If you have downloaded and read my free chapter from ‘Article Marketing Devastation’ you will appreciate the critical importance of creating a ‘killer resource box’. In essence the resource box is the only payment you receive for writing the article in the first place.

Article Writing Resource Box

You need to construct your resource box using the tried and tested principles I reveal in Article Marketing Devastation. If you don’t you are under utilizing a supremely powerful source of web traffic.

Assuming that you have constructed your resource box using these principles, I will now reveal the top 10 mistakes Article Marketers make and what you need to do to avoid them.

1. Improper formatting of the URL in the Resource Box
This is a simple yet major mistake made by article marketing newbies. They create an excellent article and then in their resource box they write an incomplete URL i.e. www.yourwebsite.com.

In order to create a live URL it must be preceded with a http:// i.e.
www.yourwebsite.com

2. A URL with more than 60 characters in a text Resource Box
Depending on the article directory you are posting to, your article will either be in ‘plain text’ or ‘HTML’.

If you are using automated Article Submission software your article will be inputted to both ‘plain text’ and ‘html’ based forms.

You need to ensure your URL is not over 60 characters long. If it is you run the risk of the link breaking in a text based resource box.

A simple way to check the length of your URL is to enter it into a Microsoft Word document, highlight it and click on ‘Tools’ –> ‘Word count’. This will tell you exactly if it’s more that 60 characters long, if it is you need to use a higher level domain.

3. Not giving a compelling reason to click through
This point is made several times through out ‘Article Marketing Devastation’, and I cannot emphasize it enough. You have to give the reader a compelling reason to click through to your website. The very best way of achieving this is giving away a valuable ‘FREE Report’. It will substantially improve your conversions and web traffic.

4. Putting Punctuation directly after your URL
Make certain you never place punctuation such as a comma or full stop directly after your link. This will lead to the link breaking in certain sites which automatically convert Urls to active links.

5. Improper Use of Anchor Text
Anchor text is a powerful SEO strategy for getting Google bots to associate certain keywords with your website. Certain authors make the mistake of making either their name or business a live link to their site.

This is a wasted opportunity because you are limited in the number of live links you can have on your site. You should make a list of your top keywords and hyperlink those terms to maximize your Google juice.

6. Forgetting to Hyperlink a URL in HTML Resource Boxes
Many Article Marketers assume that simply putting through a full active link e.g. www.yourwebsite.com is adequate for create a live link in HTML resource boxes.

This is not always the case. HTML Resource Boxes assume the author is hyperlinking anchor text i.e. you are making certain keywords a live link to your website. Therefore if you include a full URL e.g. www.yourwebsite.com, you must specify that you also want this to be a live link.

7. No Link
Many of you would be surprise to learn that one of the most common mistakes made by article marketers is the failure to put any link whatsoever in their resource box. The link is the primary reason for your article. It is what enables traffic to flow to your website from article directories and it is what Google uses to determine the page rank of your website. So never forget to put in the link in the first place.

8. Breaking the Link by trying to make it stand out
Many Article Marketers inadvertently break their links when they try and make it stand out using ‘bold’ or ‘italics’. They mess up the HTML tags and don’t realize it. It is not necessary to put your URL in ‘bold’ or ‘italics’, the article sites will automatically convert your link to the universal link format ‘blue and underlined’.

Always remember to test your link in live preview mode prior to submission.

9. Failure to state Author Name
Article Marketing is not only a source of web traffic but a means to brand your name and create the impression that you are an expert in your niche. Therefore you must use your author name for every article you submit.

10. Over complicating your resource box
Where some authors forget to mention their author name or even provide a live link to their site, others go to the other extreme and actually provide far too much information. They give a mini essay on their lifes achievements.

Be brief and to the point. View the example resource box provided in the FREE chapter from ‘Article Marketing Devastation’ to get an idea of what should be included.

Remember your key focus is to drive traffic to your website so do not drown out the link with too much text.