Mar 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? Did you recently start your blog and could use some layout or design advice from your more seasoned peers?

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).

To help us make the Community Pool a productive space for discussion, here are some tips you might find useful:

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  • 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!
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    1. You make great use of images! But it feels a little cluttered with all those social plugins and Facebook photos at the bottom of each post on your home page, is there a way to keep them off the home page and only on the full posts themselves? Also, your menu button is a little bit hard to find because of all the texture you have in your header photo, just something to think about! (Not sure if your theme lets you put it somewhere else?)

      Liked by 4 people

      1. Thank you! Thing is the buttons on the posts are for sharing while the buttons on the homepage are for my own social media pages 🙂 so, they’re both different. And sadly, I can’t move my menu button 😦 I’ve always wanted to have it somewhere under my title or something but I guess you can only do that if you have a premium account. The problem is there’s so much I can’t change for free but regardless thank you for all your pointers! I’ll keep them in mind for sure! I hope you have a lovely rest of the day.

        Basant She
        https://thoughtsofasociallyanxiousextrovert.wordpress.com/

        Liked by 3 people

    2. I’m a graphic designer, so my thoughts are much more on the visual end than the writing content, but the whole site feels very dark. I don’t know if that’s the look you’re going for, but perhaps some color, or a brighter header image would help make things a bit more pleasing to the eye 🙂 Also, your website URL is quite long, and I imagine it would be easier to remember if it was shortened a bit.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Hey, really appreciate you looking at my site, especially considering you’re a graphic designer. The header images actually changes every time you go through the site and they’re all very different. I kinda liked the idea because I like it reflects on anxiety well. I’ve tried changing the gray color background to something more cheery but I didn’t think another color fit the theme, mini dilemma there. :)) I completely get your point with your URL, I was even thinking about it myself recently so thank you for pointing it out as well 🙂

        Basant She
        https://thoughtsofasociallyanxiousextrovert.wordpress.com/

        Liked by 2 people

    3. Love your blog! Your monthly memories post is a great read 🙂
      I have a question – does the meta widget serve any purpose? If it does, please share your knowledge as I have no clue. If it doesn’t then perhaps remove it? That’s my only suggestion 🙂

      Liked by 4 people

    5. I was going to comment on your social buttons, but see Madeline Fitzgerald already did so. Much social. Very wow.
      Good content. It’s clear that you’re not a native American English speaker to somebody with a writing or editing background, but it’s not distracting.
      Keep going! 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

    6. Hi, just went through your blog and i found it lovely. the monthly diary concept is truly amazing, infact, i am going to jot down my monthly entries now too. kep up the good work. goodluck 🙂

      Liked by 4 people

    7. hey basant, i liked your blog very much. specialy how your header images keep changing. i really loved your blog,” gift of a friend” straight from your heart!! keep writing girl

      Liked by 3 people

      4. Do it! You’re far better than me when I was your age. I did graphic design at A Level and my photoshop skills weren’t half as good – mind you that was some years ago! 😀

        Liked by 2 people

  3. Good afternoon fellow bloggers! I hope you are well. My name is Mark and I am weeks away from releasing my debut psychological thriller novel. This daunting task could seem a whole lot less so with your support. Please stop by and check out my site and follow if you can. Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon. Take care, Mark.
    http://www.markdraycott.com

    Liked by 4 people

      1. Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. I am already researching my plan for book two having come up with what I hope is a very unique story. I can’t wait to get started! Take care, Mark.

        Liked by 3 people

      2. Fab! Have you written a post about about how to start a novel – or things you did in novel one that you wouldn’t do the second time round, now that you have the experience? If it fits in with your blog, I think it could be good read, hearing it from someone who has been there and done 🙂
        Wishing you all the best on your writing journey!

