Article Marketing: 5 Ways to Improve Your HTML Resource Box

The author resource box is a key element for any successful article submission. That's the spot where you give your name, a brief author bio, a reason to click-through to your website, and also that vital link through to your website.

Usually you'll have two formats to choose from when submitting a resource box:

- You can submit a plain text one, where the URL is written out as a website address

- Many publishers such as article directories also give you the opportunity of submitting a resource box containing some HTML code.

With the HTML format, you can take things up a few notches by specifying "anchor text" that you'd like to hyperlink to lead back to your website.

Your anchor text should be your keywords. By hyperlinking your keywords (rather than just hyperlinking a URL), you are able to send a more powerful message to Google about the keywords they should associate with your article and your website.

It sounds technical, but it really isn't that difficult to create an HTML resource box--pretty much anyone can create one if they keep the following guidelines in mind:

1) What are your keywords?

This is the step that many folks skip, but it's really not optional if you want to go the HTML route.

The whole point after all is to use your keywords as anchor text for the link back to your website. It goes without saying that in order to hyperlink your keywords, you need to know what they are!

If you're not sure what your keywords are, it pays to do some research, since all of your marketing efforts will involve an awareness of what your keywords are.

Some of the more popular keyword researching tools are:

Google Keywords Tool (free): https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

WordTracker (fee based, but has a free trial): http://www.wordtracker.com/

2) Hyperlink your keywords (rather than your name, your business name)

I see this a lot--an author has taken the time to anchor link his or her anchor text, but rather than linking keywords, they've decided to link their name or business name.

Now, a keyword would be something that a searcher would be typing into Google in hopes of reaching a website like yours. They don't know enough to type in your exact name, but they know the general topic or question to search for.

So, it's kind of pointless to hyperlink your name, as that is likely not a keyword term that anyone would be searching for.

What you're going for is a high ranking for your keyword terms, so be certain that you're hyerlinking your keywords rather than your name.

3) Try to limit your anchor text to 3 words or less.

This is just a general guideline to remind you that there is no need to hyperlink the entire contents of your resource box or entire sentences. Again, the only text you need to link is your keyword term. It is a good rule of thumb to limit your anchor text to 3 words or less, as some publishers don't like seeing more than 3 words linked.

4) Remember to include an author bio.

At it's heart, a resource box is an author bio. Its purpose is to give a little information about the author. Tell the readers your name and then a little about your business and why you're an authority on the topic you've just written about.

It is not just about inserting your link--you should state your name, give some author bio info, give a link to your website and give the reader a reason why they should click through to your website.

5) Use a single link (rather than multiple links).

Most publishers will have a limit on the number of characters you can include in your resource box (usually 450 words or less). Since you have such a limited amount of space in your resource box, spend your time persuading the reader to go to just one site. A resource box peppered with links is distracting, and when you include multiple links you actually decrease your odds that the reader will click on any of them.

The next time you write an article, take some extra time crafting your HTML resource box and follow these guidelines. Your effort and restraint will be rewarded!