First of all – what is a white paper?

We have a lot of definitions and meanings of this phrase, but in this article we will concentrate only on commercial white papers.  In simply words, it’s a comprehensive article about product or service, in which you will get some tips or benefits from using the product. It’s often used as a marketing tool for generating sales leads.

Writing a white paper can sound like an impossible task when you do it for the first time, but it’s not as hard as you think? It’s actually as easy as writing an article. If you know how to write articles you should be able to write a white paper. If you don’t know, how to do it, you may be interested in reading How to Write an Article in Less than One Hour – 10 Useful Tips

All you need to do is follow the three steps listed below in the same order and your task of creating a white paper will be simplified:

1. Research

As soon as you are handed the job of writing the white paper, you need to begin with a short interview. Interview the subject matter experts, product developers/service providers, and the marketing team and find out more about the company, the audience, the topic and collect content and marketing material the company has already produced.

After this initial interview you can start reading. You can first start off by reading everything the company provided this could be brochures, white papers, blog posts, articles, annual reports, presentations, case studies, etc. While you read them take down notes of important points and anything you don’t understand.

After reading the content provided by the company and its experts you can research and look for your own content. This can be on competitors’ websites, search engines, white paper distribution services, etc. After you finish reading this you can have your second round of interviews.

In the second round of interviews, you can get all your doubts and questions cleared and you can also ask the experts to tell you about their ideas, opinions, views, etc. The reading and research you performed earlier will make it easy for you to follow the interviews better and ask specific questions. For more tips on performing the research you can read this post on Content Marketing Institute.

2. Structure

Once you finish performing the research you can start creating the structure. Creating the structure will make it easy for you to write the white paper. First start off by analyzing all the notes and points you have taken down and then think about how you can put them together to create a white paper.

The structure basically consists of a headline, followed by a sub-headline and an introduction. This introduction is followed by a problems section, a solutions section and a conclusion. Then it finally ends with the brochure section of the white paper.

Now take a look at your notes and analyze it and filter it out carefully by selecting only the most relevant and useful parts. Check which one will fit into the white paper and its structure and discard the rest.

This systematic process of creating a structure, will simplify the process of writing the white paper.

3. Writing

As I mentioned in the above point, the white paper can be divided into several sections. You will learn how to write each and every section in the points below:

1. Headline and Sub-headline

These are the first parts of the white paper. You need to write persuasive and attention grabbing headlines and sub-headlines which will convince readers to read the rest of the white paper.

2. The introduction

The introduction needs to sum up the contents of the white paper. In the introduction you need to let your reader know why they should read the white paper, what can they learn from reading it, and how they can implement this knowledge. So focus on writing an introduction which lets your readers know, how they can use the information gained, if they white paper.

3. Problems and Solutions

The next two sections are the problems and solutions sections. You can either write these two sections together or you can write them separately. First you need to focus on writing the problems faced by your readers. While writing this, keep your audience in mind. Write about their problems and worries.

After you discuss the problems in detail and write about how they are hindering their company’s growth, you can start writing the solutions section of the white paper, where you can give solutions to these problems. Here your aim needs to be to solve the problems and help your readers.

4. Conclusion

After you finish writing the solutions in your white paper, you can write the conclusion, where you can sum up the contents of the white paper and give your reader a choice. You can let them know that they can either use the solutions in the white paper or they can use the services mentioned in the brochure below.

5. Brochure

Right after the conclusion, you need to write the brochure section of the white paper, where you write the benefits of hiring your company to solve your readers’ problems, in a very persuasive manner and end it with a powerful call to action. If you can write a really persuasive brochure section, you should be able to convert your readers into clients.

If you follow all the above steps carefully, you should be able to write powerful white papers which can not only educate your readers, but can also help you generate leads.

What steps do you follow while writing your white papers? Would you like to share your tips with us? Please leave your comments in the comments box below.

First of all, writing quickly doesn’t mean writing with poor quality. If you have something important to say, your article may be quick, without wordiness. One hour is a short period of time, but within it you can prepare a great article of about 500 words. In that time, you can discuss about three to five major points. So, if you plan to write a longer, higher quality article, you will (probably) need more time for it.

