Mar 26, 2018 / Community Pool

Community Pool

Where WordPress bloggers support each other with 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 more information about custom domains, advanced design options, and other enhancements for your blog? Find the WordPress.com plan that’s right for you.

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.

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.

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.

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  1. Hello Everyone,

    I hope you’re all well. Next week it will be one year since I started my blog. So, firstly, I’d like to thank everyone in this pool (and in the blogging community in general) for your energetic feedback and constructive criticism, it’s been incredibly inspiring and I really appreciate it.

    Secondly, as I’m looking back through everything I’ve published, I thought I’d (re)share the post which has proved to be my most popular. It’s a collection of photographs taken around Paris.

    Paris: A Photo-Essay

    Liked by 70 people

    3. An exciting time for you!! I always enjoy seeing your pictures. I’ll look for your post next week to give congratulations. Until then…enjoy it! 😄

      Liked by 12 people

      9. Yes. Post it separately instead of under someone’s post. It can get lost in that way and the photos are too beautiful to be lost like that. It seems that the iPhone X takes beautiful photos.

        Liked by 5 people

      19. Ohh the Taj…it’s really a great collection. Even being an Indian and residing not very far from it I still haven’t had the chance to visit. But seeing it through your lens feels I’m actually there.

        Liked by 3 people

  2. Hi everyone! I hope y’all are having a great day. If you have time, please visit my blog and check out my new post and leave a comment. This time I’m posting about monthly book subscription and my review for the 3 different book subscription companies I tried. I would greatly appreciate it if can you leave a comment or a positive feedback. Here’s the direct link of my recent post: https://anaskiesbookishmusings.wordpress.com/2018/03/26/book-subscription-boxes/

    Liked by 41 people

    1. Thank you for the suggestions. I have always liked the idea of getting a book subscription box because it gets me out of my comfort zone of reading so your suggestions were great.

      Liked by 9 people

      1. Hi fellow book blogger! I liked one of your post and started following you. Please let me know if you want to subscribe to one of the monthly book subscription. I might be able to give you a discount coupon.

        Liked by 6 people

  3. Happy Monday Everyone,

    I guess you can say I have become addicted to helping people make graphics for their blogs. The last two times I offered this I have been able to make graphics for two bloggers and am working on making a graphic for another blogger, but I want to offer my services again. If you need a free graphic for your blog or know of someone who may need a graphic for their blog please share or comment on this post. For this go around all I ask is that you have some sort of idea of what you want or where you want your graphic to go. If you don’t know exactly what you want we can develop ideas together. Again, here is a link to my blog so you can get an idea of what I can do: https://kelciemakespatterns.com/category/blog/
    So far the two blog graphics I have created for people are nothing like the free graphics I have on my blog so if you want to create something different I will see what I can do.

    – Kelcie

    Liked by 34 people

      1. I can try. I will say that your logo is really elegant and pretty and my style tends to be more illustrative/cartoony, but if you have an idea of what you might like in a logo I can try creating it. The only thing is you have a very beautiful script font in your logo and with copyright laws you usually have to pay to license those fonts so if you have a font in mind or if you do want to use a script font in your logo it’s best to do it legally and pay for the font. Let me know what you were thinking about the logo.

        Like

      2. I was wanting to make my logo a bit more simple and illustrative. I’m a mummyblogger and what I write about isn’t always that elegant so i feel like my current logo isn’t quite right. Is there somewhere else I could send you a message, perhaps twitter or instagram or something? 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

      2. I would love to help you. Do you have any idea of what graphics you might want for your blog or where you would want the graphic to be on your blog?

        Like

    14. There’s so much to learn from your blog Kelcie. I would like to follow your blog but I didn’t see a follow button. I so wanted to create a logo for my blog but all I could manage was what there at present. I still want to improve on it. Any suggestions?

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Hello everybody, Simon from To Cut a Short Story Short here with my latest post. This time a complete change of scenery, my recipe for a delicious and easy-to-make lamb and vegetable madras curry, using both minced and diced lamb!