        Liked by 3 people

      3. Yes, I have touched on the subject in recent posts but a ‘lessons learned’ type post as I move on to book two is a great idea! Thanks again and do keep in touch. Mark

        Liked by 3 people

    2. Congratulations on your accomplishments Mark, I am intrigued, and would like to view some of your works. You’ve done a clever job of describing the elements of your book while completely omitting names, locations, storyline, plot ect.
      I like to write in many genres, (though I suk at most) , but the WP blog I recently started building is based on household repairs, and DIY projects complete with actual pictures of jobs & descriptions. For some reason my facebook friends haven’t hardly hit the page, and I feel a bit discouraged, but I can’t force anyone to like anything.
      Any feedback you can offer a brother would be much appreciated.

      all the best,
      Daniel Heslin

      Liked by 4 people

      2. Hi Daniel! It’s good to hear from you. I have found it very hard indeed keeping the content of my novel a secret from my readers for so long. I have tried to build a crescendo from day one so that when it comes to release day, the long wait is finally over and I’ve a firm following behind me. I have written a couple of short stories which can be found on my blog long with other individual pieces.
        As far as gaining ‘likes’ and followers is concerned, it’s not easy. Like you say, it’s even difficult to get your friends involved sometimes. Most of my followers through WordPress have come from the community pool which is a great place to start. As far as facebook is concerned, try running the odd advert for your web page and maybe set up a facebook page as well as your blog. I’ve been concentrating on gaining readership through both channels. Good luck and I’m always happy to help! Take care, Mark.

        Liked by 3 people

    1. Hey Fai!
      Glad to have visited your place. It is nice and from the few posts I read, I feel it is like knowing you more and better! Keep writing dear! Lots there still for me to read.

      Liked by 3 people

    2. LOVE IT! Such a joyous post. It’s great to see that there is ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ as they like to say. Well done on finding what makes you happy and getting that new job!

      Liked by 3 people

    4. Hey Fai,
      Your write-ups are really wonderful and at times I could relate to it 🙂 …Keep writing!

      Cheers!
      Sara (from Foodeez Junction)

      Liked by 3 people

    6. Howdy! Just checked out your blog and the content is just lovely! You have such a natural way of writing. I really like your theme a lot! Keep doing your thing!

      if you could check out my blog that’d be great! anchorforever.wordpress.com

      Liked by 2 people

    2. “game of conversations”. Love that imagery. I blog to vent, to keep my family up to date on whatever is going on, to make my friends laugh, to complain about politics without getting arrested for my opinions…lol I rarely follow people. I like reading a whole bunch of blogs but I only follow if they have either 1. managed to make me snort liquids out of my nose while laughing, or 2. can assist me with various life skills that i fail miserably at…oops. crappy sentence that one. sorry. Suze

      Liked by 2 people

      2. okay. I have a question. Why does a blog need a direction? or can it simply be emotional outpourings until a “direction” presents itself? Would it help to create categories that encompass each post, slide them on in there and look for a pattern?

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Well I don’t know if a blog ‘needs’ a direction (I hope not!) but you always hear people telling you to find a ‘target audience’ and to me, that means to find a direction or particular topic to post about. Also, I have tried to group my posts but what has happened is the groups have expanded!
        For example one of the first groups I made was for Film and TV, and that now encompasses Film, TV, Books and Music!

        Liked by 2 people

      4. well……I see that as a good thing though. I liked being able to go to books and music without having to deal with movies…..and for a target audience, I’d think anyone with a functioning brain is well within your target group. (ok, I know that is a narrow group)….you obviously can attract the old farts (i am here talking after all), so maybe you can throw a couple of pictures of things that would attract a younger grouping? you know, movie stars from this century that us OF’s won’t recognise? I do know my youngest son has been reading your blog since I sent him a link to it…so you have the 38 year old group now too.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. What’s your concern? I went back over your last posts. It seems to be that you’re going for a jokes and riddles content. Do you have a different goal? Your About section mentions medieval history. Are you a SCAdian? Would that be something you’d write about? Are you interested in writing about engineering?
      Personally, I just kinda’ spit out what’s on my mind, but that leads to irregular updates and a lot of different subject matter.

      Liked by 2 people

    1. Prihana–you should add an About section, so new visitors can see at a glance who you are and what you blog about, that way they don’t need to click random posts in order to get an idea of what kind of content you post.

