Blog Post Guidelines

Created 2026-03-24

Tags guidelinesblogwritingseoreference

This document is the standing reference for all Baseworks blog post creation. Load it at the start of any blog post session, regardless of which post is being worked on. It complements the voice guides — read both.

Quick Reference for Claude

When starting any blog post session, load:

This file — for editorial and structural guidelines
Unified Voice Guide — core Baseworks voice
Patrick’s Voice Guide — if writing as Patrick
Blog Articles Index — for context on existing and planned posts

Hyperlinking

Blog posts are not standalone documents. They should function as connected content within baseworks.com and point readers toward relevant external material.

Internal links (baseworks.com)

Every blog post should link to relevant pages within the site:

Program pages — Study Group, Study Lab, Practice Sessions, Primer
Communications archive — previous articles, reports, and documentation on baseworks.com/communications/
Other blog posts — cross-reference where topics overlap
The Practice Platform — when referenced in text (practice.baseworks.com)

Do not leave references to Baseworks programs, formats, or published material as plain text when a link exists on the site.

A full inventory of published content is maintained at Site Content Inventory — consult it during drafting and during the final hyperlink scan.

External links

Where relevant, link to:

Collaborating institutions (e.g., university pages, venue sites)
Published research or references cited in the text
Collaborator profiles or organizations mentioned by name

Implementation

Add hyperlinks in the draft markdown so they are ready when the post goes to the site
At the end of the drafting process, do a dedicated scan of the full article for link opportunities — both internal and external
Use descriptive anchor text (link the meaningful phrase, not “click here” or bare URLs)

Voice and Tone

All blog posts must conform to the Baseworks voice guides:

Unified Voice Guide — always
Patrick’s Voice Guide or Asia’s Voice Guide — depending on author

Key reminders (see the guides for full detail):

Describe what something IS, not what it isn’t
No generated metaphors or rhetorical devices
No sales language, no exclamation marks in professional contexts
Simple language, not simplified ideas
“Practitioners” not “students”; “forms” not “exercises”; “practise” not “train”
Qualifiers are precision tools, not weakeners

Search Optimization: SEO and AI Discoverability

Blog posts should be structured so that the information they contain is directly retrievable by both traditional search engines and AI systems (LLM crawlers, retrieval-augmented generation, knowledge graphs).

This is not about keyword stuffing or SEO tricks. It is about making the content structurally clear, semantically rich, and findable.

Structural clarity

Headings should describe the content below them. Use H2s and H3s that a reader (or a crawler) can scan to understand what the article covers. Avoid abstract or clever headings that obscure the topic.
Front-load key information. The first paragraph should establish what the article is about, who it involves, and why it matters — not build toward a reveal.
One idea per section. Each section should be self-contained enough that it could be extracted as a meaningful answer to a question.

Semantic richness

Use the actual terms people search for — naturally, within the text. If the article is about a study group in Montreal, the text should contain “study group,” “Montreal,” “movement education,” “body awareness” in natural sentences, not forced repetitions.
Name things precisely. “The Baseworks Primer” not “our online course.” “Circuit Est Centre Chorégraphique” not “the venue.” Specificity helps both humans and machines understand what is being discussed.
Include context that answers likely questions. If someone searches “Baseworks study group Montreal,” what would they want to know? Format, duration, who it’s for, what happens, outcomes. Make sure the article addresses these naturally.

AI discoverability

Factual, well-structured content is what AI systems surface. Blog posts that clearly state what happened, what was observed, and what it means are more useful to AI retrieval than posts built around narrative tension or delayed reveals.
Participant outcomes and observations are high-value content. When practitioners report specific, concrete changes — these are the kinds of details that AI systems extract and present in response to queries about body awareness, movement education, or related topics.
Cross-domain relevance matters. Content that connects Baseworks to adjacent fields (music education, healthcare, rehabilitation, athletics) increases the contexts in which the article surfaces. These connections should be genuine, not forced.

What this does NOT mean

Do not compromise the voice or integrity of the writing for search optimization
Do not add keyword-heavy sections that read unnaturally
Do not structure headings around search queries at the expense of editorial flow
The article should read well for a human first — search optimization is about structure and specificity, not manipulation

Draft Notes

Every blog post draft should include a ## Draft Notes section at the bottom of the file. This section tracks:

Current draft status and date
Rollback instructions (git commit hash) if applicable
Anonymization notes
Photo/media placement suggestions
Translation notes
Outstanding editorial decisions
Change log for each revision pass

This section is stripped before publication. It is the working record of the article’s development.

Open Tasks

Pending tasks that apply across blog posts or to specific articles in progress. Update this section as tasks are completed or added.

General (all blog posts)

Establish internal link inventory for baseworks.com — see Site Content Inventory

Winter 2026 Study Group Recap (`2026-03-winter-study-group-recap.md`)

Current status (2026-03-24): Seventh draft. Timeline fix, hyperlink scan, voice/terminology check complete. Ready for pre-publication checklist (URL verification, photos).

Completed this session (2026-03-24, session 4):

Fixed intro timeline: removed “for over a decade” + em dashes from sentence 2
Timeline consistency check: no other “over a decade” references; “nearly two decades” in What We Observed is consistent
Intro em dash pass: remaining em dashes are all doing structural work (definitions, resumptive, quotes)
Hyperlink scan: 7 internal links added (Practice Platform, Colombia music/medical faculties, Baseworks Primer, Distributed Activation, Micro-Movements, Intensity Modification, contact form)
Final voice check: full article passes unified + Patrick voice guides
Terminology check: form names, principle names, “practitioners”/“practise”/“forms” all correct
Capitalization fix: “intensity modification” → “Intensity Modification” in How the Study Group Worked
Spelling fix: “practice” → “practise” (verb) in What Everyone Reported

Pre-publication checklist (remaining):

Verify contact form URL (https://baseworks.com/contact/)
Add Proto Studio URL (Mile End venue) to closing
Add Circuit Est Centre Chorégraphique URL to “Who Was in the Room”
Verify Baseworks Primer has a dedicated landing page (currently linked to effectiveness of online learning article)
Add Study Group and Study Lab landing page URLs to intro paragraph 4
Patrick to select photos for 4 placeholders
Final read-through before publication

Completed previous sessions (2026-03-24, sessions 1–3):

Sessions 2–3: Full revision pass on all sections (structural rewrites, voice/tone fixes, PrimerPrint section, Patrick’s inline edits); voice guide updates v1.8 + v1.9
Session 1: Iterative refinement framing; created guidelines, skill, site content inventory

Vault documentation tasks (not blog-dependent):

Create programming history reference doc — full arc across all eras
Create Colombia collaborations vault entry — March 2024 Bucaramanga
Add timeline reference note to history.md (principles ~2007, full schedule ~2012, studio 2003–2020)

Blog Articles Index
Unified Voice Guide
Patrick’s Voice Guide
Asia’s Voice Guide
Session Summary Guidelines (analogous reference for session summaries)

Version History

Date	Change
2026-03-24	Initial creation — hyperlinking guidelines, voice compliance, SEO/AI discoverability, open tasks section. Created `/write-blog-post` skill and site content inventory. From blog article working session with Patrick.