    I’ve given the ingredients and quantities as I make it but feel free to adapt the recipe to your own preferences. I hope you will give it a try and I’ll look forward to your feedback!

    https://simonjwood.wordpress.com/simons-lamb-and-vegetable-madras-curry/

    Liked by 23 people

    2. This looks great and luckily I can get Pataks here in the US. One of the things I miss most about England is good Indian food. It’s either unavailable or insipid here. This recipe is definitely getting tried 😊

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Hey, that’s great. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!
        I have to say I really like the way Indian restaurants do their veggies, quite firm but tender, and having soaked up quite a bit of curry too. This is quite similar I think.
        I will eat my recipe on the day I make it but I prefer it when it’s had a couple of days to mature. Then I’ll freeze some of it in those little aluminium trays.

        Liked by 5 people

    3. It was all going greta until you said use a jar of curry paste…!
      I was hoping that you were going to lead us through some wonderful alchemy of spice blending.
      Lovely writing style though!
      Dookes

      Liked by 2 people

      2. No, that’s why I said it was easy to make! Also, it makes a good basis to add your own ‘custom’ spice mix. I don’t know how universal Patak’s curry pastes are, but I’d guess there’s something similar in most countries.
        The end result is great though, I think.

        Liked by 3 people

      2. Welcome!
        I think you’re mistaken on that. I never posted recipes hehe. But, I am always up for trying new ones so if you find who shared those, I would be glad to try them, too!

        Liked by 2 people

    3. Bang on Chris!! I understand the importance of nicer butts as i have really worked upon them too 😉 I am a complete foodie on the one hand and on the other i genuinely want to keep fit. So, i am looking forward to trying your prescriptions 🙂
      Happy blogging and keep on making a fitter world!!💖💖

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Awesome! There’s certainly no reason why you can’t be a foodie and fit 😊Thanks for the support! Good luck in your journey please contact me anytime if you have any questions!

        Liked by 3 people

    5. Good to find fitness freaks who like to blog. Nice post, and definitely those glutes are hard to work, but worth it!! Do check out some of my fitness inspired posts, inspired from my own workout routine. One of them is 6 days

      Liked by 2 people

      2. I am also happy to meet people who are excited about fitness. Will you please read some of my posts and follow at quita-healthyworld.com. Would you be so kind as to share with some of your fellow friends? Thanks!

        Like

    7. Thanks Chris. This is definitely great info for me as I am trying to stay fit and inspire others to get healthy and stay fit on my blog. Thanks for the information. I will definitely use it!

      Like

  7. I have been popping in here for a while now, sharing my latest posts, looking for feedback. It was brought to my attention that I never actually ask for feedback. So I would greatly welcome any feedback generally on the look, layout, readability and content of my site please. https://crowdedmind.co/ Thank you very muchly! Happy to do the same.

    Liked by 22 people

    3. I like the clean layout, but I don’t understand the categories in your menu. Maybe define them in your about page?

      Liked by 3 people

    4. I love your blog. It is full but not in an overwhelming way. I also echo the above blogger that your categories are rather elusive.

      Liked by 2 people

    7. Thanks everyone. I have spent a couple of hours trimming my word beard. Hope it is more manageable now. I guess that;’s what happened, I forget to maintain. Thanks again, have followed up on the advice. Have no time left to read your posts now, will read tomorrow. Byeeeeeeeee

      Like

      2. Thank you, I’m so busy it’s hard to find any time left to devote to it. From what I’ve seen I feel bbpress may be the best platform and I’ve found some tutorials online to get started. If you disagree of have any suggestions I really would welcome advice. Thank you for the support! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  10. Ahoy fellow Bloggies!



    Following the great feedback I received last week, I’m introducing the second part of “PhotoStory”; an intimate, soulful take on places through my lens.
Please make yourself comfy and take in the wonderful views of this week’s PhotoStory on the magnificence of Africa! Share and comment, because that’ll be the most wonderful reward for the many hours I put into this piece!

    https://searchingforelsewhere.com/2018/01/15/my-lens-south-africa-tembe-elephant-park/ 
or click on the short-link “https://wp.me/p6rhYV-3be”
    

    Much Love, 

    NavSam

    Liked by 17 people

    2. Hi!

      You have a great blog (I’ve probably told you that before)! Have followed you!

      I am not much into movies but, I am surely ‘a bit’ into them. I usually like watching sci-fi movies or good book adaptations. Any recommendations for those?