      Liked by 3 people

  8. Hi everyone, I have a question about an old post I just edited a few minutes ago. My blog is for my art and I often talk about the materials I use. Actually, by far the posts with the most traffic are some very old ones like this comparing paints.

    So, I thought I’d finally add some Amazon referral links and maybe monetize it a bit. Am I doing this right? The links are all buried in the text as I talk about each paint. Should they be presented as a list somewhere in the post instead? I edited some of the text too trying to improve it, hopefully that’s okay for SEO.

    The updated post is here- https://artrelatedblog.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/color-theory-thursday-ultramarine-blue/ 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    2. This looks really good! I’ve never used affiliate links myself but this looks really professional. You’re right though, maybe a bulleted list at the end of the post might be good as a recap of all the colors you used?

      Liked by 2 people

    3. I don’t know if it’s just my eyes/screen but the link text looks a little too light, maybe you could make it a shade darker if that’s possible? Otherwise perhaps make them bold, so they are easier to read.

      I’m not sure if anyone else would agree or not, so check what others think 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      2. That’s actually something I’ve wondered about before. If I leave link text the default color it always seems almost the exact same color as the normal text (though maybe just because I’ve been to the link already?) so to make sure it stands out I give it a specific color. But, I think I started using that color with a different theme and the text was on a dark background. I’ll try a darker color instead now. Thanks for the help. 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

    4. Editing old posts can be funny if you’re concerned about SEO. It shouldn’t have any sort of negative effect (as long as you didn’t remove keywords that were raising your rank) but it’ll take some time to get reindexed by Google and be reflected in rankings. If anything, it should improve rankings, as Google luuuurves new content.

      Liked by 2 people

  11. Hi everybody. I write a blog called misstery blog, which I would love if you could check out! I write about a wide spectrum of things. I vary from writing about serious topics about the world that I feel need to be spoken about, to posts about beauty and lifestyle. The community surrounding my blog is incredible! And I would love so much for you to be a part of it 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Hi, I had a look but on your home and about pages, it shows nothing found. I’m a newbie too so probs can’t explain what’s gone wrong. Maybe your posts aren’t yet “published” or you’re having a menu issue (I did too). Hopefully someone with more knowledge can help u further. Let me know when it’s fixed and I’ll check it out 🙂
      Amy💕

      Liked by 1 person

    2. I enjoy “Link Love” type posts, this looks great! A good variety of topics. I would recommend putting even a sentence or two describing your blog into your About page- you don’t want people to leave because they have to search your blog to see your general topics! Love the layout 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    4. Hey Halee,

      I find this post great. Just that I felt you can add the video there itself where you had mentioned – A short video on “What is Happiness in Mongolia?”.

      Love the layout, the colours and the poem on cookies 🙂

      Do check my blog at http://foodeezjunction.com/ and let me know how you think it is 🙂

      Keep writing!

      Sara (owns Foodeez Junction)

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Thanks for your feedback! I like your site layout. The pictures make each post inviting. And, I really like the “Request Recipe” option. That’s a great way to get readers participating and coming back to your blog!

        Liked by 2 people

    1. I simply adore the way your blog is set up with the photos opening up to a post. it is eye-catching and I found myself madly clicking through them to see what was hidden behind them.
      I also like that you don’t “dumb down” the language within the posts. Thanks for knowing we do have brains that work! Suze

      Liked by 1 person

    2. Hi, I check out your page and have a few small tips. For one, your logo at the top is small and the tag line under is hard to read, so I’d suggest making that bigger. Also, in terms of your About page, you should consider explaining what it is exactly your business is about.
      Happy Blogging!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you! Actually, I filled in the ABOUT page just today. I agree with you! I just haven’t the opportunity to sit down and write everything. The site is fairly new. I am still adding content as I am able! Thanks for the logo feedback. I will certainly look into changing that! I appreciate you taking the time to browse and comment! Thank you!

