I have noticed several "experts" recommending putting a link in the body of articles as well as the resource box. I may be wrong, but I think this is a bad idea. Let me explain. I use articles that other's write on my websites, (and yes, I do get search engine traffic from them), but I always hesitate to use those with more than one link. Why give readers more than one non-paying way to leave? I think others feel the same, and I have noticed that my articles with only one link get used more often on other web sites. I suppose a way around this may be to write two versions of the article, and submit both to article banks - one with one link and the other with more. There is a lot of traffic to be had directly from the article banks themselves, even if the article is never used by others.
I tend to agree that articles with more than one link get used less. But there are other variables that come into play, such as industry, subject matter and content. A very well dont article with two links could easily get more links than a poorly done one with one link. As far as traffic from article banks, I think this also depends on what your doing, It is usally very low conversion traffic and if you are a merchant site you will probably get little to no sales associated with that article (at least from article banks).
It's the quality and subject of the articles that matters. I'v tried a few articles with two links in the article body plus two links in resouce box. All of them got reprinted dozens of times. One of reprints itself got a PR5, and dozens of PR2-PR4 after last PR update. I've also tried a few articles with one link in article and one link in resource box, but got much less reprints. People won't waste their time to reprint an article that adds no value to their websites even if the article has no links.
If you have an issue with the outbound links, why not write your own articles? The link is the article writers fee.
Don't be so selfish, I say. Give, and you shall recieve. And no, I'm not religious. But I do believe that you don't have to desparately hoard and cling to your visitors to provide value to them and yourself
I think it all comes down to the reason for the link. Some of our most used articles have over 20 links. But they are all relevant and resources that pertain to the subject matter. If you just throw in Spam links just to do it, then you are correct, their article will be used less. But so will a poorly written article. If their link in the body of the article is an exact copy of the About the Author box, we remove it as it isn't needed or allowed. But a good article writer will blend their links in a way that all appreciate. Also - If your mindset is link out as little as possible, you are only hurting yourself. You should have the links open a new window so the resource is still there but they don't leave your site. All parties win in that situation including your visitors
I see no difference in the number of usages between my articles with 1 link and 3 links. All links are related to the subject of the article which may help. I wouldn't add a totally irrelevent link to an article.