Some Advice for a New Blog Please

Hi all, I’m brand new to blogging and have been enjoying it so far (although it took me a while to get my head around WordPress… and what SEO is, haha).

I’ve been asking my friend, who knows more about WordPress, for advice, but I feel like she might not be 100% honest in her criticism because she’s so nice. I’m hoping for some honest feedback from the Reddit community.

Could I please get some opinions on the following?

  1. The look of the website. I had a lot of trouble with layouts and themes, and I think it may look a bit boring.
  2. How do the articles look on mobile? I thought the font seemed too large, and the column might be too narrow, but it looks fine on desktop view.
  3. I plan to change some images on the front page since some seem a bit boring.
  4. Do other bloggers include a comments section on their blogs? What is the best plugin for this? I was using the standard block one, but I can’t find an option to remove the ‘Website’ field.

Here’s my blog: www.grindpace.com

Hey there,

The homepage doesn’t clearly indicate what your website is about.

Rangton said:
Hey there,

The homepage doesn’t clearly indicate what your website is about.

I think the ‘About Us’ page isn’t necessary right now. Wouldn’t it be better to include that information on the homepage so it has more importance? What do you think?

@Rangton
At the beginning, focus less on design and more on traffic because that will make your website worthwhile.

@Rangton
Thank you! Should I incorporate some of the ‘About Us’ content into the homepage?

francoismitterand said:
@Rangton
Thank you! Should I incorporate some of the ‘About Us’ content into the homepage?

Yes, remove the ‘About Us’ page permanently and add all that information to the homepage.

Rangton said:
Hey there,

The homepage doesn’t clearly indicate what your website is about.

Thanks! I’ll definitely add more content to the homepage. I had more initially, but I was worried about making people scroll too far to reach the articles.

@francoismitterand
Sounds good! Add more blog content to get more suggestions and feedback.

Rangton said:
@francoismitterand
Sounds good! Add more blog content to get more suggestions and feedback.

Thank you so much! You’re a lifesaver! I’ll incorporate your feedback!

Hey Ang! I’ve been in your shoes—WordPress can be really frustrating when you’re starting out (took me weeks to figure out the Gutenberg editor, lol).

For mobile optimization, use the ‘Preview’ button while editing to switch between desktop and mobile views. It really helps with catching those font size issues.

For comments, I recommend Disqus. It looks cleaner and gives you more control over the fields.

Quick tip: for images, consider using lifestyle photos instead of stock images to make your content feel more authentic and engaging.

@Brown
I just had to Google what Gutenberg editor is, haha. I find it challenging that depending on the theme, things appear in different places. I’ve been relying on Google to find options, but sometimes they’re just not available!

Thanks, I’ll definitely try that plugin! And good advice about the stock images—I’ve been trying to add my own photos when I can. The only issue is that I’m not the best photographer…

By the way, your website looks great!

I think some of the posts are too generic. Instead of titles like ‘25 Fun Side Hustles,’ consider something like ‘I Made $439 Creating Designs on Canva.’ Readers are looking for real experiences, not just generic topics. This niche is already saturated, and ranking well will be tough. I’ve worked in a similar niche and it was brutally hard to get good rankings on Google.

@Dan
Thank you! That’s definitely my aim (to write about personal experiences). I started with some more generic posts just to fill content, which I now think may have been a mistake. I need to focus more on quality.

@francoismitterand
It’ll still be tough. Just check some keywords and see what competition you have on page 1. Ask yourself if you can outperform them. Look at their backlinks too. If they have thousands, you’ll need to match that. You could try, but it may not be worth it. I’ve created around 200 blogs and websites in 20 years, and while I’ve made good money, it’s gotten tough in niches like this. You might find more success on YouTube, but even that’s highly competitive.

If you can get subscribers, Substack may be a better alternative since each post gets sent to your subscribers.

Really interesting content! How do you conduct research since it’s spread across various activities?

Jeneta said:
Really interesting content! How do you conduct research since it’s spread across various activities?

Great question! Ideally, I’d love to try all of these side hustles myself. Unfortunately, that’s just not feasible. I’ve always been interested in arts and crafts, adding that angle to my blog. Plus, I have some creative friends who do furniture flipping and mural painting, so I plan to write about their experiences too.

On my bus rides to work, I’ve also tried things like Slicethepie and online surveys, but I quickly found out they pay very little.

What really inspired me to start this blog was seeing TikTok influencers boasting about making money from digital coloring books or eBooks. I thought, ‘I can do that!’… and ended up with zero sales. It seems like everyone can do it (probably better than me, haha).

I just thought it would be helpful to share some transparency about these gigs. :slight_smile: