Eight months ago in this space (see: Tip Library) we wrote about the impact that names of white papers can have on the success of postings on sites or networks like Bitpipe, TechTarget, ITPapers, et al.

While scanning Bitpipe listings lately, it struck me that not only are some marketers not thinking long and hard about the title of their white paper, they're apparently not putting too much effort into the description either.

If you're in a competitive category (say: network security), and someone searches on that term, that person is going to be choosing from a whole host of white papers on exactly the same topic. Even assuming you've done your homework and given the paper a compelling, gotta-have-it title, you still have some convincing to do before the reader chooses to download your paper.

On Bitpipe, you only have 255 characters to make your case. Consider this woeful example from a leading hardware vendor (names have been changed to protect the guilty):

"This Acme Consulting white paper discusses the significance of Network Awareness for security administrators to properly secure their networks."

Compare it to a nearby competitor:

"In this webcast you'll learn about making the business case for a single converged network - increased productivity, integrated infrastructure and storage, simplified management."

A white paper abstract is more than just a description - it's really more like a sponsorship ad in an e-mail newsletter. The same rules apply: namely, sell the offer, and in 50 words or less, sum up why your white paper is worth reading more than any other.