        Liked by 1 person

  16. Good Morning everyone! I just started my blog a few weeks ago and have about a million questions! How to grow the blog is probably my biggest concern or how to know if the blog is doing well in the early stages. I know that not all blogs blow up over night so it would be nice to know statistically how it should grow on a weekly or even monthly basis.

    Any criticism, whether negative or positive would be nice.

    Please check my blog out and let me know what you think about it! Thank you!! XOXO, Ruta.

    http://theruteleblog.com/

    Liked by 3 people

      2. well am always looking for new recipies. i like to try different foods 🙂 oh and i am very rubish at make up lol so any tips i would for sure read 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

    2. Rutele! First thing first. blog from your heart on subjects that interests you. next blog regularly. make your blog stand out in terms of layout and theme. get involved with blogging community with challenges or blogging101 etc. Btw, I like name of your blog

      Liked by 2 people

    3. One way I found to increase followers/ reach is to go out and find similar blogs to your own and comment on them!
      I also post all of my posts to twitter and google+, as well as StumbleUpon.
      But above all going out and commenting is probably the best way, also ensure that your blog can be accessed by search engines and that is where the majority of my traffic comes from, other than followers.
      The stats page is really useful for letting you know where your views are coming from!
      And always make it easy for people to find your blog by posting comments with links like This

      Liked by 2 people

    1. As a heart attack x2 survivor I empathise with what you went through. I wish I had the opportunity to read about bacterial endocarditis before experiencing it but there ya go…we can’t have everything. Your posts are concise and informative, written so that anyone can easily understand them and exceedingly important for people to read. My only suggestion is to connect your blog with a major heart hospital site. I think they would be thrilled to have you as a guest blogger for their patients and families. Suze

      Liked by 1 person

  19. Hello fellow bloggers!

    I have recently introduced a new column on my blog, called Bite-Size Fiction. Follow to read memorable stories, and excerpts from my favorite readings, in 50 words or less.

    Here’s my freshest bite-size post: https://biswalnikita.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/my-lover-a-memoirist/

    I am trying to experiment with my writing, and would love to have you on this new journey! Please do leave feedback ^_^
    Thank you so much.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Hello bloggers, I started my blog a couple months ago and I was wondering if fellow bloggers could check my blog out and give me potential ways to improve and grow. Thank you

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Interesting post! You share a lot of good information. Personally, the post is a bit long for me. I tend to just skim posts that are this long. You could easily divide this info up over 2 or three separate posts.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. Very interesting, my girlfriend is a Master’s student studying psychology and has worked in the sector also so this is something I am familiar with. However I am also familiar with this on a personal level as I’m not ashamed to admit I have struggled with mental health issues in the past and one of the main reason’s I took up photography (which I blog about) was as a coping strategy.

      Liked by 2 people

    1. Personally, I don’t mind the black and white, especially when you have nice pictures. The page does seem a bit busy to me, with all the stuff off to the right. It might look fine on a smartphone, but on a laptop, there’s a lot going on. I wonder if you could put the search and recent posts, etc. on the left and keep the summary and instagram column on the right, to balance it out.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. I agree with Sandra that it is a bit busy, but it’s not too bad. Nor is your page too black/white since you have nice pictures with each post, but if you’re worried still, consider using a header to brighten the page up some more or change the template colour if you theme allows?
      Happy Blogging!

      Liked by 2 people

      1. IAmDonovan, I really appreciate your feedback. I’ve made a whole bunch of changes which I think should make it easier to the eye and less busy. I hope you think so! Thanks again for the feedback!

        Liked by 1 person

    3. Your blog doesn’t look black and white to me at all. It is full of color. And the food looks incredible.

      I wonder what your blog would look like if you only used one of the sidebars instead of two. That would help with the sense of busyness.

      If I click on the “about” at the top I get an empty page. I see now that you have a drop down menu but that didn’t come up the first time I went there. If you make an about “page” instead of an about “post” then you won’t need the drop down menu. Your first post serves very well as an about page. So I suggest you move that post to a page. Then you can erase it from your home page.

