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If you're like most IT people, the first title makes your eyes glaze over...
while the second has a fighting chance at getting your attention.
Every white paper writer must understand that your title is critical
for your white paper's success.
Think about it: How do most prospective readers find your white paper?
Most likely they run a Google search, or visit a site like
Bitpipe or ITPapers or KnowledgeStorm.
In any case, what do they see?
A list of titles, with perhaps two lines of text under each one.
Your challenge is to compel prospects to pick your title out of the lineup.
To help you do that, here are 10 tips on how to create a
compelling title for your next white paper.
1. Learn to spot tired titles.
A boring title usually contains no active verbs and
many lengthy buzzwords. Worst of all, it sounds just like 100 other
titles you've heard before. It's too generic, too careful, too
corporate-sounding.
2. Spend some time coming up with a name.
With so much at stake, don't just grab the first title anyone
suggests. Play around with some variations of your first idea until you have
the punchiest possible name.
3. Use a number in your title.
There's an example at the start of this article:
"Six Things You Must Know about Data Warehousing."
But remember: some say David Letterman ruined the Top 10 list forever.
Everyone knows he only has six or seven good ones, and the rest are filler.
So if you're dispensing tips, don't be afraid to stop at less than 10,
or push beyond that number.
4. Stress the benefits for readers.
Always tell your readers what your information can do
for them. What will they gain from investing their precious time to
download and read it?
5. Address prospects by specific job title.
That would look like "Six Things Every CIO Must Know about Data Warehousing."
That makes it harder for a CIO to pass by without pausing.
6. Call your document what it really is.
Not everything has to be a white paper.
Perhaps you should call your document an executive overview, a technology backgrounder,
an evaluator's guide, a research report, or something else entirely.
You can slip this in as a subtitle: "Six Things Every CIO Must Know about
Data Warehousing: an Executive Overview."
7. Never mention a product name.
Putting a product name in a white paper title makes it sound like
a sales pitch. Period. If that's what you're writing, don't pass if off as a white paper.
Call it a "brochure" or a "product brief." And remember: a sales pitch is the last thing
most readers want.
8. Knock a tired suggestion down to a subtitle.
What if your manager or client hands you a boring title that you must use?
One tactic is to come up with a better title, then move the original to the subtitle.
Say your manager wants to call a white paper "Making On-Board Sensors More Effective
through Information Infrastructures." Holy yawn, Batman!
You come up with an intriguing image: what was once a white elephant has now become
an effective watch dog. Combining these two gives you "From White Elephant to Watch Dog:
Making On-Board Sensors More Effective through Information Infrastructure."
What an improvement... and you're both happy.
9. Run possible titles past sample readers.
After all, they can judge better than you or I what works for them
and their colleagues. Don't guess, field test.
10. Back up your lively title with lively content.
A title is like a promise. Don't tack a great title on a ho-hum document.
Use your lively title to motivate you to create an exceptionally interesting white paper.
You'll be way ahead of the crowd when you do.
Written by Gordon Graham, this article appeared in the
April 2005 edition of the WhitePaperSource Newsletter.
To repost this article on your Web site, please email a request to
Gordon@ThatWhitePaperGuy.com.
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