In fact, in Article Marketing, the resource box is the reason for the article!

The article is where you give, providing helpful information for your readers, and then the resource box is where you “take”–you get to tell a little about yourself , give a link to your website, and also try to convince people to visit your site.

The article is not an end in itself–in addition to being a way of sharing educational information with your readers, your article is a vehicle for building links and funneling visitors into your website.

So, don’t forget to spend time on your resource box and be sure that you aren’t making any of the most common mistakes:

Mistake #1 : A resource box that only contains a link and nothing else. Here is the info you should include in your resource box:

• an author name
• a little bio info
• a reason to click through to your website
• a link to your website

Mistake #2 : Too long URL in a text resource box (over 60 Characters). When your URL is over 60 characters, you have an increased chance of the link breaking in a text resource box. As a solution, you may choose to link to a top level domain (which should be shorter) for a text resource box, and reserve the longer URLs for an HTML resource box.

Mistake #3 : Not formatting your URL properly in the text resource box–it has to have http:// at the beginning and .com at the end. So, a properly formatted URL would look like this: http://www.submityourarticle.com

Mistake #4 : Not giving any author bio info. At its heart, the resource box is an author bio. Some publishers will outright decline an article that has a resource box with no author bio, and readers certainly appreciate a little bit of info about the author. It also gives you a chance to convince the reader that you are indeed an expert on this topic and your information can be trusted. Including author bio info helps establish your expertise.

Mistake #5 : Not mentioning your author name. Do include your name! If you’re more of a staff writer for your company and don’t want to focus the attention on you, then at least include your business name.

Mistake #6 : No reason to click through. It is not enough just to give a link to your website and expect the reader to take it from there–you need to encourage the reader to click through to your site by giving them a reason to click. Why should someone go to your website? What do you have to offer them there? A free report? More information on this topic? Be sure to offer some sort of reason to click the link in your resource box.

Mistake #7 : No link! Article marketing is effective at driving traffic to a website, and an essential ingredient is the link in your resource box. The link is the doorway to your website. The link is what Google will see when it’s establishing the authority of your website and adjusting search engine rankings. The link is the reason why you’re submitting the article, so don’t forget to put it in your resource box.

Mistake #8 : Too many links! Pick one or two strategic spots that you’d like to drive traffic to or build links to (such as your home page and the page where you offer a free report where people can sign up for your list), and leave it at that. No need to put a link to every site you own! Know that the more sites you link to, the more confusing it is for a reader to figure out which site to go to (most people will not click every link in your resource box if you have several).

Mistake #9 : Trying to put italics or bold in your URL. That can mess up the link and cause it to break. Don’t try to get fancy–it’s not necessary to bold, underline or italicize the link.

Mistake #10 : Providing too much contact info. I call this “business card syndrome”, where your resource box looks more like a business card than an author bio. No need to include phone number, email address, fax number, and your mailing address. Just put your website URL. If someone wants to contact you, they should be able to go to your website and find that info. Don’t take up valuable space in your resource box giving extra forms of contact. As a form of contact, a link to your website is enough.

Mistake #11 Putting punctuation directly after your URL. Avoid adding punctuation immediately after the URL, such as a comma or a full stop (period), as this can create problems on certain web sites when they automatically convert the URL into an active link.

Mistake #12 : Not testing out your links! Be sure to preview your article and test the links in your resource box. Just click them and be sure that they are going where you want them to go. We all have the ability to make typos, so you want to discover that before you submit your article.

Mistake #13 : HTML resource box: just having hyperlinked keywords and nothing else. The HTML resource box should include the same level of information as a text resource box (all the info I listed in Mistake #1).

Mistake #14 : HTML resource box: forgetting to hyperlink your written out URL. An HTML resource box pre-supposes that you are hyplinking anchor text–you are choosing which words to link to your site. If you include a written out URL (http://www.SubmitYOURArticle.com), you need to specify you want that hyperlinked too. If you do not, then a link will not be formed.

Mistake #15 : HTML resource box: using too many words as anchor text. Limit your anchor text to 3 words (if you are targeting long tail keywords you may end up hyperlinking up to 5 words), but keep in mind that some publishers have limits on how many words you can use as anchor text, and if you go over 3 the article may be declined.

Mistake #16 : HTML resource box: Hyperlinking your name or business name. With an HTML resource box, the idea is to hyperlink your keywords, rather than your name or business name.

Mistake #17 : HTML resource box: Not hyperlinking any keywords at all, but just your URL. The benefit of the HTML resource box is in hyperlinking your keywords. If you just hyperlink your URL, you might as well skip the HTML resource box and just use a text resource box.

How Did You Do?
Most likely, you have made at least some of these mistakes before–I know I have!

I hope that this article catches some of you before you make these mistakes so you can avoid the “Ugh! No, I didn’t just do that!” feeling.

Either way–live and learn ! We all make mistakes, especially when learning something new. So, if any of these have hit home, just resolve to make the correction next time. You have plenty more articles where you can create powerhouse resource boxes.

Additional Resources

How To Create A Resource Box: The Ultimate Guide

5 Ways To Be Sure That Your Resource Box Links Work

Are You Making One Of These 7 HTML Resource Box Slip-Ups?

Photo by swisscan

My goal here is to offer you enough info to get started, but not so much that you feel overwhelmed.

Still, there’s a lot of info here–Don’t feel like you need to read this all at one sitting.

Skip around to the bits you are most interested in, and you can come back to this page at any time as you need more information.

