I’ve been chosen! π I’ve been participating in a group project in which a number of bloggers are helping one another improve their blogs. This is my week for my blog to be reviewed. Please feel free to comment on any of these questions whether you’re a part of the project or not–I’d greatly appreciate your input.
- I’m not really satisfied with the blog template I’m using at the moment, and I’ll be experimenting with some others. High values for me are, a) ability to personalize header and/or background, b) easy to use, c) has RSS and e-mail access widgets, d) can add “share this” links–like to facebook, twitter, etc. I’m not sure the last is available on WordPress. As far as I can tell, it’s not available in my current template, but I’m not sure I’d recognize it if I saw it. So . . . any suggestions as to your favorite template? Any advice on how to make it easier for friends to share a post they like?
- My posts are a little different. I realize that I may (and likely do) hear from God inadequately or even incorrectly at times, but I like to put these things out for others to evaluate and judge and possibly even be blessed by. I started out explaining every symbol, metaphor, scripture reference, but it didn’t work–the posts became too long and any poetry was lost. This is essentially my journal. (Actually only the bits that apply to others besides me and the body of believers I fellowship with.) Some of it is difficult to understand and some I don’t understand completely myself. That said, if you’re in my target demographic (follower of Jesus), is it reasonably comprehensible to you most of the time?
- I’m thinking about getting my own URL, but I like the exposure I get by being part of the WordPress.com site. I’d still use WordPress’ platform. Any input on that? Suggestions? Hosts to use or not to use? Or is it best to just stay here despite the (tolerable) creative restrictions?
- Any other suggestions? It’s late and I’m exhausted after a long and pleasant day showing new friends around, so I’m probably not thinking of half the things I should be asking. If you see anything else that you’d change, please let me know. And thanks so much for your input.
Blessings, Cindy
I saw where you were chosen when I was reading today’s assignment–how exciting!! =)
You joined us! That’s so cool, Crystal. We’ve had so much going on the past week that I haven’t had the opportunity to read through the comments thoroughly, so I didn’t see you.
Cindy I love your honesty. I also started my writing with a daily journal. Many times I wondered if I was hearing correctly, because the journey got very tough, but in the process I grew, learnt to write and came to a deeper sense of His heart. So don’t worry – I am sure you are really hearing His voice, but in being so vulnerable I have no doubt others will help you along – that’s the Father’s way. Your blog titles suggest you are far closer to God and His heartbeat than you may realize and in looking back you will know how He has faithfully led you. In terms of His covenant He vowed to write His laws on your heart without your needing anyone to show you (Hebrews 8). Whatever, I do believe that writing forces us to slow down and listen to God and that is why you are hearing Him.
I like the feel of your site, but would go with a higher resolution banner – try to make a strong first impression. Also try to get your banner to convey a sense of what your site is about.
I have had my own url for a while – if you are getting good responses off the wordpress url, maybe you should not change until you get a critical mass of followers.
I do think you need to add some more dimensionality, more stuff like quotes, pictures, short poems, links, banners around your main blog to enrich the site.
I agree with keeping the blog tighter – I religiously limit myself to 500 words, use subheadings and try to be topical and even moderately controversial to stimulate interest.
Blessings
Oh I also love the title – that alone tells me where your heart is.
Cindy,
I’m on TypePad so my experience is different, but for what it’s worth: I have a LinkWithin widget on my blog which adds “You might also like” followed by nice image links to related posts it finds. And I was using a generic TypePad URL for many years (jonreid.blogs.com/oneanother).
I recently got my own URL, and find that I enjoy the different “feel” it gives. But it confused LinkWithin, which had built up its index of related links using the old URL. It has taken a couple of months for the widget to sort itself out, and even so it is ignoring my older posts which it saw before.
So if you plan to make the leap into customization including a URL, my recommendation is to get the URL first.
As for your posts⦠I see what you mean, you just jump into the deep end! There is nothing wrong with that, and it adds an element of surprise to your posts. I find it refreshing.
β Jon from 31DBBB
Thanks, Jon!
I don’t know if we have ‘link within’ on WordPress–Wordpress has something similar, which they include automatically unless you turn it off. Good point about not investing too much time into putting things in order until you’re at your final home. I hadn’t thought about that. And thanks so much for the encouragement, too. π
Thanks, Peter! I appreciate the encouragement–a lot. And you’re right about the banner. I’ll have to work on it, though. I don’t think I have anything (in my thousands of photos) that quite does the job. Just as an experiment, though, I’m going to change it to something new in a few minutes.
Now that is nice Cindy – maybe Prince Charming will push aside the ugly sisters and come looking for Cindy now. You have taken big steps, but you have so much to look forward to, although sometimes you will have to walk on, not through the waters.