      If what I just said makes no sense let me know.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Hi Karuna, Thank you for your input! I’ve made a whole bunch of changes and think it’s a little easier on the eye. Would you give a little feedback to that? I’ve also placed the About me on the right page, however as I write more the idea is that the Home Page will refresh to the latest blog. If I can do anything for you please let me know!

        Liked by 2 people

    1. Your design is simple, but nice. I was going to suggest bolding the main ideas, but you seem to keep your posts short enough that it’s not really necessary. I really like the length of your posts.

      Liked by 2 people

  24. Hi everyone,

    I could use some advice on how to find a target audience. I try to follow and interact with other bloggers, but it’s hard to find blogs similar to mine.

    I blog to share what I’m learning as I’ve started dating later in life than most people, partly because I grew up in a strict religion. I include some math, because I’m a data analyst.

    Here’s my latest post:
    How Non-Attachment Changed my Outlook on Dating
    http://datebynumb3r.com

    If you know of any blogs or communities related to learning to date, math, or leaving religion, please let me know. I’d really appreciate it!

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Hi Sandra,

      Are you configuring your WordPress reader to show specific categories/topics which you might be interested in? Personally I have 3 versions of my reader – Blogs I like, Exercise and Health, and writing/creativity.

      Using keywords I can find similar themes to my own blog and build a tight community that way, by first following and then commenting.

      Best of luck,
      Aidan

      Liked by 2 people

    2. I really liked what you wrote and am now following. I created a Twitter and Facebook page for my blog to help promote on social media. I also pin my posts in Pinterest. I also try to actively participate in community pool to connect with other bloggers. I found that helps the most. I by no means has a large following but it has helped.

      Liked by 2 people

  25. Hope everyone’s having a super Monday! I’m a newbie to the blogging world, and have found it great to do so far. I’m receiving good feeback from friends for the posts I’ve written so far. But I was hoping for some feedback from some fellow bloggers! All critism welcome!

    It’s a blog dedicated to football from a viewpoint of a fan. Hope you can take some time to read, I have a selection of articles to choose from at the bottom of my ‘About’ page.

    Many Thanks & Happy Blogging!

    Tom Clarke

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Hi Tom,

      Big football fan here and I haven’t seen many in WordPress since I joined two years ago. I can’t find your about page – perhaps you could layer a menu at the top for easy access?

      Well researched and interesting content (read the Man U article). Are you using 8-12 keywords on your blog posts to get found online? Best of luck with it, from a new follower.

      Aidan

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Hi Aidan,

        Cheers for getting back to me, glad you found it an interesting read. I’d also recommend the article I wrote on ‘Leicester City – 10 games from the promised land’.

        As I’m only a beginner in blogging Aidan, I hadn’t even considered using 8-12 keywords, so I’ll look into that.

        Cheers

        Tom

        Liked by 2 people

  29. Things have changed on Once Each Day!
    For those of you who haven’t come across the project yet – Once Each Day is a site where users can submit a sentence about their day. You have the option to submit a sentence anonymously, or as an attributed author.

    The project is only a few weeks old, but we already have a few regular contributors, which is amazing! It’s interesting reading summaries of people’s days, or revelations, or ideas they’ve had. I love the diversity of it!

    Since the last time I posted this project on here, I have changed the role of my contributors, to authors. Now as an editor, I don’t have to approve my contributors’ sentences. I think it helps with the user experience and means that they get their thoughts shared as soon as they write them, rather than waiting for me to log in and click publish!

    Now I’d love to hear if you have any feedback? I am enjoying watching this place evolve and becoming more user friendly, so if you have any suggestions, let me know!

    https://onceeachday.wordpress.com/

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hey Courtney,
      I read some of your posts, especially the Happy Monday one. That’s a great personal account.. will surely drop in my weekend idea there!
      Thanks,
      Sara from Foodeez Junction

      Liked by 1 person

    2. Your blog is lovely. I love how you have paired short paragraphs with stunning photography, it makes for a fun and engaging read. I love your personal tone too!

      Liked by 1 person