The second point here is that, if you need to interlink between your posts, finding related posts and proper anchors will also take time.

You will also want to find proper pictures, videos or other multimedia for your article and that can be timeconsuming.

So, let’s go to our tips:

How to Write an Article in Less Than One Hour

1. Plan One Hour Free of Distractions

It may be obvious for you, that time for writing post or article should be free from distractions. But sometimes we forget about it. We are trying to concentrate, but we didn’t switch off Facebook or we are thinking about something else. We should try to get rid of all unnecessary thoughts and distractions, like Twitter or emails.

Here you can find my 10 tips How to Fight with Distractions

2. Believe in Yourself

Yes, it’s really important. Believing that you can write an article in less than one hour is very important. Without it you will write your article in hours or even days.

I’m not an English speaker or writer; what’s more, I started writing in English just half a year ago. I’m sure that my English teacher will be proud of me, even despite my grammar mistakes But without self-confidence I would never start writing in a foreign language. So – believe in yourself!

3. Plan What You Want to Achieve with an Article (2-5 minutes)

This point is essential. You have to know what you want. Should it be a promotional article? Or maybe you want to share your experience about something? Or is it a simple story for your readers? Do you want to make them cry? Or laugh? Or maybe you want to arouse interest about something? You should answer these questions before you start writing your article.

4. Do Some Quick Research On Your Topic (2-5 minutes)

I assume that you know the subject matter of your article. But even if you are an expert, it’s worth it to some research about it. You should check in your favorite search engine   what’s hot, and what’s not. You can do it also on blogs you are following.

5. Write Down the Most Important Points of Your Article (2-5 minutes)

As I wrote at the beginning of this tutorial – find three to five important points you want to raise in your article.  If you find more – it’s okay, but your article will be longer and probably will take you more than one hour (for example writing this article, finding related articles, anchors, pictures and publishing it, took me about three hours).

6. Use (12+2)*3 Technique

This technique is very simple – write for twelve minutes, take a two-minute break, and repeat it three times. If you need less or more time for writing an article – you should repeat it less or more times . But remember – for 12 minutes you should write and only write, without exceptions. After that, you will get a two-minute break, when you can do something else (but I recommend you to stay on the computer).

For counting minutes you can use a timer on your clock or smart phone. Even a kitchen timer may be good for this technique. This tip is modification of (10+2)*5 rule from www.43folders.com

7. Prepare a Tea or Coffee For You (2 minutes)

Yes, it’s really important for your mind. So, stand up and go to the coffee room or to the kitchen. If possible, you can even talk with somebody – but remember about the time limit – you have only two minutes for it!

8. Read Carefully and Correct All of Your Bug(s) or Misspellings (2-5 minutes)

You should read your article at least once and mark all errors or misspellings. After it, you should check it in your dictionary (or in Google ), and correct all. If you have some time, you can read it once more.

9. Format Your Article – Make Points, Paragraphs, Links to Other Sites (2-5 minutes)

Now it’s the time for improvements and for formatting your post. Your article should be readable – think about it as brochure – is it easy to read, understand and find the main points?

10. Be Consistent in Your Actions

That means try to write an article every day, at least for two weeks. After two weeks you will see that your writing ability will improve very quickly.

And I have one more tip about fast writing for you. If you have other ideas or topics for your website or blog – write them down. Every time you find something interesting – put it on paper (or .doc ).

For instance I have a list about 50 new topics and ideas for my blog – and you?

Now you can see, that these tips are great not only for free articles directory ;), but also for your own blog or website. If you want to write killer article, which will charm your audience, you must read two more tutorials:

How to Write Killer Article – 10 Article Writing Tips

and

How to Attract Your Blog Posts – 20 Tips for Normal People

Of course, for writing articles or posts you may try to use one of the article writing services or hire a professional copywriter. But it costs you a lot of money, it’s also time-consuming (you must find high quality writers, discus idea(s) of article(s) with them, check their articles and finally pay them for the staff), and it doesn’t give you satisfaction from well written article

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And what are your tips for fast writing? Do you have some techniques for it, or are you spontaneous with it? Please share your experience below in the comments.