As an online entrepreneur who has been utilizing article marketing strategies since 2003, I have enjoyed its many benefits. These benefits have served me well as a Success and Wellness Coach, Website Publisher, and an owner of an Article Directory. In fact, I have done a lot of promotions and advertising online with Article Marketing and have found it to be a productive marketing strategy.

However, like all forms of marketing and advertising online, there's a way to do it and do it great. Because many Internet Marketing Professionals have learned the advantages of free online articles and monetization with AdSense and other Ad-generating programs, article marketing has become a leading and effective marketing tool on the internet. Not only is adding your articles for free a great resource, the author's resource box is the extra added bonus. Similar to other marketing tools, you have to know how to work it.

Accordingly, the author's resource box differs from an author's bio section. In a bio section, the author gives a brief description of themselves, their projects, their expertise, and what they have accomplished. An author's resource box is much more concise. It is a brief resource for readers to follow for more information, products, or services related to the article. Similar to the author's bio, the resource box is found at the end of the article.

For example, if you were writing an article about hair care products, you would provide a link to a site related to hair care products or cosmetics. Why? You would provide this link because this is a resource for your readers. Ultimately, your resource box content will be related to the article's theme. As such, it is essential that writers to consider these basic marketing and advertising factors when writing content for the resource box.

Now, let's discuss some common mistakes made with the author's resource box:

1. Oversell will be an over-kill

It is a common mistake most article writers make. Of course, you want to write a few sentences to you promote yourself or promote your website but you should never have a long list of every product, website, business opportunity, or item you sell or promote online. Additionally, too many details about your website can be overkill too. View your resource box as a "set-up"--a way to persuade your readers to click and learn more.

2. Be Consistent With the Article's Theme

It is very important to that your resource box remains consistent with the content in your article. It is critical that whatever theme you choose, you continue with it. One article can't sell everything...you, your website, and a particular product all at once. A good method for remaining consistent with the theme of your article is to include content in your resource box related to the article's content. However, a smart technique is personalizing your articles. With online article writing, it is not a requirement to be objective as with other forms of journalism. When you personalize your articles with a little bit of "you," you can theme your resource box to be about "you" and the work you are doing online.

3. Keep Your Resource Box Information Relevant

Do not confuse your readers. Don't include content and information on products that were not mentioned in the article. Your readers want information that is beneficial to them; therefore your resource box should have content about the website or the product you discussed in the article. Again, you can spin this obstacle by personalizing your articles just a bit where the entire article won't be subjective, but still personalized. An example of this strategy can be seen at the beginning of this article.

4. Affiliate Program Links

Affiliate Marketing Professionals have to be especially careful. Affiliate Marketing Professionals have been trained to "pre-sell" with article marketing; however, Affiliate Marketers can do this much more effectively by using another method. The more effective method is to use your resource box to direct your readers to your Website or in your Blog which links to your affiliate through additional content. Editors and publishers of various article directories are quite fickle about you trying to "sell" your affiliate link on their sites.

5. Your Resource Box Should Be Short and Simple

As you get more versed in article marketing, you discover that you want the content in your resource box to be like content in your article, short and to the point. Your resource box should be no longer than 3 to 4 lines, because most article directories give you limited space for your information. The sooner you get to the point and tell readers about a website or product and where to find it... the better.

Again, your author's resource box is a valuable for article marketing, internet marketing, and online advertising. By including unrelated information, off-theme content, and overselling or over pushing your websites and products, you are wasting your time and your readers. Think of it like other forms of advertising...KISP...Keep it simple please.