Is Your Resource Box Killing Your Article?

Many people that write articles to drive traffic to their websites have the erroneous belief that if they write a great article their readers are automatically going to visit their website.

But is your article failing you at the most important point? In other words how strong is your resource box?

As you know the resource box is the final paragraph of you article. It usually contains a brief description of the author, their site and a link back to their website (or affiliate site). The general thought is that if the reader has been entertained or liked what they've read they're going to automatically click your link in the resource box to do more reading or what to find out more about the product you've mentioned in your article.

But like your article, your resource box should be as compelling and eye catching as your article. If you think about the effort you've put into writing your article plus thinking of a great headline, shouldn't you put as much effort into your resource box.

So what should you put in your resource box?

Because resource boxes are such a small space you need to make the most of it.Unlike video or TV you haven't got visual aids to get your point across or stand out for the crowd.

So, you need to put yourself in your reader's shoes, what would they be looking for?

As you know other than using article as a method of driving traffic they're also a great way of getting back links to your website. If you haven't been doing it already you should be putting your main keywords in your link. So, rather than www.mysite.com you should be using your "main keyword" hyperlinked back to your site. (I won't go into how to do this here but its very easy to do.)

So what keywords should you use?

You should use your main keyword but you should also look at other ones as well. If you go to the Google keyword tool
at....https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal....and type in your main keyword plus the security code, Google will give you a list of associated keywords people are using in the search engines related to that word.

But the best part is after you get your keyword list is that you can sort this list into the actual keywords that people are using to buy products.

For example I've got a site on asthma, so if I typed "asthma" into the Google keyword tool I'd get the following results - Asthma, asthma history, www asthma.....etc, etc.

But if I wanted the actual buying keywords all I have to do is use the "Choose columns to be displayed" and select "Show Estimated Cost Per Click" from the drop down menu.

After a few seconds you're given the average cost per click you'd pay if your "Google Adwords" ad was clicked. You'll notice that the price varies from keyword to keyword some cost 5 cents a click some $2 a click.

So what does this mean for you?

Take a look at the most expensive keywords, these are the ones you should be looking to target, it makes sense that if people are bidding so much for that particular keyword, you know thats where the money is.

For example with my "asthma" keyword if I do just what I've explained to you, I'd find that - non allergic asthma, infant asthma, allergic asthma, are the big ones here, the prices varying from $13.27 down to $6.19 per click. So I'd try to add one of these keywords as my back link in my resource box.

But use your common sense when picking your keyword, don't use a keyword that hasn't anything related to your product just because it's an expense (buying) keyword.

Put yourself in the mind of your reader. If you clicked on a keyword expecting one thing and when I get to your site I find myself looking at something completely different, am I going to hang around?? Nope!

After you've worked on your keywords take a lot at the wording of your resource box is it really compelling?

How does your resource box look, for example does it just say "Barry J McDonald writes article on asthma"?

How compelling is that, does it make you want to drop everything and go racing over to my site?

Nope!

Here's a tip, although the word "Free" is overused all over the internet and sales material, it still has great pulling power. If I know I'm going to get something for free if I visit your site, do you think I might consider going there?

You bet, we all love free stuff. But if you are going to give something free away make sure its has quality or benefit to the reader this way you look even better in the eyes of your potential customer.

Finally

People on the internet can have a very short attention span and will move from your article onto the next thing online, so bring up those big guns, consider your resource box rather like a headline at the bottom of your article rather just a few words just thrown together.

Remember there are more and more people every day using articles to market their products and services. If you're not putting your best sales men (articles) out there to work for you, don't expect the flood gates to open.

Remember your resource box may be small in size but it will be the last thing your reader see's so leave a lasting impression on your reader.

As the line from the song by the band "The Clash" says..."Come on and let me know... should I stay or should I go"