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There are two primary
factors in creating a successful reference box, also called a bio box,
that get the results you want from your Internet-posted articles. The
first is adding the right keywords into the language. Second, is to write
tiny ads that led to a call to action. Neither is going to be easy, but
both are necessary and accomplishable.
Let’s walk through the
process together, and I will give you a few techniques that have brought
me large responses and click through rates of upwards of 45%, sometimes
even higher, when averages usually run under 8%.
Beginning with
understanding what an Internet article is and its intention, creates a
starting point for both of us. Let’s begin there. Simply, distribution
of these articles is solely for electronic publishing. Guidelines from
publishers prefer 500 to 1400 word counts with an average of 700 to 800.
Creative intentions range from building an expertise in a particular
market, topic or industry, a taste of a topic for marketing of a product,
or as a paid writing gig for others, so that they may complete one of the
other previously mentioned intentions. Publishing can occur inside a
newsletter, also called an ezine or electronic newsletter, or be published
on a website. Each has its own pros and cons. Website posting does tip
the scale higher on the pro side.
The next thought
process moves us up the railing to knowing what action you want the reader
to take. This ties in with your intention and also making it a reasonable
request. Reasonable means not asking for the reader to leap and buy a
product or service based on the small amount of information given in the
reference box. For coaches or consultants, it’s even a leap for readers
to commit to a complimentary session based on that small amount of
information. A reference box builds only one point, far from the seven to
ten-points needed before people take an action that calls for a higher
commitment. Selling too soon always turns off an action request.
Since publishers
usually don’t allow more than five 60-character lines or 450 or less
characters, focus is best limited to one action request. The request
usually requires a “click here to” request, for instance:
* visit website for
more information about product, service, workshop, seminar, conference
* consider subscribing to
* find out more about the author
* call us for (something beneficial and free)
A reference box needs
to have the following basics:
1. The author’s name and background expertise on the topic.
2. The call to action request.
3. A benefit for readers to take the action.
4. Keywords for search engine optimization (SEO).
Developing the author’s
name and expertise sentence is easy and the call to action addressed,
let’s move to the remaining two items: benefit and keywords. Take the
major benefit for one of your calls to action. Here is an example of a
short-list of benefits to being a subscriber of my nonfiction for-profit
monthly newsletter:
* Learn additional
avenues to make money with your writing
* Explore and improve your nonfiction for-profit writing skills and
techniques
* A metacenter site to find resources to ease your journey in this area
How-to details on finding your features and benefits are available at the
Abundance Center’s website.
Continue to create five
or more benefit lines for each of your action requests, products and
services. You will be able to use these in multiple places, not just your
reference box. The benefit line or phrase in the reference box needs to
build a curiosity or draws readers to want to click and find out more. If
the reader sees the benefit as somewhat unbelievable, whether true or not,
isn’t always the best way to get the preferred action. Sometimes it’s
best to downplay the benefit, yet continue to make impact. For example,
articles I’ve written were published thousands of times over the past
year. Instead, it’s best for me to adopt the term, prolific writer. Hype
is a big turnoff for sophisticated readers.
We have walked through
the who and expertise lines, created benefit lines, next you will want to
create a list of keywords for the topic, service and product, then
sprinkle them into the resource box information.
Keywords help Net
visitors find your article (and you) and the website where the article is
posted. Keywords are words people would search on to find information on
that topic. Using the keyword finder on Google or the new Amazon search
engine is one way to find what people search on most frequently. However,
the finder is limited to last month’s searches. The key finders will give
you hints, however, I believe your common sense will do the same.
Additional information on finding keywords are available in articles
section of the Abundance Center or search on “keywords” “how to” “article”
in Google.
Another tip, slightly
outside the scope of this topic, which will help the attractiveness of
your article, is not to use the same reference box, or bio box, repeatedly
in all articles. Density is important to increase attraction from the
search engines yet too much of a good thing shoots you in the foot too.
Too much density means 25 or more exactly the same. Changing the benefit
line, call to action, and keywords broadens your exposure as well as the
opportunity for searchers to find the website that your article is posted
-- one key purpose people publish and host your article.
Writing tight copy,
including a reference box, always requires more time and focus even for
the best writers. Be patient through the development. Review other
reference boxes for likes and dislikes. More importantly, be creative and
test the response rate occasionally if article writing is a major part of
your marketing program.
In summary, the
reference box provides author's name and tied-in expertise, the major
benefit for clicking and an appropriate call to action that is reasonable
for someone reading the article. The sprinkle in or substitute search
engine optimizing keywords into the resource box to increase exposure and
attractiveness for both yourself and whoever is publishing your articles.
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