Writing white papers for SEO

A white paper is a document in which you explore a particular topic in depth. It is a high-quality piece in which you carefully set out your (corporate) vision for solving a problem. You publish a white paper as a well-formatted PDF document, which you send to interested parties once they have provided their contact details. In the field of online marketing, a white paper is therefore a valuable tool.

How do you write a white paper?

You know your target audience better than anyone and also know what they need to find the right solution to their challenges. Organise a brainstorming session with the team. Make sure to involve staff who are in close contact with end customers. Write down all those ideas about customer problems and challenges and group them into topics. Then work out the solution and ensure you can back it up properly with sources.

What is the ideal length for a white paper?

This can range from 5 to 25 A4 pages. It all depends on what you can write about it. Do make sure, however, that the document doesn’t look like a boring block of text. An attractive layout, good visuals and infographics will ensure that interested readers find the content worth reading. The end result should be a white paper that your company can be proud of and that exudes authority. The aim of the white paper is to demonstrate that you are a serious player in the market and that you command authority. Develop the white paper with a team and take your time over it, so that the end result is of a high standard.

Link-building opportunities with white papers

To reinforce the content of the white paper, you should, of course, add hyperlinks to specific web pages. If you save the PDF document to Google Docs and allow Google to index that URL, you’ll be creating backlinks from the google.com domain (one of the domain names with the highest link authority in the world!).

The second advantage is that others will also find your white papers interesting and will link to your website from theirs. Of course, it is important that you let people know that your white papers are available.

Posting white papers on the website

Developing white papers requires an investment. You write the text, take care of the layout, create infographics and who knows what else. To make it commercially attractive, you only want to provide the white paper once someone has submitted their contact details. You can automate this process. Place a registration form on your website and, once all the fields have been filled in correctly, have an email sent to the interested party containing a link to download the white paper. As you’ll then have their contact details, you can get in touch after a few days to arrange an introductory meeting.

Would you like to start using white papers as an online marketing tool, and could you do with some help with that? We drink our coffee black.