For more information on white papers and content marketing,

call 651-702-3793 or send an email to cmeyer@spidertrainers.com

WHITE PAPER TIPSHow to get more downloads, extend your reach,

improve engagement, and win the business.

INTRODUCTION For purists, white papers are long documents (more

than four pages) that describe a product, company,

or process and is written in the third person. In

today’s blogging, digital world, this strict definition

doesn’t apply nearly as often as the seasoned

marketer would like.

A white paper, according to more-recent definitions, is

a six- to eight-page marketing document to help your

prospects, leads, and customers understand an issue

or solve a problem they have. White papers are

classified as inbound content or content marketing

and can be invaluable when working to build trust

between your company and your constituents.

DESIGN WELLIf your document doesn’t fit this description, consider

other monikers to make it even more enticing: eBook,

eZine, Guide, Coloring Book, Big Book of [Whatever],

Collection, Illustrated Guide to [Whatever], and Special

Report are just a few ideas. (We’ll use white paper as a

collective term in the balance of this document.) No

matter what you call your document, a great white

paper always starts with a great design.

edocr.com is an ideal platform for promoting your

digital content, but many publishers have suffered at

the hands of an ill-designed document because, when

a visitor searches your topic, they are usually

presented with thumbnail images of documents from

which to choose. If you had to choose from the two

WHITE PAPER TIPSHOW TO IMPROVE QUALITY AND ENGAGEMENT

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©2013 SPIDER TRAINERS

documents shown on page one, which would you

download? You likely chose the image on the right, as

would most other people.

Tags, rating, titles, and subject matter are all very

important components of your document, but people

are visual creatures and they need you to appeal to

their desire to be engaged.

Your design should use easy-to-read fonts, two

columns, and bright, clear illustrations and interesting

photos in order to capture your readers’ attention.

Images will complement and extend the reader's

understanding and should be used generously.

BE CASUAL BUT AUTHORITATIVEThough you should use the third-person voice, white

papers can be written internally or externally as long

as the focus is as we described.

If you’re looking for a topic, ask yourself:

What pain points do my customers have?

In what way can we help our customers?

What advice can I share with our customers?

As you answer these questions, keep in mind that your

white paper is not the place to make a sales pitch. You

want to build trust and establish your company as an

authority on the topic and this cannot be done when

you swing a heavy bat. Instead, take a softer approach

and, using a conversational tone, write to foster the

desire of customers to choose to do business with

your company.

Use statistics and quotes in order to back up claims

you make and cite these sources so that the reader

can easily verify your position. Adding live hyperlinks

to your PDF is also beneficial for search engine

optimization. Of course, choose your sources carefully;

the more reputable the source, the more benefit you

will gain from citing and referencing the source.

SET EXPECTATIONSThe title of your white paper should contain one or

more of your company’s important keywords. After the

design (or first when no thumbnail is visible), your title

sets the expectations of what the reader will learn.

Skip the urge to be cute, vague, or obtuse and begin

to address your customer’s questions early with a clear,

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©2013 SPIDER TRAINERS

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Figure 1. While white papers are best presented in a two-column

format, if your document is not by definition a proper white

paper, call it a guide, eBook, or the like and feel free to take a

trip to the adventurous side of design.

concise title and subtitle. Follow these with an equally

direct introduction or summary — in other words start

with a good finish. Think about your conclusion and

cannibalize it for your introduction. Your readers want

to know what they will learn before they make the

investment in downloading and reading.

Titles of white papers can follow many of the same

rules of email subject lines, such as (this list is from our

video, Writing Email Subject Lines):

Write it last

Have a clear value proposition

Be timely

Include a call to action

Ask a question

Keep it short

BE DIRECTYour white paper needs to provide general

background of the problem, pain point, or issue and

then address the topic in a direct, factual, authoritative

manner. Their understanding of both the problem and

the solution should come from your text — do not rely

on outside source to scope this for you.

Stay on track by ensuring that you state the issue and

solution in your introduction and then are able to

reiterate in your conclusion. If you wander off track,

comparing this starting and ending text will help you

to rein it in. Be sure you do not introduce issues or

topics for which you are not providing a solution. This

will only encourage your reader to look beyond the

document you have provided, and possibly lose them

to another source.

ASK FOR THE BUSINESSThough your goal is to answer the questions the

questions your readers may have about an issue or

product, in the course of the white paper, you will

naturally introduce new questions for which they will

want you to answer. One of their questions should be,

“what do I do now?” Tell them and be direct; this is

your call to action.

Give them the contact information, link to pages on

your site that will help them, link to other documents

you have created, and track all of this behavior. If

appropriate, offer free trials of your solution, live or

recorded demonstrations, downloadable resources,

chat and help lines, or enable them to book a

meeting. Tell the reader what you want them to do

and make it worth their while to follow your advice.

This call to action is important, so place it prominently,

but without a sales pitch, make it an offer to help.