Submitting Articles To SubmitYOURArticle.com:

The Super-Duper, Ultimate, Explicitly Spelled Out Guide For How To Submit Your First Article – you might want to print this off or bookmark this resource, because it goes over every field in the Enter Your Article page, and when you’re first getting started you might have a few “what is this for” type of questions.

What Is Article Marketing?

3 Big Reasons Why Small Business Owners Use Article Marketing – even if your small business is in the “real world” and not entirely online, you need to accomplish a few objectives internet-wise in order to take advantage of all the marketing opportunities that the web offers. This resource explains the 3 main reasons why small business owners use article marketing.

The Ultimate Guide To Article Marketing – this is our Squidoo lens. It gives an overview of what Article Marketing is and how to do it. Lots of information on this resource.

Getting Started:

The #1 Reason Why Article Marketing Fails – if there is one post on this blog that you need to read, this is it. Article Marketing is not complicated–it is extremely simple and you may be surprised at the most common reason it ‘doesn’t work’.

5 Things To Do Before Your Start Article Marketing – for anyone who has just started doing article marketing, or is on the verge of starting, or who is considering starting, I’ve got 5 tips for you that will make your life easier.

How To Get Your Article Accepted On The First Try! covers 9 of the most frequent reasons for articles being declined by publishers.

Article Writing:

The Fastest, Easiest Way To Write Your First Article…Starting From Square One – a step-by-step guide for writing an article, starting with coming up with a topic and ending and going through writing and submitting your article.

How To Write Articles For A Product Based Website – probably the most popular article on this site. This is a resource that teaches people with product based websites (sales oriented websites) how to choose effective article topics and to write in a non-promotional way.

Article Titles:

How To Give Your Article Curb Appeal – explains why the article title is so important, and outlines 7 ideas for creating titles that will catch a reader’s eye.

Resource Boxes:

How To Write A Resource Box – a great little guide for writing a strong basic resource box. Tells you all the elements you need to include.

3 Secret Tricks For Luring Readers Back To Your Website – a strategy for enticing readers to click the link in your resource box and go back to your website (which is the what you’re after!)

7 Effective Resource Box Lures – a collection of “lures”–enticements you can use in your own resource box to help lure readers to your website.

Avoid Broken Links: 5 Safeguards For Your Resource Box Links – tells you 5 ways to be sure that your resource box links work. You should read this at least once.

Article Topics:

How To Never Run Out Of Topics To Write About – 5 methods for creating new article topic ideas.

Article Writing Formats:

The ‘HowTo’ and the ‘List’ articles are an article writer’s bread and butter. I encourage you to read these resources and start creating your own ‘HowTo’ and ‘List’ articles.

5 Steps To Writing A Killer ‘How To’ Article – explains why ‘How To’ articles are so attractive to readers and outlines 7 steps for creating a ‘How To’ article, starting with your article topic.

How To Write A Great List Article – list articles are some of the easiest articles to write. This post goes step-by-step over how to create a list article, starting with brainstorming article topic ideas that would work well in a list form.

Productivity:

How To Create A Monthly Article Writing Schedule – guide for creating a writing schedule, which makes it much easier to get your momentum going and stay ‘in the groove’. Also covers how I personally brainstorm topics for my articles.

Can I Do An Article Series?

The answer is “yes”, but not in the way that you’re probably thinking. If you are at all tempted to write an article series, please read these resources first (and this is a series, listed in order):

What To Do If You’re Itching To Write An Article Series

What Harry Potter Taught Me About Writing An Article Series

3 Reasons Why Writing An Article Series Can Simplify Your Life

How To Launch An Article Series From One Lonely Article

10 Ways To Sabotage Your Article Marketing Efforts

This is a series I wrote on the top 10 mistakes that people make and how to fix them.

10 Ways to Sabotage Your Article Marketing…and What to Do About It!

Photo by Jon Marshall

Let’s start at the beginning–When you’re creating your resource boxes, your options are a text link and an HTML link.

A text link looks like your website address written out. For example, the text link for my website is this:

http://www.SubmitYOURArticle.com

It is just the text (the letters) that form my website URL hyperlinked so that when someone clicks on it they are taken back to my site. From looking at the link, you can clearly see what my website address is.

When you’re submitting your article at SubmitYOURArticle.com, to create a text link, all you have to do is type in your complete URL (http://www.yourwebsite.com) into the text resource box, and a link will automatically be made.

A HTML link is created by hyperlinking certain words. When you click the words, you are taken back to the website, but you cannot see the website address from looking at the link (unless you hover your cursor over the link).

The words that are hyperlinked with the website address are called the anchor text.

Here is an example of a link with anchor text:

This blog, Creative Article Marketing, is a companion site my main website about article marketing.

The words “article marketing” are the anchor text.

Those words are hyperlinked, so when you click them you will be taken to SubmitYOURArticle.com. From looking at the hyperlinked words “article marketing”, you can’t see what my actual website address is (unless you hover your cursor over the link).

In the Advanced HTML Resource Box field the link is not created automatically, as in the text resource box. You can create a link using anchor text, and you can also create a link using a written out URL. When doing so, you will need to go through the process of hyperlinking both your keywords and your URL–just typing them into the box will not create the link.

It’s actually quite easy to do the process of creating the hyperlinks in the HTML resource box. In case you need it, here is a tutorial on how to use the Advanced HTML resource box:

How To Create An Advanced HTML Resource Box In 5 Easy Steps

Now that we’ve gone over the difference of a text link and an anchor text link, let’s head into a question that I received from a reader:

“I usually include one anchor text link to my website and one regular link with a written out URL. Do you think that it is a good idea to do so?”

