To address one of your sub-questions, namely

I am wondering if this is 'Drupal Best Practices' or if there is a smarter way?

Drupal's common practice is to keep it in node.tpl.php Drupal's practice is to split logic into files corresponding to parts of this logic, like node's logic to node.tpl.php, main html logic to html.tpl.php and so on. This way it's easier to find malfunctioning part and revert it from backup without reverting changes in totally unrelated parts.

Of course you can feel free to ignore it, especially if you aren't planning to share.

To address one of your sub-questions, namely

I am wondering if this is 'Drupal Best Practices' or if there is a smarter way?

Drupal's common practice is to keep it in node.tpl.php

Drupal's practice is to split logic into files corresponding to parts of this logic, like node's logic to node.tpl.php, main html logic to html.tpl.php and so on. This way it's easier to find malfunctioning part and revert it from backup without reverting changes in totally unrelated parts.

Of course you can feel free to ignore it, especially if you aren't planning to share.