SUM IT UPWrite a conclusion to your white paper that wraps up

the topic in a neat package with a bow. Make sure that

your reader is leaving with more information and fewer

questions than they had when they sought out this

document. Remind them in the conclusion of the

subjects you introduced and how you solved those. If

appropriate, reiterate your call to action.

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©2013 SPIDER TRAINERS

For International Professionals: Upcoming Tax Law Changes in the U.S.

For international professionals like you living here in the United States, it is likelyrather difficult to understand our tax laws and how they may affect you. For thatreason, we wanted to provide you with a summary of the possible tax law changesexpected to take effect next year.

Given the current level of uncertainty, year-end tax planning for 2012 is extremelychallenging. With a host of major tax provisions expiring at year-end, and newtaxes taking effect January 1, 2013, some year-end moves have the potential for

significant savings. But will new legislation change the tax landscape once again? It'simpossible to say for sure. Your best bet is to evaluate your tax situation now, consideryour options, and stay on top of late-breaking legislative developments.

Higher tax rates a significant considerationA fairly common strategy at year-end is to try to shift income into the following year by,for example, deferring a year-end bonus, or delaying the collection of business debts,rents, and payments for services. This year, however, you have to consider any incometiming moves very carefully.

That's because federal income tax rates are scheduled to jump in 2013. We'll go fromsix federal tax brackets (10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, and 35%) to five (15%, 28%, 31%,36%, and 39.6%). The maximum rate that applies to long-term capital gains willgenerally increase from 15% to 20%. And while the current lower long-term capital gainrates apply to qualifying dividends, starting in 2013, dividends will be taxed as ordinaryincome.

Could the current federal income tax rates be extended yet again? Of course, but it's farfrom a certain bet. That means any moves you contemplate have to be considered inthe context of several "what-if" scenarios. As we write this, it appears likely that some ofthe current lower tax rates may be extended for couples earning less than $250,000. Forpeople earning more, it looks like higher tax rates are a certainty.

New taxes also a factorNew Medicare taxes created by the health-care reform legislation passed in 2010 takeeffect January 1, 2013. Beginning then, the hospital insurance (HI) portion of the payrolltax--commonly referred to as the Medicare portion--increases by 0.9% for high-wageindividuals. Also beginning in 2013, a new 3.8% Medicare contribution tax is imposedon the unearned income of high-income individuals.

©2012 Maxim Global Wealth Advisors December 2012 | Page 1 of 3

Figure 2. There’s no rule that white papers have to be

white. Add branding consistency by matching your

website or other corporate documents.

Add information about your company, but don’t

confuse this with your call to action. Your about box

will disclose factual information about your company in

a purely statistical approach, whereas the call to action

will remind the reader that your company is an expert

on the content and they should reach out to you in

order to resolve their issues completely.

PROMOTE YOUR WHITE PAPERIn marketing, it’s rarely a case of build it and they will

come. Just because you’ve written a fabulous white

paper doesn’t mean that anyone will read it — after

all, how will people even know to look for it, unless

you promote it?

Content syndicators, such as edocr.com, are ideal

platforms for enabling you to distribute, promote, and

track the effectiveness of your content, and along with

their social tools and other integration, your content is

promoted to their members and propagated beyond

their site’s boundaries.

If you’re short on ideas for how to market and promote

your document, take a look at our eBook, The Power

of Print (in Marketing). We’ve collected a number of

both online and offline ideas along with lots of

information on how to implement.

RE-PURPOSING CONTENTAfter syndication of your white paper, think about

other ways your document can be used to reach a

wider range of audiences. Re-purposing in other

formats enables you to extend syndication in platforms

for video, audio, social postings, offline, and more. For

instance, sales and marketing slide decks make good

PDFs and many of these are great fodder for podcasts

with a minimal amount of effort. Adding narration or

music to post to YouTube or Vimeo, chopping up full-

length video into short spots for Instagram and Vine,

and pulling out illustrations and images for posting to

Pinterest are just a few ideas for giving your

documents some legs.

CONCLUSIONDeveloping white papers, to help your prospects,

leads, and customers understand an issue or solve a

problem is ideal for establishing your company as an

authority and building trust. 60% of companies say

they will execute an inbound-marketing strategy in

2013, but how successful these companies will be may

depend greatly or entirely on how well they create,

promote, and publish.

GET HELP

If you’re challenged by writing, publishing, or

promoting your inbound content, Spider Trainers can

help. As content curators, we produce all types of

content for establishing your company as an expert

and authoritative resource. Call Chuck Meyer at

651 702 3793 or email to cmeyer@spidertrainers.com.

ABOUT SPIDER TRAINERS

Spider Trainers helps companies of all sizes achieve a

return on their marketing-automation investment

through the design, development, and deployment of

online or offline blast, drip, and nurture marketing

campaigns. A network of more than 80 experts in

email development, web development, graphic

design, ad creation, multimedia creation, social-media

postings, search-engine optimization, writing, editing,

and analytics, Spider Trainers is chosen by companies

to amplify lead and demand generation using a sales-

readiness nurturing process. Founded in 2009, Spider

Trainers is based in Denver, CO, and touts more than

30 years’ experience on their principal team.

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