Creating an Effective Resource Page: A Step-by-Step Guide

Building a resource page can be a game-changer if you’re committed to giving your audience useful stuff (which you should be). This page enables you to showcase the resources and tools that you personally use and adore for your business while curating your chosen goods or services.

A resource page, which is an essential part of your content strategy, may improve the quality and substance of your website and add value for your audience.

This guide will explain what a resource page is, why it’s important to create one, and how to go about doing it step-by-step. We’ll also provide some resource pages so you can get ideas.

Table of Contents

Overview of Decoding Resource Pages

A resource page is a carefully curated webpage that gathers connections to helpful materials, devices, services, media, or websites that appeal to your audience’s interests. This page may also be known as a “recommended tools” page, a “affiliate links” page, or a brand “toolbox.”

This website serves as a one-stop shop for finding a brand’s suggested resources, such as tools or goods that its personnel use and recommend in the course of conducting business each day.

If you’re a freelancer or solopreneur, your resource page can highlight your unique sense of fashion and subject matter knowledge. Additionally, your resource page can offer insightful information to those who rely on your recommendations if you have a committed fan base and an engaged audience.

Making a resource page can be done in one of three ways:

Using affiliate links is one approach to monetize your resource page. You can make a modest commission every time someone uses your affiliate link to contact a business whose goods or services you endorse by joining forces with those businesses.
Another way to build links to your resource page is by doing it naturally, out of pure love and appreciation for the materials and their worth.
Combining affiliate and organic links will help you provide a comprehensive resource page. This gives you the chance to highlight goods and services you genuinely value and promote while also having the chance to profit from affiliate relationships.

Strong Arguments for Creating a Resource Page

Providing aid and support is a key motivator for developing a resource page.
You may help your audience discover different tools, websites, and resources that can help them solve their problems by curating a resource page.
Your resource page’s impact can be greatly increased by carefully choosing links that you personally use, enjoy, or find helpful. Your audience will definitely be interested in the materials you recommend since they value your professional judgment.
To maximize your revenue if you take part in affiliate programs, having a resource page is another strong incentive to do so.
Your readers will have easy access to and use of your affiliate links if you include them in a dedicated resource page that is prominently displayed in your top navigation.
But it’s important to remember that it’s not a good idea to create a resource page just to get people to click on your affiliate links.
Focus on creating this kind of material instead to make it easier for your audience to interact with outstanding resources that have worked well for you in your area.

Best Practices for Building a Valuable Resource Page

A simple link collection is insufficient. Follow the steps below to create a resource page that provides real value to your readers while avoiding writing insignificant and unhelpful content for your users.

1.Gathering Links to the Most Reliable Resources in Your Niche

Usually, the initial step in creating a resource page is the easiest.

The only thing you need to do is develop a thorough list of links to your favorite and most trustworthy sources, which could be tools, websites, goods, services, and so on that are pertinent to your area.

For instance, if you publish recipes frequently and are an expert baker, your resource page could list the baking equipment you use regularly, like those on this baking website:

Similarly, if you sell courses on content marketing, your resource pages might include a list of the tools you use to make the content marketing process easier.

These might include content creation software, your preferred website hosting service, search engine optimization (SEO) tools, and the content calendar tool on which you rely heavily.

Instead of including random resources, think about what would be best for your audience.

It’s also imperative to be honest and up front, and to avoid supporting anything you haven’t personally used or found to be suitable. Integral to preserving the relationship of trust between you and your audience is honesty and transparency.

2.Utilizing Affiliate Links

It’s essential to provide a clear disclaimer explaining that you might get paid when site visitors click on affiliate links if you plan to incorporate them into your resource page.

In addition to being essential for ethics and openness, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States has made this disclosure a requirement. The FTC may classify omission of affiliate links as misleading advertising.

The disclosure statement doesn’t have to be difficult, which is a good thing. It suffices to have a clear, unambiguous statement at the top of your page. This shot from a photography website serves as a perfect example:

3.Describe each resource and the rationale for its inclusion.

It’s time to expand your resource page with valuable material that goes beyond the links now that the link acquisition phase is over.

Include thorough descriptions that outline the significance of each product, service, tool, or resource that is recommended in order to increase the value of your page.

Use this practical method to succinctly summarize the resources on your page:

Give a brief description of the tool, service, product, or resource before introducing it.
Explain why you personally use and support it.
Focus on a particular way that it can make your readers’ lives better.

You don’t have to write long descriptions however; you can cover each of the aforementioned aspects in one or two phrases. Here is an example from the book Smart Passive Income:

In essence, the explanations describing the effectiveness and dependability of each tool make the list of suggested tools offered by SPI even more important.

The readers would not have been able to understand the value of the suggested tools if they had simply provided a list of links without any explanations.

4.Organize and Improve Your Resource Page

Instead of just generating a list of links, you must put effort into structuring and optimizing your resource page. This guarantees that the greatest amount of visitors can benefit from it.

Sort your resources into categories, and give each category a heading (H2 or H3). If your list includes a variety of educational media, for instance, you may categorize the links by the media type, such as books, podcasts, videos, blog posts, courses, etc.

The employee and family resource pages for this wellness center, which lists online fitness resources organized by type of exercise, is a great example.

Another great choice is to compile the top industry resources you frequently blog about onto a single resource page, as shown by Learn to Code With Me:

5.Make Reference to Useful Content on Your Website

While adding your own content to your resource page is acceptable, you should exercise caution to avoid coming across as overly promotional.

Instead, make an effort to naturally incorporate your material by obtrusively connecting to it.

For instance, the “tour companies” category of this travel site lists their own tour company as one of the resources. Even when compared to their other suggestions, the reference is subtle and doesn’t seem unduly promotional.

Linking to pertinent blog articles is another effective way to put your material on your resource page. These hyperlinks can be included in the category descriptions, for example, “Interested in learning more about picking a travel agency?” Read our manual.

Update Your Resource Page Frequently

Given that your resource page has a lot of links, it’s crucial to regularly check each one’s accuracy and usefulness.
You may, for instance, include this work in your regular website or content assessment.
Using a broken link checker, which can quickly evaluate all the URLs on the page, is a quick way to spot broken links.
The accuracy and functionality of all your affiliate links must be verified in order to enable tracking anytime a user is led from your page to a product.

Add Links to Other Content on Your Resource Page

It’s a good idea to include links to your resource page in your other material when you create it, including blogs and main site pages like your About Us page.

A baking blog, for instance, might state, “The right size mixing bowl is essential for creating this recipe,” and then link to its resources page while talking about baking equipment. To see the large mixing bowls I use and suggest, see my resource page.

Fundamentally, you can link to your resource page from any “learn more” opportunity or blog mention.

A link to your resource page would also be a great addition to your main menu. This is best illustrated by Learn to Code With Me, who positioned their resource hub on the top menu under the subject “Where to learn.”

There are numerous additional methods you can use in your other content to link to your resource page, including:

Add a Link to the Footer Navigation of Your Website.
Create a call-to-action banner or graphic and insert it strategically into blogs.
Include a Link to Your E-books, Lead Magnets, or Free Resources.
Create a Permanent Link for the Sidebar of Your Blog.
In your social media posts, incorporate links and advertise your resource pages.

As was already mentioned, useful content is:

Designed with a specific target market in mind.
Includes measures of credibility and trust.
Incorporates the knowledge and skills of the author or creators.
Meets the demands and needs of the audience.

Your resource page can strengthen your content strategy by educating and enlightening your audience as well as enhancing your website with careful preparation and execution. There is no doubt that achieving these aims is desirable.