If you are going to use the HTML Resource box, yes I think it’s a good idea to include an anchor text link (hyperlinking a keyword or keyword phrase that is 1-3 words long) and to also hyperlink a written our URL.

With an HTML resource box, why use two different looking links?

By using anchor text, you get the benefit of your keywords being linked. This helps Google associate your article/website with those words.

By using the link with your written out URL, you have the advantage of allowing readers to see your spelled out URL. The written out URL can help a reader remember your site even after they’ve clicked away from your article.

Note: When using anchor text to form a hyperlink, the only thing to keep in mind is that it’s important not to focus on the same keyword phrase each time, but to vary them a lot within your niche. If you repeatedly hyperlink the same words, it can be interpreted as trying to be manipulative of Google–which Google doesn’t appreciate! By varying your anchor text (the keywords that you’re hyperlinking), it’s non-manipulative but helps Google get a good idea what your site is about by linking in semantically related key phrases.

If you’re just using the text resource box, you will only be able to use a text link. But, if you also fill in the Advanced HTML field you can create a resource box that has both a written out URL and a link created by your keywords.

Remember, if you enter a written out URL in your HTML resource box, you will need to manually hyperlink that URL to make it active, in the same way you hyperlink your anchor words.

Questions for you–Do you use the HTML resource box? Do you ever hyperlink your keywords and your URL?

Photo credit: Links

An increased search engine rank can build traffic for the long term.

One of the most common areas of confusion is exactly how Article Marketing works to drive traffic to a website. The answer probably has more levels than you would think, and a better understanding of how Article Marketing works can help you know what to expect.

Recently I received this question from a reader:

“I have asked several “experts” this question and not been convinced of the answers. My question is in relation to the tactic of using article marketing to drive traffic. If the target market does not utilise popular article directories as a source of information then is there any point in spending time submitting to directories? If keyword searches in article directories do not display information in the market niche can one assume that this format in not applicable to the niche?”

Those are some great questions–let’s go through them one by one…

“If the target market does not utilise popular article directories as a source of information then is there any point in spending time submitting to directories?”

Yes, there is–Although people may find your articles on an article directory, Article Marketing drives traffic to a website primarily through an increase in search engine ranking for your website’s keywords.

An increased search engine rank can build traffic dramatically for the long term.

For example, if a person does a search on Google, Yahoo or any other search engine for the keyword terms associated with your website, and if your website comes up high in the rankings (say #1 or #2 or somewhere in the top 10, which would put it on the front page of results listings), then you will receive more traffic to your website than if your site appeared lower in the rankings.

Put yourself in the position of a search engine customer–when you do a search for something on Google and other SEs, you tend to just look at the first page of results–rarely would anyone go through 5 or 10 pages of results.

If you get past the 2nd page and you still haven’t found the info you’re looking for, most people will simply figure that they need to use different search terms. They will start over typing different words into Google’s search box.

So, any website that shows up on the first page of results in Google or any other search engine will have a marked advantage in getting more traffic.

This is why people do article marketing–by consistently submitting articles on the topic of your website, you build links to your website and also are able to create a library of niche specific content that is linking back to your site (each time your article is republished, your resource box will be also, and that is how you build the links).

So, let’s go back to your question–”If the target market does not utilise popular article directories as a source of information then is there any point in spending time submitting to directories?”

Yes, because even if your target market is not doing searches on a particular article directory, they are most certainly doing search engine searches (on Google, Yahoo, etc).

Your article marketing campaign is meant to elevate your search engine rankings for your keyword terms, thereby sending you more traffic from Google, Yahoo, etc.

If keyword searches in article directories do not display information in the market niche can one assume that this format in not applicable to the niche?

I hope I’m understanding your question correctly, and please correct me if I’m not–but if you’re asking what I think you’re asking the answer would be “no”, because again the place where your target market would be doing keyword searches would be in search engines like Google. Whenever someone does a search for a keyword term in Google there will always be a result–your object is to have your website rank highly in the results in Google.

On the article directory itself, you will submit your article to the category that best matches your topic. Most article directories will have an assortment of general categories, and you would pick the one that matches most closely (for example, if your topic was ‘dogs’, you would choose the ‘pets’ category).

I wouldn’t worry so much about how things are arranged on the article directory itself.

The article directory is not the end of the line–it’s just the beginning.

The article directory is the hub from which publishers will find your article and then republish it on their sites (thereby building even more links to your site).

So, when you submit an article to a directory, you are not just building one link–you are placing your article on the free market in a location that is a hive of activity.

Lots of publishers use free reprint articles on their sites, and they go to various article directories (or do a search on Google) looking for articles that are on the topic of their particular website. So, putting an article on a directory is not the end result–the article directory is a means to an end.

It’s basically like placing a product of yours in a busy store where everyone can see it. The store gets traffic from many places–some of the traffic is just people stopping by spur of the moment, but other traffic comes from more targeted sources–from an ad the store placed in the newspaper or on TV.

So, bringing it back to Article Marketing–the article directory is the store, and the article is like your product.

You will get people looking at your article simply because they came to the directory and were searching on the directory for certain types of articles, but you will also get people who came to your article via a search on Google.

Here are two resources that you might find helpful:

What is the purpose of an article directory?
Is there any point in having your article published on a smaller website?

