How to get more downloads, extend your reach, improve engagement, and win the business. 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. If 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.

1. 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.

2. 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 WELL
If 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 TIPS
HOW TO IMPROVE QUALITY AND ENGAGEMENT
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©2013 SPIDER TRAINERS

3. 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 AUTHORITATIVE
Though 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 EXPECTATIONS
The 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.

4. 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 DIRECT
Your 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 BUSINESS
Though 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 UP
Write 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 likely
rather difficult to understand our tax laws and how they may affect you. For that
reason, we wanted to provide you with a summary of the possible tax law changes
expected to take effect next year.
G
iven the current level of uncertainty, year-end tax planning for 2012 is extremely
challenging. With a host of major tax provisions expiring at year-end, and new
taxes 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's
impossible to say for sure. Your best bet is to evaluate your tax situation now, consider
your options, and stay on top of late-breaking legislative developments.
Higher tax rates a significant consideration
A 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 income
timing moves very carefully.
That's because federal income tax rates are scheduled to jump in 2013. We'll go from
six 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 will
generally increase from 15% to 20%. And while the current lower long-term capital gain
rates apply to qualifying dividends, starting in 2013, dividends will be taxed as ordinary
income.
Could the current federal income tax rates be extended yet again? Of course, but it's far
from a certain bet. That means any moves you contemplate have to be considered in
the context of several "what-if" scenarios. As we write this, it appears likely that some of
the current lower tax rates may be extended for couples earning less than $250,000. For
people earning more, it looks like higher tax rates are a certainty.
New taxes also a factor
New Medicare taxes created by the health-care reform legislation passed in 2010 take
effect January 1, 2013. Beginning then, the hospital insurance (HI) portion of the payroll
tax--commonly referred to as the Medicare portion--increases by 0.9% for high-wage
individuals. Also beginning in 2013, a new 3.8% Medicare contribution tax is imposed
on 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.

5. 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 PAPER
In 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 CONTENT
After 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.
CONCLUSION
Developing 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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