A strong resource box contains four necessary parts: the author’s name, his or her website information, an Elevator Pitch, and a Call to Action. Only one website with content relating to the topic of the article should be included. The Elevator Pitch is also known as the Unique Selling Proposition, and should be concise while stressing the originality of the author and article information. A Call to Action will suggest further action through online purchases or visits to the author’s other sites.

While the resource box will ideally be no longer than 20% of the length of the article itself, other additional information can be included. A URL address for Ezine subscription will acquire visitor’s email addresses if they seek further information and have questions. The author’s contact information is useful for media marketing, although removing this information may become difficult if the article becomes mass produced. A free report will also support the author’s credibility on the subject matter and may be included as part of the Call to Action. While not a strong option, an email auto responder can be helpful but will fill the email inbox with a great deal of spam mail. This suggestion may have been more effective in the early 1990s where email extraction by spammers was less common. For the higher level article marketing, a more advanced technique to improve search engine optimization would be to add a URL that relates to a relevant search word or phrase in the author’s website. Make sure not to overuse this technique as things can become complicated for the viewer.

When creating the author’s resource box, make sure to avoid overexposure or irrelevant details. Posting more than one URL or submitting a list of credentials will lead to confusion and weaken the author’s credibility. It is best to be concise with the information in the resource box to keep the reader on track, and avoid directing the reader’s attention to other products or subject matters not approached in the article. Also as stated earlier, the length of the resource box should be no longer than 20% of the article itself. Often times there are articles that have a resource box amounting to almost 50% of the article, distracting from the article’s contents and seeking to rationalize the author’s ego. By keeping the focus on the article rather than the author, the reader can then be allowed and persuaded to take further action. Article marketing becomes much easier then.

The article’s subject matter should be the main point of the site, with the author’s resource box as a secondary supplement to legitimize the writer’s sayings. The author offers important information and the resource box can be seen as a compensation for services rendered. A dynamic author’s resource box can ultimately be a rewarding and useful article marketing tool.

Cynthia ~Social Cowgirl
www.SocialCowgirl.com

There is one catch. For article marketing to work, your articles have to be accepted by the article directories you submit them to, and they have to be published by webmasters and eZine publishers.

As the owner of a popular article directory, ElectricText, I can tell you that there are 5 simple ways to avoid getting your articles rejected. Avoid these 5 things, and your article marketing will likely be highly successful.

1. Poor Writing

You don’t have to be a great writer to get your articles accepted in most article directories. But you do have to be at least okay. Not everyone has natural writing talent. Don’t be afraid to ask someone you know to review your articles and help you improve them.

2. Bad Grammar

Many people are not very good at grammar or are writing and submitting articles in a language (usually English) other than their own.

Article directories and publishers expect articles to be ready to publish, with no editing required. Minor issues may be overlooked, but when hundreds (or thousands) of article submissions are coming in per day, it’s easiest to just reject articles with bad grammar.

This does not mean that you have to give up on article marketing if your grammar is not perfect or English is not your native language. Just find someone who can help edit your articles. Most articles that I have to reject for bad grammar could have been fixed with just 5 or 10 minutes of editing.

3. Badly Edited (Or Badly Spun) Articles

I am continually surprised to receive articles where the author obviously did not check the spelling or read through the copy before submitting it. Many articles that are otherwise quite well-written have a number of minor typos – misspelled words, missing words, etc. These are the sorts of errors that could have been caught by any word processor or even just reading the article before hitting send.

The advent of private label rights content and “article spinning” software has definitely increased this problem! What’s article spinning? Many people buy the rights to articles written by others. Then they run them through special software that is supposed to randomly replace words and phrases, much like you might do manually with a thesaurus. Their idea is to improve their article marketing by submitting unique articles.

Unless you overdo this (see #4), there is really just one problem. Article spinning software often produces some rather clumsy wording. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether an article was written by a non-English speaker or by article spinning software.