I hope that helps!

If you’ve just started Article Marketing, the concept of a Resource Box may be new to you.

I’ve written many articles on the topic of ‘how to create a great resource box’, and I thought it would be a good idea to compile and organize them in one place so that you will have a ready resources when questions arise.

Here are some of the classic articles on how to make a strong resource box:

Getting Started:

How To Write A Resource Box – explains what a resource box is, includes basic tips for getting started writing a resource box.

5 Safeguards To Be Sure That Your Resource Box Links Work – a guide to help you avoid broken links.

How To Customize Your Resource Box In 3 Easy Steps – It’s great to have a basic resource box, but for best results it’s a good idea to customize your basic resource box to suit each article. This resource shows you how to tailor your resource box so that it flows nicely with your article.

How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing: The Last Minute Resource Box – Here are a 7 Simple Resource Box Guidelines that will take you from “What?” to “Wow!” in no time.

5 Ways to Stop Singing the Resource Box Blues – Here’s a list of 5 definite ‘Do’s’ to keep in mind when crafting your resource box.

Giving A Reason To Click-Through To Your Website:

7 Effective Resource Box Lures – A resource box ‘lure’ is anything that inspires a reader to click the link in your resource box and go back to your website. This resource contains 7 ideas for giving your readers a reason to click-through.

How To Make Your Resource Box Sticky (and Get Those Click Throughs!) -It’s not so much what you say as how you say it–this article gives examples that show you how to tweak your readers’ interest and cultivate curiosity for what you have to offer back at your website.

3 Secret Tricks For Luring Readers Back To Your Website – My 3 best tips for increasing click-throughs from your resource box to your website.

Resource Box Rehab:

A while ago did a “Resource Box Rehab Lab” where people submitted their resource boxes so that I could brainstorm ways how to improve their author bio. We had a great turn out, and from the entries I picked out several resource boxes that were representative of common problems, and then in several posts on this blog I did a “makeover” on those chosen  resource boxes.

It was very fun and a great teaching opportunity. I think we pretty much covered all of the different pitfalls that authors fall into when creating their resource boxes–please look through the list of links below and read those tutorials. By following the instructions in the posts, you will be able to create a great resource box.

Resource Box Rehab: Why Should I Go To Your Site? – guide for providing a reason to click-through to your website.

Resource Box Rehab: Making Your Resource Box Short And Sweet – gives pointers for condensing information in your resource box to fit character limitations.

Resource Box Rehab: How To Turn Your Business Card Into A Resource Box – you can do better than having a resource box that simply reflects the info on your business card. This is a guide for taking things up a few notches from just the bare basic info.

Resource Box Rehab: It’s Not Just About Links – if you’ve ever been tempted to simply leave a link or a URL in your resource box and no other info, then this article is for you!

Resource Box Rehab: Excellent Author Resource Boxes – It helps to have role models, doesn’t it? This is a collection of great resource boxes.

HTML Resource Boxes

What’s An HTML Resource Box? – tells what a HTML resource box is, goes over the benefits of using one, and then covers some of the common mistakes people make and how to fix them.

How To Enter An Advanced HTML Resource Box In 5 Easy Steps – this is a step-by-step tutorial for submitting an HTLM resource box into SubmitYOURArticle.com. This post is for members who would like to learn how to use the Advanced HTML Resource Box field that appears on the Enter Your New Article page.

How To Write An HTML Resource Box…The Easy Way! – I’ve noticed that some authors will have great text resource boxes but their HTML ones are just bare bones! This article teaches how to have a completely fleshed out HTML resource box.

7 HTML Resource Box Slip-Ups – goes over several common mistakes that people make when creating an HTML resource box, and how to fix them.

SubmitYOURArticle.com & Resource Boxes

How To Drive Traffic To Multiple Sites With Just One Article! – Members of SubmitYOURArticle.com are invited to use ArticleLeverage™, which allows you to set up variations for different parts of your article, including the text and HTML resource boxes. This article reveals a secret trick for driving traffic to multiple sites by employing the ArticleLeverage™ tool.

How To Use The Resource Box Manager On Your Account – For members of SubmitYOURArticle.com, this is a tutorial about how to use your Resource Box Manager.

1) It contains a link to your website. This means that every time your article is republished, you build another backlink.

2) It establishes expertise–in your author bio, you will give the reader some indication of why you should be regarded as an authority on the topic.

3) It gives you a chance to encourage people to click through to your website. People will see a link in your resource box, but they will not necessarily click the link unless you give them a reason to. The text you use in your resource box has the power to convert readers into clickers! When people click the link in your resource box, you’re building targeted traffic to your website (which is what you’re after!).

As you’re crafting your resource boxes, here are some things to keep in mind:

• Your resource box should not exceed 450 characters (including spaces). This is the character limit for most publishers.
• There is no need to write ‘About The Author’ or any wording to that effect. People will automatically know that the text in your resource is ‘about the author’, so you don’t want to use up your precious character limit with unnecessary wording.
• You do not need to include your phone, email, or fax number–just a website address is good enough. The idea is to drive traffic back to your website. If someone wants to contact you, they should be able to find that info at your website.
• For best results, create a new resource box for each article, one that is customized to suit the article.
• Use the resource box to drive traffic to a single website.
• Test your links to be sure they work.
• Give readers a reason to click through to your website.
• Include your author name

I know it helps to see real life examples, so here are some examples of great resource boxes.