      Happy blogging!🌼

      Liked by 4 people

      1. Thank you very much! Some great book adaptations are The Fault in Our Stars & Gone Girl. These are just he first 2 that spring to mind.

        Have a great day

        Liked by 2 people

      1. Great movie, saw it in the cinema when it was first released, haven’t seen it since though so will have to rewatch it eventually 👍🏻

        Like

  12. Hello everybody!

    Without further ado, I proudly present to you the Tick Talk Newsletter! A combination of unabashed stories from the trenches of chronic illness, raw photography, awareness and educational tidbits, I am grateful for the team that made this project possible! Please take a look and let me know what you think!

    Tick Talk Newsletter 

    Liked by 13 people

    2. Hi!
      I feel like I’ve gained so much knowledge regarding anxiety by reading this post. It is an amazing post!
      As I’ve said it in the comment, too, I like the fact that you’ve include ways to cope up with anxiety! Thanks for sharing!

      Happy blogging!🌼

      Liked by 2 people

    3. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again…I find your blog enormously valuable, especially as a parent to a child with severe anxiety

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Wow, thank you. Please let me know if you try anything out. I’d love to hear how you’re putting it into practise.

        Liked by 2 people

    4. I definitely dealt with social anxiety as a child and a little now as an adult. It was horrible. I wish that my parents had information like this back then. Great information! I love it!

      Like

      1. Very inspirational! You have worked really hard to get healthy, and you have written some important advice for others to follow. Thanks for sharing.

        Liked by 1 person

  15. Happy Monday! Did everyone have a lovely weekend? 😄

    I run a creative writing and language blog. I post a new British word or phrase every day, define it, then use it in a “sentence.” But my sentence is a story or a poem. Did I mention I’m American? Please come stop by and leave any comments if you’d like.

    https://britwitblog.wordpress.com

    Now I’m about to do some lazy swimming laps and pop in to say hello to new and old friends alike! Hope your week is great!!

    Best, Kelsey 💜💫

    Liked by 20 people

  16. Hello Beautiful Readers!

    The sun is out again today! The trees are still bald though, and mornings continue require gloves and scarves. But the days will get longer, and the sun may actually start to feel warm and, rather than just be blinding.

    Like a sun that looks bright, but isn’t warm, a lot of us have experienced, or know someone who has experienced, a relationship or marriage that looks better on paper than it is in real life. I have a post I would like you to look at, “Gray, Wizened, and Wrinkled” (https://collectivecogitations.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/i-dont-want-to-burden-him/).

    Please let me know your thoughts about marriage and divorce, and whether real love and commitment is still possible in the 21st century.

    Looking forward to your responses! 😊

    -CC

    Liked by 22 people

    1. That was a beautiful post. Lots of emotion. And to answer your question, yes. Absolutely yes it is possible! The only problem is that it takes a lot of love, patience, respect…and work. Something a lot of people are so wrapped up in themselves that they are too blind and too lazy to put forth so much effort into someone else. Sadly, if they did, the end result benefits them too.

      Liked by 5 people

      1. Thank you for commenting! I do believe that work is involved in successful relationships, but that work should not feel like work, and that work should also be reciprocated. We shouldn’t have to pretend for another, but we also should be willing to compromise and change for the betterment of the relationship, and ourselves. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my boyfriend. He encourages me to be a better person, and I think that’s what love really is.

        Liked by 4 people

    2. So well written and beautiful. Does true love exist? Of course yes. I love to think of it as a journey of growth and that people cultivate it so make of it grow and last. When its approached in a rush, then it probably becomes timid

      Liked by 3 people

    3. Hello! Here in Australia the sun is leaving us and the cold and rain has arrived 🌧🌧 I’ll be following you as I’d love to read your thoughts!

      As for marriage and divorce, I haven’t been married yet 😅 so I can’t comment on either but I’d like to think that real love and commitment is still possible! I say so as I’m inspired by my parents how have been together for 26 years and still going. I’d like to remain optimistic that a relationship like that can still happen!

