Effective Resource Boxes Use Psychological and Target Marketing in Call to Action

7 December 2011 – Resource links like those in author resource boxes might seem all too common, but with the right amount of little nuances, you can turn a resource link into a very effective, simple, and handy traffic generating tool.

Perhaps the most common use of resource links is in resource boxes after articles or blog posts which offer more information or further reading for readers of the piece. It also often provides more background information on the author of the article. Of course, other uses are in listing links which makes the links more clickable.

And that is the bottom line of the resource link – making the anchor link more click-worthy. The problem is, just putting it there and surrounding it with something to read like a line or two often does not suffice. Veteran marketers and psychological advertising experts will tell you that even in short blurbs like resource links you can tweak some aspects to make the link more alluring to readers.

The common resource link is a link within a blurb of text that provides more or background information on the keyword which is the anchor of the link, with a call to action that is supposed to make readers decide to follow the link. Obviously, one facet of the resource link you can tweak is the call to action. A lot of psychological tactics that make calls to action more actionable are available, but you don’t have to make it all too complicated.

You can simply adjust the call to action to fit the current context of the resource link’s use. For instance, the link is in a resource box that comes after a review of an affiliate product’s competition, you can then format the call to action to offer an alternative to the subject of the piece, or at least something to compare it by.

Another important factor you can add is using target marketing. If you know you’ll be placing a resource link where it’s more likely for a particular consumer demographic to view it, then specialize the blurb to target that demographic specifically.

Just using resource links to promote your affiliate product for its own sake is not enough, and is a waste of effort and time.