By all means, put some serious thought into your resource box, and if you’d really like to take things up a few notches, try using ArticleLeverage™ to create multiple resource box variations.

In fact, even if you don’t want to create article variations, it may be worth your while to go into ArticleLeverage™ and just skip to the step that allows you to create resource box variations. That alone would be a great use of this tool.

If you follow these guidelines and check out the resources referred to here, you should be able to craft an effective resource box.

I’ve been telling you exactly how I would set up an article marketing campaign if I was in charge of marketing your website (and this is the same technique that I’ve used with great success in marketing my own sites).

Let’s do a recap–

Step #1 Establish Your Baseline

Step #2: Check Out Your Competitors

Step #3: Organizing and Brainstorming

Now we’re getting into the meat of things! In Step 4, we’re starting to write and submit articles!

We’ve got a few guidelines to keep in mind:

Always write on the topic of your website.

I’ve got a few resources you might find helpful if you’re not sure what types of topics to write about:

How To Find Great Article Topics

How To Know What Topics Strike A Nerve With Your Target Market

Keep your word count limit in mind.

Most publishers will accept articles that are somewhere between 400-1500 words. If at all possible, it’s beneficial to keep the word count between 700-800 words, as that length of article is attractive to the widest spectrum of publishers. Here are some tips on how to write an article of that length:

How To Write A 700-800 Word Article

Proofread your article carefully.

It’s even a good idea to put your article aside for at least 24 hours before proofreading it. Remember, when your article starts getting picked up by publishers, it will be hard to make any corrections at that point.

Why You Should Give Your Article A Cool Off Period

Write!

And I actually have a tutorial on how to write an article for those of you who are just starting out (or those of you who are veterans but would just like a refresher).

The Fastest, Easiest Way To Write Your First Article…Starting From Square One

What about keywords?

I know that there’s at least one person who’s wondering–”Should I be very concerned about using my keywords in my articles?”

You are just starting your article marketing campaign, and I’m assuming that you’re relatively new to article marketing, so I will just tell you–don’t sweat the keywords issue right at the beginning.

Just get into the habit of writing articles on the topic of your website. As the months go on, and as you get more and more comfortable with writing, you can gradually ease into being more mindful of your keywords in your articles. The reason I say this is because so many times it seems like being overly concerned about keywords does more harm than good, so please don’t worry yourself about it right now.

As I’ve told you before, when someone doesn’t see the results they were looking for with article marketing the reason is usually not because of a lack of SEO knowledge. The #1 reason why a person would be dissatisfied with results is something really easy and avoidable–not submitting enough articles.

So, if that is the main hurdle you need to clear in order to see results, focus on submitting articles each and every month consistently. Write the articles on the topic of your website, but do not be overly concerned about your keywords, at least at the beginning.

But, there are a few things I want to see you doing with your keywords outside of your article body–

Do learn how to submit an HTML resource box.

It’s simple, I assure you. You do not need to know HTML at all, but you do need to have an idea of what your keywords are.

With an HTML resource box, you are using a keyword or keyword phrase as anchor text for a link–this means that the keyword is hyperlinked and when a reader clicks the words that are linked, then they are taken to your site. Supposedly Google and other search engines regard hyperlinked text as being more important, a special indication of what a web page is about, so using your keyword as the anchor text for a hyperlink is little technical thing that you can do with your keywords to help Google associate those words with your article/website.

One thing to keep in mind though–if you’re using keyword linking from the HTML resource box, do not focus on the same keyword phrase each time, but vary them a lot within the niche.

Why?

If you use one keyword over and over again in your HTML resource box, it can appear as if you’re trying to manipulate Google’s evaluations and Google doesn’t like that. By varying the keywords you use when you’re employing an HTML resource box, you can help Google get a good idea what your site is about by linking in semantically related key phrases in a non-manipulative way.

What does semantically related mean?

If your keyword phrase is ’sail boats’, semantically related phrases would be: ’sailing boats’, ‘how to sail a boat’, ’sail boat gear’, ‘learn about sail boats’–you get the idea.

What is an HTML Resource Box?

How To Create An HTML Resource Box

How To Write A Killer HTML Resource Box…The Easy Way!

Do enter your keywords into the submission page (there is a special field that asks you for your keywords, and publishers use those keywords when creating the URL of your article page on their site). For more information on how publishers make use of your keywords, see this post.

So, those are 2 ways that you can start using your keywords in your article submissions without having to deal with the issue of how to integrate your keywords into your article body and title.

We’ll go over those more advanced keyword techniques in Step 5, but for now just write and submit articles, and use an HTML resource box and enter your keywords on the submission page.

Additional Resources:

What Are Keywords?

How To Do Keyword Research

You can have the most gorgeous, eloquent, well-written article in the world, but if you drop the ball on your resource box, you’re not going to see the results you were looking for.

When you’re crafting an excellent resource box you’ll always tell your name, a little author bio, and give your URL, but what about a reason to click-through to your website?

We call the “reason to click-through” a lure. It’s the attractive incentive that you use to make the reader say, “Hey now–they have something at their site for me. Let me go and get it!”

There are all sorts of lures you can use, and the best one for you really depends on your website and your personal taste, but I thought it might be helpful to list some of the most common and effective resource box lures that folks use.

Here we go:

1) A free e-book or report.

This is a great one–imagine that someone reads your article and thinks, “That was helpful–I’d love to learn more!”