      Liked by 3 people

    4. That is a very complex question you asked… I do believe marriage is still relevant in our times (I am married, in case you’re wondering), and there is some truth in the fact that you need to work for it. But I feel that what is more important is to accept, truly accept, the fact that you will both change over time. Not to become radically different people, but your needs, your priorities, your wishes will change. And these will influence how you interact with each other. By knowing what has made the other one change their attitude (by which I don’t mean becoming a jerk), you can more easily live with it and find a way to integrate it into your new reality. And vice versa. The most important thing is to share core values. Likes and dislikes can clash a little, but core values need to be aligned. When that happens, you can work through whatever life throws at you and keep being happy with your partner. Even when one of you is not particularly happy, you can still be happy about being together. That’s how I view my marriage.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Thank you for commenting! I agree with this. The wishes and needs of a 16 year old are going to be vastly different from a 65 year old. This does not mean that love can’t last that long, but that understanding and commitment must be modified to adapt to the other as they learn, grow, and change.

        Like

      2. Exactly! Which sounds simple enough, but is rather difficult to achieve. But as long as it goes both ways, there is no reason why people can’t make their relationship last that long.
        Are you preparing a piece on this, or are you just curious as to what people think about marriage and relationships?

        Liked by 1 person

  17. Hello to you all!
    I’m trying to get back into blogging after my new job but here’s my reason for blogging in the first place:
    I started my blog because I got scared of the fact everyone’s going to uni and starting their lives whilst I’m here on my second gap year not knowing what I want to do. I thought I love to write and read so why not start a blog and so I got the courage too. I don’t know where this will go but I’m writing about travel, health and food so if you’re willing to give it a read it would mean the world to me.
    https://strawberrytravelsblog.wordpress.com

    Liked by 24 people

    1. You have some interesting ideas and I enjoyed reading them. If you would like some advice, I would check through for repetition of words, and use synonyms in their place. I would also engage some mechanisms to make the reader more invested in the main character, this is particularly tricky to do in short stories as there is so little time, but it is possible. Nice work, thanks for sharing!

      Liked by 1 person

      2. No problem, any time 🙂 It is always a pleasure to read other blogs. I hope it was helpful.

        If you haven’t already and fancy, I would be very grateful if you would check out my site. Leave a like or comment if you like, and if it strikes you, and you hit ‘follow’, then you will make my day!

        Liked by 1 person

    2. It’s great that you realized how to not overwork yourself. Many people are unable to find the reasons behind their being so stressed, they feel like it’s just their ’emotional’ problem and tend to wave it off. But, it’s good that you took your mental and physical health in consideration, and did what you felt was right!
      You’ve got a new follower!
      Best of luck!

      Happy blogging!🌼

      Liked by 5 people

    1. I like your writing style very much. It’s to the point, your posts are well laid out and methodical. I like the little touches of humor too but really?! Not buying clothes or shoes?! You’re sucking my will to live!! (Teasing!!)

      Liked by 3 people

    4. Hello Brendan!! I loved your post!! I just had a look at my wardrobe and i found a stock of not-touched-for months summer tops occupying considerable space in left corner 😦 i really need to revv up my wardrobe. Your post has come as a real help. Thank you 🙂 Happy blogging!!💖💖

      Liked by 2 people

  25. I’ve just posted a new post about girlguiding. I would love any feedback on this or any of the other posts on my blog. I’m still carving out a niche and struggling somewhat because there’s so much I want to talk about! Do you think blogging without a niche is a bad idea? emiswriting.wordpress.com/2018/03/26/girl-guiding-is-the-best-community-in-the-world/

    Liked by 16 people

    4. Just found you on instagram! I would recommend categorizing your posts, and setting up a menu so that your blog is easier to navigate. Even if you have a lot of topics, you can narrow your posts down to a few different types.

      Liked by 4 people

    8. Great! I love poetry. I just followed you on Instagram. Will you please look at my inspirational and health blog, comment and follow? Thanks!

      Like

    2. You could have a link of StumbleUpon on your blog. I have kept one in my blog, though I don’t use that much. You could share your blog posts on the SU account. I guess more engaging on that website is the best option.
      Good luck, man.

      Liked by 1 person

      2. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to read! Your words mean an awful lot 🙂 If you did wish to follow then you would receive updates when I publish new material.

        Liked by 1 person