You’re funny, Peter. Yes, walking on the waters is a pretty amazing thing, it turns out. Our church has been meditating on the seven signs in the gospel of John, and I never thought much about the walking on the water. I grew up in Florida and since my parents were into water skiing, I “walked on the water” all the time. π Not quite the same thing. It blew me away to discover that Job talks about God walking on the water. There are many other references to this–both to the water below and the water above the firmament. Wow! Presumably the disciples were familiar with the Talmud, so they would have understood that when Jesus walked on the water, He was displaying that He is God.
I waited a long winter to take this photo of my daughter walking in Rapid Creek in the springtime. She was shivering when she got back out! I intend to paint it, but I haven’t got it done yet.
The thought is from Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. He gave me a picture in my mind of how we need to walk every step in Him, and that He would then keep all the filth of the journey from clinging to us. This was substantially what it looked like. (Only in a less long and narrow format!) π
Hi Cindy!
I think your theme is fine as it is, and your side widgets cover all the important areas. Let me know if you ever figure out how to put up a “share this” button to post to facebook b/c I still haven’t figured it out either π
There’s certainly plenty of things you COULD do with your theme and general appearance, and it could be fun to just play around with it to see what you come up with. Remember that if YOU like how your blog looks, chances are that most of your readers will too. But again, what you have right now looks good so don’t stress out about changing it.
Regarding your content, I really appreciate your openness and honesty. You make yourself so vulnerable with your posts that it’s really touching and impactful. Keep up the good work!
Seiji
Thanks, Seiji (I really like your name as it is, too, but Sage is also cool) π
It’s great of you to offer such encouragement–I’m always a little nervous when I make a new post–how people will take it.
Love you, Bro
Oh yes . . . I almost forgot. I’ll try to e-mail you later, but in case I space it out, I was wondering if there’s anything we can do to make your trip to SD easier.
Blessings, Cindy
I did not Job said that … but I will use it. Thanks, that is a very powerful thought.
Yes, that’s Job 9:8
He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
Other verses I found–more or less relevant:
(HCSB) Job_9:8; Job_9:11; Psa_77:19; Psa_93:3-4; Hab_3:8; Hab_3:15; Mat_14:22-34; Mar_6:47-53; Luk_24:28; Rev_10:2; Joh_14:18; Joh_6:16-21
Another thing I also thought very cool–the Ascension: I never thought about this before, but He ascended and a cloud received Him from their sight–He makes the clouds His chariot and walks on the wings of the wind. That really blew me away.
If you’re interested, I did a series of posts on this meditation. You can find them here.
It’s an awesome sign, and He is the awesome God!
Blessings, Cindy
Hi Cindy,
I think the feel of your blog design complements your posts. However, I do agree with Peter, that a few more photos or images and possibly a slight border might draw more interest.
I like your new banner idea. I think I might take the picture, though, so you would see the person’s toes coming toward you. What do you think.
As far as the technical stuff goes. I think I’m more lost than you. Can’t give you any help there. Besides, I’m on Blogger for now. I have a friend who wants to help me design my blog for WordPress.
I’m with Seiji. If you find a way to automatically post to FB, please let me know.
Overall, I think you are doing a great job.
In Him,
Janis
Hey, Janis
Thanks so much! The photo idea is intriguing. I’ll have to wait, though, as Rapid Creek is now flooding! π¦
If you do come over to WordPress, you can have your posts automatically posted to Facebook and Twitter pretty easily, but that’s not what I was talking about. I’ve seen people’s pages with a “share” button for readers to share on THEIR Twitter, Facebook, Stumble-Upon, etc. accounts. There’s one on the 31DBBB page, just under each post. That’s what I was talking about.
I hope you will come to Facebook. It would make it easier to hang out together. Thanks again for your help. I like the photo idea. I also took loads of photos today, so I may find something else. I enjoy changing my banner from time to time. Not sure if that’s a good idea, but it’s fun and keeps me from boredom. π
Love, Cindy
1. I’m same as you on most of that. With a free WordPress there are a lot of things you can’t do like the share this feature. May have to upgrade. As for RSS most of the templates have a button to click for an RSS feed, though if you’re wanting to use Feedburner you have to add it through a Text widget. The “Subscribe in a reader” button you have is an RSS button.
2. I have to admit that I haven’t visited this blog much, so i’m not sure about this one.
3. I don’t know much about this one either, but I know that you can upgrade and I think make this a domain, or host it yourself. I’d stick with WordPress.
4. I think your blog looks great!
Thanks, Becky! I appreciate the ideas and the help. And you’re right–it’s the “share this feature” thing I’d like to add. Probably have to do the upgrade, as you said.
Blessings, Cindy
Cindy – personally I like your layout and don’t think there is anything wrong with it. For sure it could do wit a little ‘extra’ such as a background image or even a pattern.