And then they see this statement in your resource box: “If you’d like more information about this topic, please claim your free e-book at [insert URL]”

Who would turn that down? It’s a free e-book of information they were interested in anyway.

Now, you don’t have to make the book of epic length–you might pull together 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 pages of very useful information on a specific topic. You might even consider bouncing some ideas off of your already written articles.

Then, on your website you capture their email address before delivering the free e-book, and follow up with them by email so they visit not just once but potentially several times over the course of your relationship with them.

The reader gets a free e-book chock full of valuable info in return for going to your website, and you are building your list and building traffic to your site. It’s a win-win situation!

2) A newsletter.

A newsletter is a very attractive offering because it provides a steady stream of helpful info to a subscriber. Needless to say, this builds your list, but it also puts you on a more personal level with your target market. By staying in contact once every week or two weeks, you get to be on more familiar terms with your subscribers. The more comfortable someone feels with you and confident that the information you’re providing is spot on, the greater chance that they’ll become a customer of yours, or at the very least refer a friend to your service.

3) An e-course.

We all love to learn new things, and if I were interested in a new online endeavor I would be tantalized if an expert in that field offered me a free 7 part e-course on that topic.

What’s an e-course?

An e-course is a series of written lessons on a particular topic that folks sign up to receive via email.

It’s different than a newsletter in that the focus is teaching a specific topic.

For an example of what an e-course looks like, you’re welcome to check out mine: How To Publish Articles For Profit Online

4) An “ultimate guide” Squidoo lens.

One thing I love about a Squidoo lens is that it allows you to offer a very comprehensive collection of information on your area of expertise. It’s also free, and Squidoo lenses tend to rank higher more easily than independent web pages. I think they rank more highly more easily because the Squidoo domain is recognized as an authority domain by search engines, and the content on a Squidoo lens (which is basically a web page) is very specific in the information it provides.

When I was making mine I thought, “Now what type of info would be incredibly valuable to folks interested in article marketing?”

I decided to do a Ultimate Guide To Article Marketing and just basically walk a person through the whole shebang starting with “What is article marketing” on through some of the more advanced topics.

Now linking to a Squidoo lens is not linking to your website–why would anyone do that?

Well, I think of my lens as a leveraging tool for boltering the rankings of the sites associated with SubmitYOURArticle.com. Because the lens links frequently to this blog and to SubmitYOURArticle.com and also to the article directory and other web pages on my main site, when the ranking of my Squidoo lens goes up, that affects my other sites too.

It’s also a great “soft sell”–people are lured into the Squidoo lens which is not sales-y at all, they see all the information that’s displayed, and then if they like they can sign up for SubmitYOURArtice.com. If they don’t want to that’s fine–no pressure.

Now, I don’t use my Squidoo lens as a lure in all of my resource boxes, but on some I do. When I’m in ArticleLeverage creating my variations for my resource boxes I’ll usually be sure that one variation links to the Squidoo lens.

5) Simply a great product or service

This is actually one of my favorites, and I probably use this lure most often. The truth is, if your product is good, if your service is helpful to people, and if you phrase your resource box to demonstrate why the reader would benefit from using your service, then that can be enough of a lure.

Here’s an example of a recent resource box of mine:

I had an article called 7 Fast and Easy Steps to Writing Your First Article…Even If You’re Not A Writer!.

In the article I went through the 7 steps, and in my resource box I put:

Oh, and there’s one more step–Submit your article! This can be the easiest part if you use an automatic article submission service like SubmitYOURArticle.com. Steve Shaw created the web’s first ever 100% automated article distribution service, SubmitYOURArticle.com, which distributes your articles to hundreds of targeted online publishers with the click of a button. Get the full story at=> http://www.SubmitYOURArticle.com

6)  A discount

I usually see this with the shopping mall like websites where the whole site is products for sale. When you have a site like that the option for an e-book or a newsletter may not be applicable, so you wouldn’t be able to use those as lures.

When your website is all about selling products, sometimes a 30% (or whatever) discount off of your first purchase is a great incentive for a reader to click-through.

7) A blog offering more tips.

Nowadays it’s not unusual for a website owner to have a main site that is his business and then a blog that he uses as marketing and community building tool. A blog can be a great lure, especially if it’s well maintained and offers useful tutorials, how-to’s and other info that your target market might find useful.

Like a Squidoo lens, a blog can be used to leverage your main website, as they tend to be search engine favorites due to the steady stream of fresh content.

Those are about all the lures that come to mind–have I missed any?

What is your favorite resource box lure?

If this has happened to you, you know what I’m talking about (this has happened to me when I was first starting out too). If this hasn’t happened to you, then be thankful and take this opportunity to put a new safeguarding system in place so that you’ll never run into this problem.

Why would a link in a resource box not work?

It all has to do with formatting–if you enter your link the proper way, then your link will work.

But if you inadvertently slip up and the link becomes formatted incorrectly, then it won’t work.

How can you be sure that your resource box links will work?

The good news is that there are some definitive (and easy!) ways to be absolutely sure that your links are functioning correctly:

1) Format your URL properly.

Ensure that the URL of your web site is a fully qualified URL that includes ‘http://’ – this helps to ensure that web sites convert the URL into an active link to your web site when it is published.

For example, rather than providing a URL like ‘www.submityourarticle.com’ in your resource box, it should be ‘http://www.submityourarticle.com’.

I know that our fingers can stumble sometimes when we’re typing–sometimes what I do is simply bring up the web page I’m trying to drive traffic to, and then copy and paste the URL from the address bar. That way I don’t need to worry about mis-typing.

