Pre-Publish Checklist

Run this checklist before publishing any blog post.

Workflow

1. •Read the post file from content/posts/
2. •Run each check below
3. •Output results as a checklist with pass/fail status
4. •List specific issues to fix

Checklist

Frontmatter (Required)

---
title: "Full Title Here"           # Required, descriptive
slug: url-friendly-slug            # Required, kebab-case, used in permalink
date: 2025-01-26T08:00:00+01:00    # Required, ISO format with timezone
author: Norbert                    # Required
draft: false                       # Must be false for publishing
summary: "1-2 sentence hook"       # Required for SEO/social cards
params:
  toc: true                        # Optional, enable for long posts
  plotly: true                     # Only if using plotly shortcode
  subscribe:
    enable: false                  # Usually false (uses inline CTAs instead)
tags:
  - Data Engineering               # At least one tag required
---

Check each field:

• • title - Present, descriptive, no trailing punctuation
• • slug - Present, kebab-case, concise
• • date - Present, valid ISO format, not in the future
• • author - Present (should be "Norbert")
• • draft - Set to false
• • summary - Present, 1-2 sentences, hooks the reader
• • tags - At least one tag present

SEO / Discoverability

• • Title length: 50-60 characters optimal for search results
• • Summary: Acts as meta description, 150-160 chars optimal
• • Slug: Contains target keyword, no stop words
• • No emojis in title/summary: Keep professional for SEO

Lead Magnet Integration

Check for monetization/list-building shortcodes:

Option A: subscribe shortcode (Beehiiv)

{{< subscribe
  headline="Get the Cheatsheet"
  description="One-page reference for X"
  campaign="post-slug"
  lead_magnet="descriptive-id"
  button="Send it"
>}}

Option B: gumroad shortcode (Gumroad product)

{{< gumroad
  url="https://nkozlovski.gumroad.com/l/PRODUCT"
  headline="Get the Guide"
  description="What they receive and why it's useful"
  button="Download Free"
>}}

Checks:

• • At least one CTA present (subscribe or gumroad)
• • CTA placed mid-post AND/OR end-of-post
• • campaign matches post slug (for subscribe)
• • lead_magnet ID is descriptive and unique (for subscribe)
• • Gumroad url is valid and product exists (for gumroad)
• • Headline is specific, not generic ("Get it" → bad)

Content Structure

• • Opening hook: First paragraph addresses persona pain point
• • No orphaned shortcodes: All {{< ... >}} properly closed
• • Images have captions: {{< figure src="..." caption="..." >}}
• • Code blocks have language: ```sql not ```
• • No broken links: Internal links use relative paths
• • Admonitions closed: {{< admonition >}}...{{< /admonition >}}
• • Incentive leakage: No incentive links or references are accessible in the content.

Pre-Publish Actions

If incentive exists in incentives/<name>/:

• • Incentive PDF built (just incentive <name>)
• • Gumroad product created and URL correct
• • Product is set to $0 (for free lead magnets)

Final Verification

# Preview locally with drafts disabled
hugo serve --disableFastRender --gc

# Check the post renders at expected URL
# http://localhost:1313/<slug>/

Output Format

## Pre-Publish Check: [Post Title]

### Frontmatter
- [x] title: "Activity Schema: The Data Model..."
- [x] slug: activity-schema
- [ ] draft: **still true** → set to false
...

### SEO
- [x] Title length: 52 chars (optimal)
- [ ] Summary length: 203 chars → trim to ~160

### Lead Magnets
- [x] subscribe shortcode at line 117
- [x] subscribe shortcode at line 327
- [ ] Missing Gumroad product link (if incentive exists)

### Issues to Fix
1. Set `draft: false` in frontmatter
2. Trim summary to 160 chars
3. Create Gumroad product for temporal-joins-cheatsheet

### Ready to Publish: NO