It's important to nail down the title of the White Paper. If you don't, you (or your writer) risk wandering off-topic. First, decide on the subject – the problem your reader might have, or the better way of doing something which they might be interested in: how to make a Blue Widget go faster without any loss of energy efficiency, or whatever. Then think up a working title which will describe the benefit of reading the paper. You might end up with something like "A ten-minute explanation of how to improve your machine's performance without expending more energy, by using faster Blue Widgets".

Before you start, ensure you have the benefits of your solution all listed, for subsequent inclusion in the text. Forget about the features of your product. All your reader wants to know about is "what's in it for me?" Then, once the text is written, go through it and simplify it as much as possible. Even a technical audience doesn't want to work hard deciphering complex terminology, at least not in a White Paper. Bear in mind that even if your audience is technical, they might need to refer the White Paper to someone who doesn't have the same grasp of the subject. By all means, if the content is there, produce 10 pages or more, but equally, don't be afraid to publish a 3-page White Paper.

Finally, get the finished product read by someone in sales as well as your technical expert, if you have two separate people!

How should you write your White Papers?

Back in the 90s, White Papers were all the rage amongst tech companies, but I doubt that many got read, mainly because it was so hard to distribute them to the right prospects. In addition, the type of company which embraced them also happened to be the type which delighted in using corporate technobabble, and many potential readers ran a mile on just hearing the term.

That's changed. Many technical professionals will have had positive experiences reading good White Papers over the years, and will be willing to give them a chance. More importantly, they make fantastic website content, both for attracting the search engines and for collecting name-and-contact details from prospects.

Generally speaking, a White Paper talks about problems and general solutions, rather than product features and benefits. It will, of course, always lead on to specific solutions. By 'problem' (a word I detest in marketing), I mean any 'how to' statement, including those things which needn't necessarily be considered a problem by the prospect – just something they'd like to know how to do, or how to do better.

Once you've got a White Paper written (and we'll talk about the contents tomorrow), then you can use it as a brilliant way to attract visitors to your website and collect details from visitors who might otherwise remain anonymous. There's a balance to be struck here, as freely publishing the content (to maximise search engine traffic) means you don't have a product which you can exchange for name-and-contact details. I suggest the best way is to produce a nice PDF version, with illustrative material and perhaps an offer, which is only available in exchange for the reader's details. Then publish a slightly truncated, text-only version, perhaps split into multiple pages, on the website. I've seen a lot of success with this approach.

In terms of writing it, you may have the time and inclination to do this yourself. However, getting an independent technical writer in normally represents a good return on investment. All you have to do is to list the 'problems' which your prospects have, and put the writer together with an appropriate company expert, to thrash out a White Paper based on describing the situation where your company's products are – presumably – so effective. For a few hundred pounds you can get yourself an excellent piece of marketing collateral which will work on your website for years, and which your sales team will just love to have in their armoury.

Tomorrow: what should a White Paper look like?

Why do you need to reconsider White Papers?

Even if this update appears to have targeted external links, future ones will return the focus to on-page signals, so it's crucial that you don't do anything daft, intentionally or inadvertently. Spammy page titles like "UK Widget Supplier :: UK Widget Manufacturer :: Widget Supplier UK :: Cheap Widgets UK" (and I've seen loads like this) are going to be red rags to a bull as far as the search engines are concerned. The appearance of certain terms loads of times on a page, or multiple pages appearing to rewite the same content, are both dangerous too.

Many people have complained over the years that Google is progressively favouring "brands" over third-party information sites. But there's a reason for this: people want to visit manufacturers' sites directly. As a supplier yourself, you should welcome this. The key to SEO success is increasingly going to be to differentiate your site from third-party sites and their desperate attempts to appear higher in the results than they deserve.

Have you avoided offending the Penguin? [SEO Wednesdays]

1. You understand exactly what a "cookie" is;
2. Find out what cookies are delivered by your website by running a cookie audit;
3. Understand what's going on: this video (which has a full transcript on the page) is a good place to start;
4. Try to at least acknowledge you know what's going on in your site's privacy policy, and consider implementing some form of obtaining a user's consent for the use of cookies on their computer; we're using Cookie Control on our site.

At least this way, you'll be able to respond from a position of informed strength, if the subject is raised in a couple of weeks' time.

Done anything about the EU Privacy Law yet?

Of course, many (indeed, most) directories are honest businesses. However, whereas in the past, I might have said that it's worth taking the time to find out which directories are worth your effort, in 2012 I think I can safely say that no directory is worth being in, whether in print or on the web. Seriously, when was the last time you used a directory even to look up an address, never mind to source a supplier? Even the directories from reputable publishers only survive because nobody's brave enough to point out that the emperor's got no clothes. I have access to the website analytics from nearly a hundred companies, and I can tell you one thing without breaking any confidences: not a single one of them gets more than a tiny trickle of website visitors from directories. If the directory is actually a proactive lead-generating service, things are different. But I'd only agree to having your business details placed in a conventional listings directory if (a) it's free, (b) the time required to write your entry isn't too long, and (c) you have a decent screening process to protect you from the inevitable deluge of follow-up phone calls trying to sell you worthless nonsense to "enhance" your entry. It's time to move on.

Still wasting time and money on directories?