What should I put in my resources box?

Is your resource box valuable?

I have to answer yes to this question, as the name implies it is a resource that you should not overlook, in fact you should give it as much thought as you give to your articles.

Lets look at what a resource box is, first and foremost it is your opportunity to place your link on the many sites that hopefully pick up your article.

By including a key word anchor text, with a link to your site, you will find your page rank will improve and your visitors numbers improve, as your links back increase.

You can find a very good free key word tool at http://www.keywordtool.imbuzzcreators.com/viral/ You have no need to upgrade for this tool to work for you, It has ads but they are not intrusive. When you enter your master key word, the system will search for related key words and then you can have it check the search engines to find the number of searches for a given word and the number of results found. By selecting words that are searched for but have few results your chances of a high listing in the search engines are much improved.

After your anchor text, I suggest that you include a short one or two sentence description of your offer, try to cover all the benefits, and concluding with a call to action. To promote a blog you could start with someting like "Bill Smith,s blog is full of ideas and tips to...."... and to see more of his articles visit..."

If you are promoting a site you could begin, "Your-Website-Name (explain what it has)..." or "Your-Website-Name (explain what is about)..."

The second function of your resource box is your by line, it is surprising the number of authors who take the trouble to research and write an article and then forget to ad their by line. If your reader doesn't know who wrote the piece how can you earn credit for it?

Another job your box can perform is to collect a name and email address from your reader, to turn them into a subscriber, you can offer a free gift or a report that requires them to fill a form to collect your offer. If you vary the layout and wording of your box you will help to make each article a unique item. What you should not include in your resource box A list of all your websites, this is because many article directories will automatically convert any url in to a link, and if your box is stuffed with links particularly if they are not relevant to the article, your article is likely to be rejected as Spam. A list of all your achievements, frankly only you and your mum care! Any advertising that is not relevant to the article. Do not make your box any larger that necessary, about 20% of the size of the article and you will not be far wrong.

Consider that the body of the article is where you share your knowledge. The resource box is where you get your repayment for your effort, Remember to always, include your name, website address, your brief unique selling proposition, and a single, simple call to action