In both cases, the fix is simple. Edit your articles manually before sending them, or have someone else edit them. Check your spelling and grammar. Read the article out loud to see if it flows. I see a lot of articles that probably would have been edited if anyone had tried to read them aloud before hitting send.

4. Duplicate (Or Almost-Duplicate) Articles

This one ties in with #3, as it seems to be largely a result of private label rights content and “article spinning” software. There are a few authors who constantly submit multiple copies of the same article with very slight differences.

I have literally had to ban authors from submitting articles after spending an hour or two per day for several days trying to weed out 5 or 6 unique articles from 50 or 100 duplicates. I quickly realized it just isn’t worth it, as there are many other authors and articles to publish.

I guarantee that irritating editors and publishers and getting banned is just about the dumbest way to try to do article marketing!

5. Plagiarized Articles

I’m not sure which irritates me more: #4 or #5. I can’t count the number of people who copy and paste articles right out of Wikipedia (an online collaborative encyclopedia), then submit them as their original work. Often they don’t change anything! Yes, I realize that Wikipedia is “copyleft” not “copyright,” but there are still rules.

There is nothing wrong with using Wikipedia as one of your sources – it’s an excellent source. But use a few more sources too, then add your own original thoughts and put it all in your own words. Please.

There you have it, 5 ways to avoid rejection and succeed at article marketing. If you write and submit many articles and manage to avoid these 5 things, I think most of your articles will be accepted and you will be extremely successful in your article marketing.

Cynthia ~Social Cowgirl
www.SocialCowgirl.com

As a famous sales trainer once said people buy from people that they like, know and trust. This is one of the big challenges that you will face online. People only buy from other people that they trust. So if you are using ppc, ezine advertising or banner advertising your leads may not trust you. Consequently this will make it very difficult for you to monetize your traffic.

However, if you are using articles in your marketing then it is very likely that people would have read several of your articles before clicking through to your web site. This ultimately means that your leads already like what you have to say and this is what increases the chances of them making a purchase from you.

Choose a tightly focused niche market. The narrower the market the greater that your profits will be. Write articles based on this market. Choose a killer title as this is very important to actually get people to read your article. Write the opening and closing paragraphs next as these are the easiest to do first.

Brainstorm ideas for the body and make bullet points containing these. Expand each idea and bullet point to complete a full paragraph. Check your work for spelling and grammatical errors. Finally, submit it to the major directories for massive exposure.

Cynthia ~Social Cowgirl
www.SocialCowgirl.com

But we’d like to known as an expert in our field and be called by editors and others often. Placing articles online may not be right or enough for us. What else can we do?

Before you begin, read the paper regularly to know what’s in it and if they need or want what you have to offer. Just like going for a job, take your resume and sample articles. If this is the paper you want, go for it!

Assume that we already write regularly.

Here are 7 tips on writing articles offline or in the “paper” newspapers.

1. Write for local papers. Get known by people nearby. My email mentoring (sales from finding my website) has more often found people who live in the same city as I do and called me even though they found me online. I must look and sound approachable on my website.

A local paper may also be smaller and a good place for you to start getting known. It is also closer to home or work.

2. Have all your articles be around the same theme. This advertises your business and what you know a lot about.

3. If local isn’t exactly what you want then look for a newspaper that is all about YOUR niche or target market. This will get you the clients who are already looking for you and your specialty.

4. Ask the editor if it’s you can add your website address to your biography. People can learn more about you and contact you for even more information.

5. Write for at least half a year. The number of articles will be different depending on how often the paper is published.

6. Have a byline so people know it’s you and they can look for you regularly.

7. Have your photo somewhere at the beginning or end of your article. Readers will get to know you, find you friendly and approachable and maybe say hello when they see you on the street. They’ll recognize you more by your face than by your name.

A local paper is also easier to get into than a large daily one. Try there. You may be pleasantly surprised!

Cynthia ~Social Cowgirl
www.SocialCowgirl.com