2) Don’t try to put italics or bold in your URL.

Yes, it’s true that there is an optional Advanced HTML resource box that you can fill out, but that doesn’t mean that that box can take bold, italics, underline or any other HTML coding.

The HTML part of the HTML resource box has to do with the anchor text–in the HTML resource box you can hyperlink keywords to use as your anchor text for your link. When you’re doing that in SubmitYOURArticle.com, the system is set up so that you don’t need to enter any HTML code at all–you just follow the simple steps for hyperlinking your anchor text.

So, one thing to remember is this–you will not be putting actual HTML code in either of your resource boxes, even the HTML Resource Box.

3) Try putting your URL on a new line.

This isn’t mandatory, but it is also often preferable to put your URL by itself on a new line, so that it stands out better to increase click-throughs, and to avoid any possible problems with individual publishers if the article is wrapped incorrectly when published.

4) Don’t put any punctuation after your URL.

Avoid adding punctuation immediately after the URL, such as a comma or a full stop, as this can create problems on certain web sites when they automatically convert the URL into an active link. So, rather than something like:

For more information on how to submit your articles  automatically to thousands of potential publishers, go to:
http://www.submityourarticle.com.

Remove the final full stop, as follows:

For more information on how to submit your articles  automatically to thousands of potential publishers, go to:
http://www.submityourarticle.com

5) Test out your links!

This may sound obvious, but perhaps the most foolproof way to be sure that your links work is to test them out before submitting your article.

You can do this by going to the preview page, and then just clicking the links in your resource box to be sure they lead to where you want them to go.

If you’re using ArticleLeverge, you can do the same thing–just click the links you’ve created to be sure there isn’t a typo in the URL and that it’s formatted correctly.

Bonus Tip! Be sure your URL isn’t too long.

When email publishers receive your articles, they can specify how they’d like your articles to be formatted to best fit their website. The standard format is 60 CPL (characters per line), so if your link exceeds 60 characters, then there is an increased chance that the link will be broken.

A too long URL may lead to a broken link, but at the same time publishers are still obligated to ensure that the link is valid when they publish the article. Many article directory type sites also allow the CPL to be changed before the publisher copies/pastes the article, so this could be what is happening too.

My advise to you is to ensure that the link in your resource box is under 60 characters at the very max–a longer URL than that can cause the link to break, and an overly long link also discourages click-throughs (seems that folks are less likely to click on a URL that is really long).

Alternatively, if your links have to be longer than 60 CPL, just accept that there is a cost involved in that, where a few of the published links may be invalid, and you may have to ask publishers to correct them.

It also might be an idea to link to your top level domain in your text resource box (if it is under 60 CPL) and then save your longer links for the HTML resource box. That way you would still be getting links to your various pages, but with less of a risk of having the broken links.

And that’s it basically–for just a few seconds of work you can save yourself that “Ugh! No, I didn’t just do that!” feeling.

When you’re doing article marketing it’s not just a matter of cranking out an article and then getting it published–most quality publishers will screen each and every article and decline the ones that are not up to par.

As we’ve discussed before, when you write your articles you need to keep the needs of the publishers in mind. After all, what’s the point of writing and submitting an article only to have it rejected when it comes before the eyes of a publisher?

At SubmitYOURArticle.com we try to help our members have the best chances of getting their articles accepted–this is why we have guidelines of our own that reflect common guidelines you’ll find at most quality publishers. Our editors will review your article before it gets distributed to alert you to any issues that may cause your article to be rejected when it reaches the publisher level.

That’s actually what this whole blog is about too–we want your articles to get accepted (hopefully on the first try!) and for your article marketing efforts to succeed!

So, when we notice an area where many people are slipping up, we try to go over it here so that you can adjust your articles to be more appealing to readers and publishers.

Articles The Publishers Want To Publish

I love getting insights from the publisher’s side. I was just listening to an audio from EzineArticles where they revealed the 9 top reasons why articles get rejected at their site.

Most of these issues are not new to me–as I said, at SubmitYOURArticle.com we also have editorial guidelines and professional editors reading each and every article, so we send back articles for a lot of those reasons too.

I thought the interview was really eye-opening, so I was inspired to put together a list telling you what you can do to have a better chance of your article being accepted on the first try with most publishers.

Now, at lot of these items are editorial guidelines at SubmitYOURArticle.com, but some are not. Publishers have differing ideas of what is acceptable and what isn’t, so our guidelines adhere to what most publishers will find acceptable. So, some of these items are just pointers of what you can do to make your article more appealing to some publishers.

If you’re curious about what the SubmitYOURArticle.com guidelines are, just log into your account and go to Support => Submission Guidelines.

(And if you’re interested in the editorial guidelines of any specific publishers, you can go to their website and read their requirements.)

Alright–without further ado, let’s go over 9 ways to make your article more attractive to publishers (and get it accepted on the first try!):

1. Make your article educational, not sales oriented.

It seems like we go over this all the time–your articles should not be promotional. “Promotional” means that your article has a sales element to it.

Every article you submit should be educational, and not designed to convince a reader to go back to your website or buy your products.

Here’s how to be absolutely sure your article isn’t promotional: Don’t talk about yourself, your website, your products or affiliate products in the article body and don’t link to your website in your article.

The appropriate place to talk about how wonderful you are is your resource box. In your resource box you should give your name, a short bio, a reason to click through to your website, and a link to your website.