I think, reading between the lines, that your prime frustration with the blog is the lack of flexibility inherent in WordPress.com hosted blogs. And the simple answer to that is hosting it yourself.
That would allow you your own URL and personally I’d say hang the SEO at this stage (which is the big hit in moving) and move to a self-hosted wordpress setup. That would then allow you the functionality you’re looking for.
In terms of what you write then I applaud the honesty and bravery of what you do. I don’t know many that would be prepared to say our God spoke and hears what he said. I agree that you shouldn’t explain everything and as for post length – well let the subject du jour dictate that.
In terms of linking to Twitter – would this page help: http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/text-widget/ ? or more likely this one: http://en.support.wordpress.com/publicize/ which also includes how to on linking to FB.
But come over to self-hosted, it’s so much more fun and I promise to help you through it if you need.
Oh and in terms if hosting – try this google serach: http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=hosting+reviews
I use asmallorange and they’re ok – very responsive to issues but a bit terse at times and you need to know what you’re doing. I won’t recommend them though π
I may just take you up on that, Stuart. The whole thing sounds kind of intimidating. I like wysiwyg, though I do know a *little* HTML, and I do have books. Only by now I’m sure I need new books. π
Well of course the beauty of self-hosted wordpress is that you won’t need to know any html / css / php unless you really want to.
It will just give you so much more than wordpress.com hosted stuff.
Oh, and I’ll check out that search link–thanks!
Nice site. Good questions. I guess I would go with your own URL.
Thanks, Doug–I’m definitely leaning in that direction. I appreciate your taking a look! π
I too struggle sometimes with the lengthiness of my posts. Although I don’t think that a specific length is set in stone, I have tried to be a little more concise with what I was trying to say.
When longer posts are necessary, I think it’s prudent to keep the reader engaged. If they can see where you are going the whole time, then they will probably skip out or just start skimming.
I think of my posts as cowboy soap operas. Every paragraph should leave them hanging and they cannot help themselves but see what’s next.
I don’t have any real good advice beyond just keep writing and constantly trying to get better. Don’t be afraid to do something different.
Your stories are so good, Kevin–I sometimes start out thinking, “I’ll just skim this quickly,” but you always catch me. And they’re not usually long. At least, they don’t seem so–you are truly a master story-teller. I’ve been thinking since starting to read your blog that I should try some stories. One of these days I’ll think of one that’s good enough to tell. π
Maybe my preferences are atypical – I don’t care about widgets and pictures. I have a relatively old computer (bought in 2004 or 2005) and even with a cable modem it can be slow loading sites with lots of “stuff” on them. Particularly when my husband is also on the internet, usually using quite a bit of bandwidth (either streaming audio or video or playing online games), I will avoid sites that don’t load quickly enough.
I look for interesting content, and the ability to find older posts on a particular topic or from a particular date. (I hate it when someone says “as I said in my post in December” and then I can’t figure out how to find that post.) I am glad you have tried to get away from the really long posts. I don’t know how many of your posts I would say I don’t understand – I ‘m afraid I probably don’t finish them when that is the case.
I have to admit I find it a bit uncomfortable when you are telling what you think God is saying to you about something. I feel like I’m listening in one someone else’s conversation, not that I’m eavesdropping because obviously you have invited us, but listening to something that’s intensely personal and means a good deal more to the two people who are having the conversation than to me listening in the background.
I have sometimes shared my journaling with a close friend, but I can’t imagine sharing it on the internet. Not because I’m ashamed of it, but because I know that much of it is meaningful to me but is unlikely to be meaningful in the same way to other people, just because they’re not me. Someone like my friend who knows me well can read it and understand because she knows me. But as far as I know, only one of the people who visits my blog actually knows me in person (my sister), and knows what’s behind a great deal of what I say.
Hey, Pauline!
Thanks for taking the time to write. Good point about the widgets and things. We’re on satellite, so nobody here watches streaming video or plays games, etc., but we don’t have trouble with pictures and widgets. It’s easy to forget that going overboard with the content gizmos can be inconvenient for some of us.
BTW, I got that book this weekend and I’ll get it sent out to you–probably tomorrow.
Blessings, Cindy
Cindy,
I love your title. I love the simplicity. Some people put too much on their blog – it is too busy. I think you’ve got the important things. And it keeps it focused on the content.
As for your post – I love when you share what the spirit is telling you – and for the most part – the “voice” you express sounds like the “voice” I hear – which was a great encouragement for me – because though we are two different people, he is one and it should sound similar.
I think the length of your posts are good. I agree – you don’t want to go too long because that may deter some from reading and you have such great meaty info to share.
As for the sharing on FB, Twitter – not sure. But good idea.
Keep up the good work!!
Rachel