especially since seeing people read my posts really inspires me to write some more. All tips, tricks, comments and advice are highly appreciated!

    Please also do check out my blog at: http://doitchoco.wordpress.com/

    I really want my voice to be heard and for other people to learn from my experiences so tips on how to get and attract more readers would really be helpful! Thank you everyone!

    PS. It is also really my first time to be active in commenting in wordpress. I use to just write on my blog for the sake of keeping a memoir but I realize the importance of sharing what I write and the fulfillment it gives when you know that you were able to impart something in your readers! 😀

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  28. Hi guys! My name is Amy and I’m a student studying English in Dublin. My blog is still a foundling at the moment and I was wondering if I could get some feedback on it. Anything from the content to my placement of widgets on the sidebar, anything would be really helpful to me 🙂
    You can find me at amybyrne19.wordpress.com
    Thanks a million in advance!
    Amy 🙂

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    1. Don’t worry about it Kenneth, a lot of people twice by accident, or on purpose, but either way…it don’t matter anyway, don’t you think? I ain’t got nothin’ to do with ignorance.

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