You can show your expertise in the article (by providing valuable educational information) without literally promoting yourself in the article and saying “I’m great!” or “My product is exactly what you need!”, or  “I have a new class opening up soon, so please go to my website for more details”.

For your articles submitted through SubmitYOURArticle.com, if you are writing about a particular product, it must be done in a way that it is not apparent that you would personally profit through your recommendation of it.

So, here are some guidelines for you if you are writing about a particular product:

• Don’t mention the product in the resource box
• The URL may not contain the name of the product (for example buyproductxnow.com, or even myownsite.com/product)
• Do not include an affiliate link in the resource box for a product that was written about in the article
• Do not put any links to the product website in the article body.
• The article body cannot direct the reader to your website, either through providing your URL or through verbally telling readers to go to your site. For example, the author cannot say in the article body: “You can find more info on this topic at my site.” Or “You can see an example of this at my website.”

Your best bet is to restrict all mentions of your business, products, affiliate products, and website to your resource box.

For more info on how to write a non-promotional article, check out these posts:

What is the best way to write articles to drive traffic back to my product website?

Act Like A Salesman: How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing

2. Limit your links, both in the article body and your resource box.

At SubmitYOURArticle.com, we have 2 recommendations about links:

*Use a single link in your resource box. Your resource box is a pretty small area, so you don’t have time to try to convince someone to go to 4 different websites. Instead, focus all of your energy directing readers to go to one website.

That is our friendly advice to you, but we do not have a hard and fast limit on the number of links you can include in your resource box–it’s up to you to decide if you’d like to use just one or two links.

*Limit your links as much as possible in your article body. Ideally, you would have no outgoing links in your article body, but if you must give a link to support the information you’re providing in your article, limit them as much as possible.

Of course all the links in your article body must be non-self-serving. No links in your article body may go to your own website (that takes us back to the rule about no promotional articles).

Publishers will have different guidelines about the number of links you can have in your article–some don’t care, while others will reject an article that has more than 2 links in the article. You should use your own discretion and limit your article body links as much as you can.

3. If you do include a link in the article body, put it after the first 3 paragraphs.

The reason for this is that having a link straight off in your article is distracting to a reader, and may lead them away from your article prematurely. If you’re going to include a link, you’ll want to put it after the 3rd paragraph of the article.

4. Your article title should describe what your article is about.

Duh, right?

The article needs to deliver on the promise of the title.

For example, if you’re article title is “10 Ways To Choose A Gym In New Jersey”, then your article should specifically address how to choose a gym in New Jersey (as opposed to just finding a gym anywhere). You need to provide information in the article that is specific to New Jersey if your article title specified that location.

If you have a general article about just how a person can choose a gym, then the solution would be to change the article title to something like: “10 Ways To Choose A Gym”

Write for your target market and provide value for your readers.

For more pointers on writing a great title, please see these posts:

7 Types of Eye Catching Titles

The #1 Very Simple Tweak You Can Make to Your Articles for Maximum RESULTS!

How To Give Your Article Curb Appeal

How To Appropriately Use Your Keywords In Your Article Titles

5. Go easy on the keywords.

So many times folks go keyword crazy and think that they’re helping their cause by jamming their keywords throughout their articles. If you’re thinking that this will appeal to Google, your mistaken.

Really, the best way to use keywords in your articles is simply to write naturally about your topic. If you’re writing about the topic of your website, your keywords will pop up in a natural sounding way throughout your article, and the article will appeal to both your readers and to Google.

So, don’t try to manipulate or outwit Google–that’s not necessary. Just write educational articles that will be of value for your target market. That’s what readers, publishers and Google are looking for anyways!

For more info about how to appropriately use keywords in your article submissions, check out this post.

6. Don’t include affiliate links in your article.

Now, that’s a editorial guideline we have at SubmitYOURArticle.com, and it’s one that you’ll find at many publishers. As we said before, it’s important that your article serve your readers and not be promotional, and putting affiliate links in your article makes it look like you have the objective of making a sale.

You may include an affiliate link in your resource box as long as it’s not for the product you wrote about in your article (which would make the article appear to be promotional).

7. Proofread, proofread, proofread!

Many times articles will be declined for the simple reason that they have typos and/or grammatical errors.

I think it’s just a matter of trying to write quickly, and a number of the most common errors are homophones (the words sound the same but they’re spelled differently), so they’re easy to get mixed up.

Ones to watch out for are there/their/they’re, wear/where, its/it’s, your/you’re

For more common grammar errors, check out this post:

The 5 Most Popular Grammatical Errors Of All Time (and how to fix them)

8. Test out your links before submitting your article.

Imagine how frustrating it is to go to the effort of writing and submitting an article only to find afterward that your links are not working! Take the time after entering your article to preview it and click on your links. Do they go where you want them to go?

9. Limit your anchor text to 3 words or fewer.

Anchor text is a hyperlinked word or phrase, and you would have the option of hyperlinking anchor text in your HTML resource box. Ideally, the words that you are using as anchor text should be your keywords or keyword phrase. You should not hyperlink your entire resrouce box, or an entire sentence, or words that are not your keywords. There are some publishers who will decline an article for having too many words in their anchor text.

And there you have it!

Now, these are some pointers for getting your articles accepted on the first try to most publishers. Some of these items are editorial guidelines you’ll run into at SubmitYOURArticle.com, and some are just a “heads up” so that you’ll be aware (items 2,3, 4, 8, and 9 are the “heads up” ones).