Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Keywords and categories are important to help people find the site. Words like haiku, poems, examples, How To, etc., are typically used by people to find haiku on the web. You need to balance keyword usage against awkwardness.

Comments – One of the reasons I think “examples” works as a keyword is because, as you may have noticed, I put out a new haiku for feedback and then make multiple changes that are tracked within the Comments section. These are works in progress as I receive feedback, and my skills develop. Sharing, commenting, and editing haiku can be a great exercise for all involved. Join in the development of your Haiku Habits!

Don’t forget to check the Subscribe to Comments option when you leave a comment. You will then be notified via email when someone else contributes to the discussion.

Titles – Haiku do not traditionally have titles, but see #1. In addition, Title Headings and Paragraph Headings (the font I use for the haiku itself) make a big difference with search engines.

Layout – One, two, or three columns. I don’t want to clutter the page, eye, or mind, but I am trying to encourage Response through clicks, comments, subscriptions, and link-backs. The big choice is typically between two or three columns. I think the column on the left, dedicated solely to comments, may work. What do you think?

Comment Plug – I have this yellow alert box at the end of each new post asking for comments. Any thoughts?

Pictures – Blog posts with pictures get much more attention than those without. I am sure that this research was not conducted on Haiku blogs! Do the pictures help or distract?

Gravatars – The little icons on the left of the comments will be replaced with your own picture or avatar if you set one up at http://en.gravatar.com. It adds a personal touch, but, again, may be distracting. It also slows down page load time and may be blocked by Spam filters.

“Share This” button – Providing tools for readers to easily share content can help grow a site’s community. There are many available. Do you like this one?

Similar Posts list – Once your posts exceed the first page, you need to have tools to help the reader find archived content. The Archive page helps with this, but a list of similar posts that immediately follows the current post seems to increase reader page views and time on site. Does this tool help you enjoy the site more?

What’s Next for Haiku Habits?

I will be developing pages to help explain Share Options and Subscribe Options, since these social media tools are unfamiliar to many website visitors.

Soon there will be video and audio.

What do You suggest to help make this site better? What do you Like or Not Like?

What are you struggling with as you develop your own site? Let’s help each other through a discussion in the Comments section below!

Any feedback is welcome!

Twitter’s 140-character limit imposes the brevity that makes it a natural forum for the development of haiku habits.

You can catch all Twitter Haiku (sometimes known as “Twaiku”) by subscribing to the following Twitter search in your RSS reader (thanks to Qrystal for sharing this in a comment on this site) -

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=haiku+-haikutwaiku

You may be surprised at how many folks are tweeting haiku, and tagging it with “#haiku” to facilitate Twitter search. I have narrowed the many into 10 Tweeters that I recommend you consider following:

1. aj3d – aj3d posts evocative free-form haiku Tweets in both English and Dutch. Adriaan is also a generous and perceptive critic of haiku, who has helped me develop my haiku habits through his frequent comments on this site.
2. Qrystal – Qrystal shares her daily activities through frequent and lively haiku and senryu.
3. RedPillReality – I’m not sure if RedPillReality is a mystical prophet – or an ingenious Bulgarian computer program (!) – but I am always dazzled by the force and flow of these Twitter storms.
4. teafox – Sip delightful tweets from this lover of routine, tea, and haiku.
5. comradeharps – This “haiku librarian” publishes insightful haiku on Twitter as well as his own blog – Season Creep.
6. zenchine – Contemplative Twitter haiku, also shared with video and photos on the Zenchine site.
7. portlandhaiku – Haiku about life in Portland, Oregan, also published on the Portland Haiku site.
8. ghost_of_basho – Not as frequent to post as some of the above, but worth the wait.
9. givens – Follow on Twitter and at his site – Hyperboreal Notes – for haiku snapshots of daily life.
10. Morning_Porch – Not haiku per se, but wonderfully vivid reports on the first-light happenings at a porch in Plummer’s Hollow, Pennsylvania. Don’t forget to check out Dave’s other sites – Via Negativa and Morning Porch.
    

Oh yes, then there is haikuhabits (me). That makes 11, but haiku is about so much more than following rules.

Did I leave anyone else out?  If so, please give them the credit due in the Comments to this post.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post where I explain the perils of Twitter Haiku, including why I recommend you avoid following haikutwaiku. Yes, even Twitter Haiku has drama!

Here’s to the practice of your Haiku Habits!

Update

For an up-to-date list of those I follow for haiku on Twitter see my Haiku Links page.

I am new to writing haiku poems. I don’t pretend to post great haiku. I want to get better at haiku and through haiku. I want to pay attention, capture the moment, and share. This seems a good remedy for my human condition.

Life in seventeen syllables (or less). At a time.

What do you haiku? Critique, reflect, trash, enjoy! We get better - together.