How to Improve Your Article Click Through Rate by 150%?

So you’ve spent ages creating the perfect headline, hours crafting the perfect content now what?

It’s the Article ‘resource box’ – sometimes better known as the signature or bio box. This is where the article directories allow you to sell yourself and put links back to your site.

So what do most people do here?

They start with their name, talk about themselves in the third person, and put a list of their awards and achievements and a list of every web site they own!

And what does this do?

Research shows that this type of resource box typically makes 5% of its readers click through to the author’s site.  That’s not very good for all your hard work is it?

So why is this?

Well one reason is that when the reader reaches the “John Smith is…..” the first thing people think is:

“Oh, that’s the end of the article” and they move on – sorry to tell you, they’re not interested in you and your achievements.

So what should you do?

First of all don’t make them think that the article has finished, by using a closing paragraph. Continue into the resource box by talking about them and what you can do for them. Make them think they really need the next piece of information you’re going to give them – make it compelling!

Make it relevant to what you’ve already been talking about. i.e. don’t tell them they can get more information on fishing if your article was about cameras. Don’t laugh it happens!

Give them a call to action! – Tell them what to do, i.e. click here…. go here…. Make it bold; make it obvious, otherwise they just don’t.

Give your name and a clickable link to the website you want them to go to, but don’t make a list of all the websites you own – there’s a copywriting rule that says: the less choice you give them the better – too much choice they just don’t bother!

Offer something for FREE, that’s even better.

It has been shown that putting a little thought into your resource box like this can increase your Article click through rate by 150% so it’s well worth doing.

Now just a little bonus in case you don’t know how to make clickable links, I’ll give you the html code here:

<a href=”http://www.yourwebsitehere.com“> clickhere</a>

Where ‘www.your website .com‘ is the URL you want them to go to (and is hidden from view on your page) and the clickhere is the clickable link that is visible (this can be any word you want it to be) In fact for SEO purposes it’s a better idea to make that word your ‘Keyword‘.

Hope that makes sense.

To your success,

7 Article Marketing Tips to Get you Going!

Article Marketing is one of the main tools in your Marketing Tool Box and the easiest way to promote your website but many people shy away from it thinking it too difficult or too time consuming

‘I’m just not a writer’ they may say – well that’s good in some respects, – why?

Because generally when people are looking for information, they want it ‘fast’ they need it ‘now’ they don’t have time for wading through lengthy essays; I know I don’t.

That’s not to say there isn’t a place for good essay writers, (there are many people who want to read articles for entertainment value), but for those who are just information seekers; short, to the point, well set out, packed with tips, articles are what they’re looking for.

So my advice is, if you’re not a writer, stop thinking you have to write like you’re writing a book or an essay, just write as though you’re talking to someone at the kitchen table.

Here are some tips:

1. For article writing, the most important part is a good keyword rich catchy headline.
2. Next you need a short introduction, just a paragraph or two will do, just explaining what you’re article’s about.
3. Then you need the body, which only needs to be 350 words, in fact, for information seekers 350 to 450 words is ideal.
4. It’s a good idea to use a list format and/or bullet points – it’s so much easier to read when you’re in a hurry. Also make use of the bolding and italics as great blocks of monotonous text are so off-putting.
5. Don’t use a closing paragraph; leave the reader wanting to know more.
6. Then make good use of the resource box at the bottom. Don’t just list your name and website, give a call to action: the idea is to lead the reader to the conclusion that they must learn more about your project in order to achieve their goals.
7. Make use of bolding in the resource box in order for it to stand out as important.

Next submit your article to at least 3 or 4 directories; word of warning Ezine articles is the best one to use as Google loves it, but they don’t like duplicate content so submit it to Ezine first, then once it’s accepted go ahead with the others, you can change it a little if you like but consensus of opinion is that it’s not necessary.

Here’s a list of top Article directories to be going on with:

Ezine Articles,

Idea Marketers,

Go Articles,

Better Networker (costs $10 per month but very good)

Hope that’s helped you with your Article Marketing!

To your success,

 Are you writing those Articles?