2 Minute Approval Tip: Manage Resource Box Length

Episode 6 of the “2 Minute Approval Tips” video series.

This series is designed to help get your articles approved on the first submission. We’ve looked at past submission records to find the most common reasons why articles aren’t approved on the initial try. Since we know your time is precious, we’ve compressed this information into individual 2-minute videos.

Readers come to your quality articles looking for expert advice. If they find what they’re looking for in the article, they’ll look to the Resource Box to discover more about you. A Resource Box that appears long by word or line count will make the entire submission look spammy. Instead, the Resource Box should provide just enough information to help your readers discover who you are, yet leave them wanting more.

In this “2 Minute Approval Tips” episode, I’ll share the dangers of submitting a Resource Box that’s too big for an article and some steps you can take to avoid having articles rejected because of a bloated Resource Box.

Downloadable Versions:

If you don’t have two minutes to spare, here’s a quick recap of the sixth “2 Minute Approval Tip,” plus some extra points:

Less Than 15% of the Article Body – Limit your Resource Box size to about 15% the size of the article body. Longer Resource Boxes appear spammy and can be distracting.
Calculating Resource Box Size – A 400-word article can have a 60-word Resource Box. To calculate this, multiply the word or line count by 0.15 (15%). The result of this equation is the appropriate size for the article’s Resource Box (400 words x 0.15 = 60 words).
Word Count and Line Count – The 15% rule applies to both word count and vertical line count. If the 400-word article is 30 lines of text, the Resource Box can be 5 lines long (30 lines x 0.15 = 4.5 lines). Take both of these constraints into account when deciding what to include in your Resource Box.
“Sweet Spot” Size – Fifteen percent is the maximum size of an acceptable Resource Box. Clear and concise communication is the key to writing a quality Resource Box, so try to get your message across in as few words as possible.

To check out the entire “2 Minute Approval Tips” series, click here. Put this and all the other “2 Minute Approval Tips” to good use when writing your next set of quality, original articles. Also, leave us a comment to share one of your own approval tips for writing an effective Resource Box.

Posted by Marc, Product Marketing Manager on August 25, 2010 at 8:16 am | 10,317 views

13 Comments »

Eamon Greville writes:

Thanks Marc

Short, sweet and interesting – I think I hear you say.

Just got to apply it now!

Comment provided August 25, 2010 at 9:07 AM

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Rob Britt writes:

I’ve always gone with the “shorter is better” policy regarding the resource box. I think it’s more effective.

Comment provided August 25, 2010 at 9:34 AM

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David Garray writes:

Thanks Marc for these concise 2min. advice. I believe the shorter the better too regarding resource box, otherwise your articles and resources kind of cancel each other out in the end.

Comment provided August 25, 2010 at 10:10 AM

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ayuan from article marketing tools writes:

I have to say, I just followed “clear and concise” qualitative principle and I haven’t realized there is a quantitative number, 15%: “Resource Box size is 15% of the size of the article body” before I read this post.
Thank you for this useful tip! Is this “15%” for all article directories?

Comment provided August 25, 2010 at 11:36 AM

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Lisa writes:

Great advice, as usual! :)

Comment provided August 25, 2010 at 12:52 PM

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Lawrence Tam writes:

I’ve noticed that short flowing signatures have upped my CTR over time. Shorter is better ;)

Comment provided August 25, 2010 at 12:53 PM

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Sigrid writes:

Hi Marc! I follow your advice with enthusiasm! Thanks so much, they are great! Please, keep them on!

Comment provided August 25, 2010 at 2:21 PM

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Mary Jane Hurley Brant writes:

I would call this presentation “Goldilocks and The Resource Box Length.”

When I see even an email with all kinds of links or even no links, both seem strange. Both seem to lack common sense. It is the same idea with our writing here for EzineArticles!

Thanks, Marc, for helping us be able to say, “Ahhh, this Resource Box Length is just right.”

Comment provided August 25, 2010 at 2:22 PM

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